FIVE wickets and an unbeaten innings from birthday boy Richard Foxon helped Willoughby to a five-wicket victory over promotion-chasing Woodford Halse in Division One of the South Northants League.
Woodford won the toss and opted to bat first in the heat but Marcus Fleming and Lee Johnson defied their ages to bowl seven and nine over spells straight respectively through the heat and both took a wicket apiece.
The score was at 120 for two when Foxon was introduced and he took a wicket in his first over before going on to finish with figures of 5 for 50 as Woodford finished on 190 all out in the 37th over.
In reply, Willoughby reached 28 from the first four overs and they reached 61 before the first wicket came in the 11th over.
The scoring rate slowed as Ganti and Hall came and went quickly, and 78 for 3 in the 16th over became 79 for 4 as Corrigan also departed and prospects for the hosts were not looking promising.
The wise head of Alcock and the youth of Stevenson saw the the hosts to the half-way mark and with 91 on the board it was clear preserving wickets would be key.
Alcock’s departure set up a partnership with 16-year-old Stevenson and fellow youngster Manny Sidhu who both showed their promise once again by being watchful, patient and powerful in equal measure.
Their departures than saw Foxon (46 not out) and Hallam come together at 120 for seven in the 28th over and with plenty to do they created the partnership of the match.
Running quickly between the wickets and punishing the bad balls hard, they kept the electronic board kicking over and Willoughby finished on 193 for seven which proved to be the highest successful run chase of the day.
