CRICKET: WILLOUGHBY returned to winning ways on Saturday afternoon with a convincing 62 run victory against Evenley A.
Willoughby won the toss and elected to bat first in warm conditions.
Their decision to bat quickly backfired though as openers Martin Nichols and Ian Hughes were out cheaply to reduce the home side to 5/2.
A confident knock of 50 from Ashley Rayner was supported solid efforts from Richard Foxon and Ben Hollis who hit 22 and 23 respectively as Willoughby recovered to reach 116/4.
But Willoughby’s innings was plagued by batsmen managing to get their way past the double figure barrier, before falling cheaply to accurate bowling.
Matthew Smart was trapped lbw for one run, though skipper Nicholas Crane added 22 runs to Willoughby’s cause as they eventually closed the innings on 182/8 from 40 overs.
In reply, Evenley could only manage 120 all out with Kevin Hicks top scoring with 36 while Charlie Thomas hit 19.
John Gregson starred with the ball for Willoughby – taking five wickets for 24 runs while Nick Crane chipped in with three wickets of his own.
Willoughby A slipped to a eight wicket loss after collapsing to 107 all out on the road against Wicken Sports.
The visitors have not won a game since the opening weekend of the season, and that record did not look likely to change as they were bowled out for 107 in 30 overs.
Kamesh Ganti (26) and Stuart Hall (24*) top scored for Willoughby as bowler Matthew Pitcher ripped through the middle order, taking five wickets for 19 runs.
The home side encountered few problems on their way to chasing down the target with Callum Roberts (59*) and Dave Bowen (24*) putting on an unbroken third wicket partnership to ease the hosts to victory.
