Oxfordshire Cricket is pleased to announce the 12 man county men 2nd xi squad selected to play against Gloucestershire Academy on Tuesday 13th of July in a 50 over match at Sandford St Martin CC.

Here is the squad selected to play Gloucestershire Academy on Tuesday at Sandford St Martin CC (OX7 7AH)

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OXFORDSHIRE Under 18s finally commenced their ECB Under 18 County Championship campaign, emerging on top of a drawn encounter against Sussex at Blackstone.

After two years of waiting since being promoted to the A Championship, heavy rain washed out day one of the match, before Covid-19 issues intervened to cause the second day to also be wiped out.

But when Covid tests were returned negative, Oxfordshire took to the field on Thursday in a match reduced to one day, 50 overs per side.

New Oxfordshire Under 18 captain Ethan Davie won the toss and elected to bat first, and saw his side post a hugely competitive total of 238-8 in their 50 overs in tricky conditions.

A 26-run opening stand between Freddie Smith and Alfie Turner saw off the new ball, before Zach Lion-Cachet joined Smith at the crease.

With Smith contributing a breezy 47 off 68 balls, Oxfordshire set about the Sussex attack, which included Under 19 pro Joe Sarro.

Lion-Cachet was the star of the show, however, as he hammered a terrific century, scoring 132 off just 119 balls.

His innings was brutal, containing 17 fours and six sixes, including two which sailed out of the ground off Sarro’s bowling.

With useful contributions from others, including Ben Cross and Eliot Hyman, Oxfordshire were satisfied with their total.

In reply, Oxfordshire got off to a perfect start, reducing Sussex to 46-4 as Abhir Joshi (2-35) shone with the ball.

A 116-run stand for the fifth wicket got Sussex back into the game, but when Ethan Davie and Anton Eisner removed Sam Henderson and R Tangirala for 63 and 57 respectively, Sussex opted to shut up shop ten overs out and bat out for the draw, closing on 182-6 in their 50 overs.

A hugely satisfying first performance for Oxfordshire, however, who showed that they were more than a match for their hosts.

Oxfordshire’s Ollie Price is currently making his first-class debut for Gloucestershire today in their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Middlesex at Cheltenham. He is playing alongside other Oxfordshire players in Miles Hammond, Jack Taylor, Matt Taylor, and Tom Price.

The all-rounder, who is a right arm off spin bowler and right-handed bat, went to Magdalen College School in Oxford, where he captained the first team and was coached by Alan Duncan. Ollie joined the Gloucestershire Cricket Academy in December 2016. In January 2020, he signed a two-year contract with Gloucestershire which would see him play for them during the summer, while still attending university at Durham.

As a young cricketer, Ollie played and captained in all the Oxfordshire age groups and made his debut at the age of 17 for the Minor Counties first team. In 2011 in the Oxfordshire U10s he made 200 runs at an average of 33.33, which included an 144* partnership with Toby Parker v Shropshire with Ollie making 74* and Toby 69*. It was an innings of second places in the record books, with the year before 220/4 against Staffordshire, with a 154-run stand between Ollie’s older brother Tom (75*) and Harrison Ward at Wiltshire holding the record. In 2015, he guided Oxfordshire U14s to a 170 win after hitting 118. In the same year he took 5-14 to help Oxfordshire to a 161 run win after Ben Charlesworth hit 135 not out.

Since joining the Gloucestershire Academy, he has been an integral player in the U17’s, U19’s and Second-team since he joined. His highlight of 2019 came with a half-century against Sussex seconds with Jofra Archer in the attack.

Ollie, younger brother of Tom Price, played home counties cricket for Great & Little Tew CC, the same team that both Jack and Matt Taylor (who currently play for Gloucestershire) played for, where he played as a junior and senior but in 2019 moved to play at Oxford CC where he opened the batting (with a top score of 91*) in the Home Counties Premier League and helped the club to gain promotion.

Price goes into the match having recently hit 100 not out for Gloucestershire 2s against Northamptonshire 2s. He also recently played for Oxfordshire alongside his brother Tom in a narrow defeat to Wales NC.

On behalf of everyone at Oxfordshire Cricket, we would like to congratulate Ollie on making his debut. We look forward to hopefully seeing more of him in professional cricket.

Oxfordshire’s Harrison Ward made his Sussex debut last night in their 63-run defeat to Middlesex at Lord’s. Ward has signed a rookie contract with Sussex until the end of the Vitality Blast group stage. The batsman will also be available for LV= Insurance County Championship fixtures during this period.

Ward, is a former St Edward’s School student, has also progressed from the Oxfordshire and Sussex Academy onto the Sussex Academy and then the England Under-19s. He is currently a regular in the Oxfordshire team and has played Second XI cricket for Sussex alongside James Coles and former Oxfordshire batsman Delray Rawlins. In 2015, Ward became the youngest batsman to hit a century for Oxfordshire. He made an unbeaten 109 on his debut in their Unicorns Counties Championship victory over Herefordshire, aged just 15 years and 269 days.

In the match itself, Ward made a promising 22, in Sussex’s innings as they fell 63 runs short of Middlesex’s 166-7. Click here to view the full scorecard of the match.

On behalf of everyone at Oxfordshire Cricket, we would like to congratulate Harrison on making his debut, and signing a contract with Sussex. We look forward to hopefully seeing more of him in a Sussex shirt.