Ayliffe on form in Henry's win (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Ayliffe on form in Henry's win

8:20am Friday 25th January 2013 in Sport

ASHTON-under-Hill and Prince Henry’s recorded easy triumphs in the second week of the Worcestershire Board Indoor League in Evesham.

Hosts Prince Henry’s (135- 4) saw off Dumbleton (95 all out) by 40 runs as the remaining four teams played their first matches.

Badsey (89 all out) witnessed a powerful display of batting from last year’s Worcestershire champions Ashton (172-4) who romped home by 83 runs.

Prince Henry’s were given a strong start by Chris Ayliffe (54 not out) and Elliott Thompson (39no).

Ayliffe, in particular, was aggressive and both batsmen retired before the end of the sixth over.

Dumbleton came into the match as George Oram (1-30) and Dave Smith (1-27) grabbed a wicket each.

With a run out following quickly, the students fell from 59-0 to 63-3 in the space of six balls. However, last man James Nightingale (25) was joined by the returning Ayliffe and the run-rate rose to 15 per over.

Nightingale was eventually run out after a fine innings which allowed Thompson to continue plundering the Dumbleton bowlers with Ayliffe.

The villagers started with caution against tight bowling and reached 30 in the fifth over before Rupert Salmon (13) was run out.

At 44-1 from six overs, Dumbleton were always going to find it hard to reach their target.

However, the loss of Matt Nicholson (19) to a run out and Andy Powell (4), bowled by Ayliffe (1-26) in the eighth over, made the task impossible.

A belligerent knock from Craig Boulding (23) was ended when he was bowled by Tom Pilling(1-19) and Dumbleton subsided to 95 all out in the 11th over. For Ashton, Will Archer (26) and Richard Cooper (47) were both in fine form with 55 runs off the first four overs.

Their retirement saw no let-up in the scoring rate as Jonny Cooper (36no), Tom Archer (17) and Jack Perks (21no) punished the Badsey bowlers.

With 41 runs coming from the last two overs, their final total of 172-4 was one of the highest seen at Evesham.

To their credit, the Badsey batsmen were undaunted by their task and after six overs had reached 65-2.

Dave Stokes (28) and Sam Attwood (17) opened in fine form and took advantage of any loose bowling.

Rob Andrew (21) and Chris Ballard (10) continued to hit the ball hard when offered the chance.

But the introduction of change bowlers Perks (1-16) and Jay Dee (2-7) proved too much and the innings subsided to 89 all out.