The Northleach Town CC First Eleven crossed the border to play in the Oxfordshire Cricket Association for the first time on Saturday and returned home with a 140 run win and a maximum of 30 points. West Ilsley were their first league opponents of the season and they were brushed aside comfortably by a rampant Rams team.

Captain Richard Hemming lost the toss and was asked to bat by his opposite number and under clear blue skies, the Northleach openers Glen Crompton (53) and Neil “Fez” Ferreira (36) strode out to get the season underway. After a watchful start, they both began to show their obvious class and dispatched wayward bowling to all parts of the pretty Berkshire ground. Indeed after just 14 overs they had already advanced the score to more than 90 and the Rams seemed set fair for an enormous total. However once Ferreira, making his first appearance for the green and golds,  played round a straight one and Crompton picked out deep square leg, the next four batsman all departed very cheaply. Rocking at 118 for 6, the ship was steadied by an intelligent captain’s innings from Richard Hemming (36) and his fellow lower order batsman. Dispatching the bad balls to the boundary with considerable élan, Hemming, John Robson and Phil Webb managed to inch the score up to an about par 208 all out.

But no-one watching was prepared for what happened next. Andrew Wellman, the Northleach Night Train, started from the pub end bowling at a fearsome pace, his arms pumping like steam turbines as he ploughed down the hill. The West Ilsley batsman had no response to such raw pace and after just four overs, Wellman had two of them back in the hutch. It was then the turn of Northleach’s overseas player for 2007 to take over, and so Josh “Wild Thing” Barrett began cranking up the pace. Helped by an uneven wicket, and some brilliant fielding, especially from Robson, Barrett began to dismantle the West Ilsley batting through sheer aggression. Before long he’d claimed 5 for 34 on debut and as his spell came to an end, it was left Richard Blundell (3 for 8) to apply the finishing touches. Inside just 24 overs, the opposition had been dismissed for only 68 and the Northleach Rams had opened up their campaign in style.