Minor Counties Championship Round Up

Martin Lewis and Ashley Metcalfe rewrote the Cumberland record books as the reigning champions maintained their position as the early pacesetters in the Eastern Division table.

Cumberland made it two wins from three championship games after nightwatchman Lewis (128 not out) and Metcalfe (105 not out) had shared an unbroken third wicket partnership of 233 towards their second innings total of 252 for three against Bedfordshire at Bedford Town.

Bedfordshire, asked to score 304 to win, were then bowled out for 217, Marcus Sharp taking three wickets in four balls to finish with five for 49. Oxfordshire opened their winning account in the Western Division at Banbury, despite David Towse (78) and Roger Clitheroe (63) giving Wales a fighting chance of attaining a 291 target with a sixth-wicket stand of 136, but Wiltshire successfully kept Berkshire at bay at Warminster.

They slumped to 23 for six before Jamie Glasson (18) and Neil Shardlow (37) put on 56 for the seventh wicket in 40 overs of defiance. John Emburey, the former England Test spinner, removed Glasson with the last ball to finish with match figures of 11 for 104, Wiltshire closing on 88 for nine.

The Dorset v. Shropshire fixture petered out into a turgid finish as the home side batted throughout the entire day to score 262 for nine declared off 99.1 overs in their second innings.

Minor Counties Championship
Bedford Town: Cumberland 278-5 & 252-3 (JM Lewis 128 not, AA Metcalfe 105 not) Beds 227-3 & 217 (OJ Clayson 57, JG Hughes 55, MA Sharp 5-49) Cumberland (19) beat Beds (6) by 86 runs
Banbury CC: Oxon 229-5 & 214-5 (CS Knightley 94 not, GS Peddy 57) Wales 153 & 259 (AD Towse 78, RI Clitheroe 63) Oxon (24) beat Wales (3) by 31 runs
Warminster: Berks 170 & 247-8 (LH Nurse 108, SA Seymour 65 not) Wilts 166-9 & 88-9 (JE Emburey 4-30) Drawn. Wilts 4 Berks 5
Weymouth: Dorset 176-7 & 262-9 (DR Miller 76 not, SWD Rintoul 65, KP Evans 4-46) Shrops 237-7 Drawn. Dorset 3 Shrops 7

Truro: Cheshire 199-5 (J Cornford 92) & 10-1 Cornwall 155 (JM Hands 50, CJ Hall 4-37)