Ben Johns launches a six clean out of Loperwood Park : Les Chase Photography Lymington Ben Johns’ remarkable run scoring affinity with the Voneus Village Cup shows no sign of ending any time soon.
The hero of last season’s village final at Lord’s produced another match winning performance with an unbeaten 96 which guided Calmore Sports’ to a four-wicket victory over Oxford Downs and into the last 16 of the nationwide competition they won last September.
The left-hander, who made scores of 58, 56, 100 not out and 40 in Calmore’s four Hampshire qualifying round ties, raised his Village Cup tally for the season to 350 as the holders chased down an Oxford Downs total of 194-7 with 23 balls to spare.
“It was one of the hardest run chases we’ve had in the past two seasons as Oxford hit out late in their innings and got 30 or more so than we ideally wanted to chase,” Johns admitted.
“But a 40-yard boundary put a reality check on the target and once we got going it was always in sight. It’s another great win for us, so the dream of revisiting Lord’s goes on.”
Oxford Downs, fourth in the Home Counties Premier League Division 2, began brightly but slipped from 31-0 to 47-4 and later to 137-6.
But with the ball frequently flying out of the ground courtesy of big hitting by Frankie Crouch (43), Tom Costner (43 not out) and James Watts (23), they scored between ten and 12 runs an over in the latter stages of their innings to advance to 194-7.
Calmore’s run chase was in the balance when their reply reached 96-4, but Johns was already hitting the ball cleanly and his fifth-wicket stand with the aggressive James Manning, who struck two sixes and four fours in a quick fire 37, proved crucial. They took the score to 157-5, Johns on 70 not out.
Johns then produced a flurry of boundaries to settle it, reinjuring a groin muscle in the process and having to see out the climax to the run chase with a runner. He hit two sixes and nine fours in his 96 not out.
