Oundle Town and Peterborough Town reach Northants T20 Championship Finals Day

Harrison Craig in batting action. Photo David Lowndes.Harrison Craig in batting action. Photo David Lowndes.
Harrison Craig in batting action. Photo David Lowndes.
​Oundle Town take a perfect playing record into T20 Finals Day at Finedon CC next Saturday (July 20).

​The men from Milton Road made it six wins in six outings with hard-fought home successes against Wollaston and Rushden & Higham yesterday. They will play Wollaston again in the semi-final next weekend before a potential final against neighbours Peterborough Town who have a semi-final against Old Northamptonians.

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Oundle ran into early batting trouble when setting off in pursuit of Wollaston’s modest 129-9. They were 14-3 when the classy Craig brothers joined forces to virtually seal victory with a stand of 77.

Conor Craig was dismissed for 43 from 33 balls, but Harrison Craig was unbeaten on 57 when a four-wicket win was completed. The latter faced 48 balls and struck three sixes.

Conor Craig in batting action for Oundle Town. Photo David Lowndes.Conor Craig in batting action for Oundle Town. Photo David Lowndes.
Conor Craig in batting action for Oundle Town. Photo David Lowndes.

Oundle then pipped Rushden & Higham by 14 runs with Conor Craig (53, 36 balls), Bill Amas (41) and Patrick Harrington (33) the men in form with the bat in a total of 168-5 before Will Compton (3-18), Conor Craig (2-23) and Harrison Craig (2-32) helped dismiss the visitors for 154 with two balls of their innings to go.

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Conor Craig is the fourth highest run scorer in the competition with 190. Harrison Craig is one of three bowlers with a competition-best 11 wickets.

All-rounder Josh Smith will be a key man for Peterborough Town on Finals Day.

Town finished in second place, after a three-round, six-match qualification period behind Oundle, but well clear of the rest.

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Harrison Craig in batting action for Oundle Town. Photo David Lowndes.Harrison Craig in batting action for Oundle Town. Photo David Lowndes.
Harrison Craig in batting action for Oundle Town. Photo David Lowndes.

Opener Smith is the top scorer in the competition so far with 265 runs at an average of over 63.

He struck 55 as Town beat hosts Desborough by 44 runs in their penultimate group game on Saturday and was unbeaten on 35 when a nine-wicket romp against Kislingbury Temperance was completed to give the city side five wins from six matches.

Fellow opener Kyle Medcalf struck 58 from 29 balls against Kislingbury before Zeeshan Manzoor finished the game off with an unbeaten 30 from 12 balls.

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David Clarke (38), Medcalf (33), Karanpal Singh (3-26) and Richard Kendall (2-24) also performed well against Desborough. Leg-spinner Singh is the joint-leading wicket-taker in the competition with 11.