A marvellous record breaking innings of 167 not out by skipper Richie Oliver saw Priory chase down 306 to beat Sunbury and stay top of the Premier Division. Richie’s innings was the highest score by any Priory player in the history of 1st XI league cricket. The previous highest was 160 not out by Alex Richards against Farnham in 2006.

Richie’s unbroken 2nd wicket partnership of 233 with Aussie overseas star, Alex Ross (88*), was the second highest stand for the 1st XI but Andy Delmont was quick to point out that it was not a record 2nd wicket stand as he and Chris Murtagh enjoyed a stand of 254 at Sunbury 10 years ago.

Luke Haughton’s 46 in 32 balls set up the unbelievable victory but to chase down 306 runs to win in just 44.2 overs was special in a game that featured 20 sixes and over 600 runs. It’s not often in club cricket that two centurion’s in a side end up on the losing side but Sunbury’s Colby Dyer also achieved something special by reaching his century by scoring 51 runs in just 10 successive balls, 6664664166.

Connor Newbold was the Priory bowler to suffer the most from Dyer’s onslaught being hit for 28 in one over having had Dyer dropped on 19 and having figures of 8 overs 1-27 before the onslaught. Club statistician, Paul Bridge, advises this was Connor’s first 1st XI league match for 9 years. He bowled well enough to suggest there will be plenty more.

The 2s also had a stunning win over Sunbury 2s, winning by 10 wickets chasing down 118 to win. The real story however was that the opening pair who knocked off the runs were both aged just 16. Seth McDowall scored 89 in 78 balls and was ably supported by Tommy Bates’ 20 off 36 balls. The future looks bright.

The 3s also won as did the 4s who remain top of their league with a 100% record.

The bar did pretty well too!!