OXFORD Centennials are up and away in 2014-15 after grinding their way to victory against Blayney Bushrangers on Saturday at Watson Oval.

A half-century from Aaron Bell helped Ox-Cents to a defendable total of 8-176 at the end of their 40 overs before they were able to dismiss Blayney for 111.

It was the second defeat in a row for Blayney, who were without their best batsman in Jameel Qureshi, while Ox-Cents skipper Josh Toole and spearhead Aaron Seymour were also missing, all with district duties.

Blayney did have their chances in the contest, having reduced their opposition to 4-53 and 5-73 thanks to a good overall bowling performance led by Yousuf Qureshi.

He bagged 3-32, while Jayden Fuller was the other important contributor with 2-18, but Bell’s stubborn 61 not out meant they couldn’t finish things off.

Batting first, Ox-Cents had a number of starts in a performance that wasn’t dissimilar to their round one batting effort against Bathurst City.

Andrew Brown (12) and Kesh Pillai (15) both got set before falling, while Blake Aubin was removed for six in his first game of the season.

Troy Oxley (six) also went, and it fell to Bell to resurrect things.

He was assisted initially by Elliott Redwin (12), but his departure with the score on 73 meant that a total of around 100 was a real possibility.

Jared Bosianek (35) was just the tonic for the batting side, and he dominated a 59-run stand with Bell before Yousuf Qureshi removed him.

Bell continued to accumulate and was aided by a couple of let-offs and by the end of the 40th over he had steered his side to something much more defendable than what they had been facing.

Blayney’s reply didn’t start well, as they slumped to 3-15 after six overs.

Yousuf (five) and Imran Qureshi (three) were in the pavilion along with Evan Stanbridge (one) as Ricky Daymond more than covered for the absence of new ball partner Seymour.

That became 4-19 when Fuller went for a duck.

Skipper Nick Bird knew the gravity of the situation and dug in his heels, but his departure for 20 meant that it would be a minor miracle if Blayney were to come back and earn the win.

TJ Smith made a useful 26 in the lower-order and Brock Gannon added 16, but they were always behind the eight-ball and they were finished off in the 29th over.

Redwin completed a fine all-round game with 3-24, while Daymond finished with 2-26 from his eight overs.

“We struggled early and we knew we’d have a battle, take Josh Toole and Aaron Seymour out of any side and you’ll be below your best. Blayney bowled pretty well in the first half of their innings, too,” Bell said.

“They bowled out their specialists pretty early on, but we waited until a few of the part-timers came on and then tried to pick it up a bit. Making 176 from where we were was a pretty good effort.

“Once we had three or four wickets we were pretty confident, Imran was the big one and we got him cheap.

“I got a bit lucky with my knock, I was dropped twice and got a pretty good decision at one point, but you’ve got to take them however you can get them.”