The Oaks claimed their 5th double Saturday of the season yesterday with two fantastic performances against Overton and Sparsholt III’s on a cloudy and muggy Saturday.
Oaks Upset Overton with Barnstorming Bowling Effort
Tom Barnes and Brad Compton-Bearne produced a stunning opening display of bowling to rip the heart out of unbeaten Overton at Oakley Park today.
Bowling first Tom and Brad had Overton reeling at 22-6 , a position from which they never recovered, eventually getting skittled for under 100 with Mark Potter, Alex Brundle and Clive Welsman (2) also amongst the wickets in an excellent display in the field.
3 Wicket Hero: Brad Celebrates
The Oaks made relatively light work of making the total with contributions from Gerry Dique, Michael Wood and Clive Welsman doing the job despite the eventual loss of 5 wickets.
It was a remarkable afternoon considering this was set to be a major test but in the end it was a comfortable victory for the boys who, with 4 wins from 5, are showing what they can do.
Two’s Crush Sparsholt with an Excellent Display
Chris ‘Mozzair, Mozza, Mozzer, Moz’ Morris led the way with a fine century to smash Sparsholt III’s in an excellent team display as the second’s made it an incredible nine from nine, in Winchester today.
To say that the Oaks were wobbling at 35-2 would be an exaggeration but with both openers gone, Sparsholt did see a window of opportunity until Mozza and George Lethaby (33) put on a rapid stand of 78 followed by another of 98 between Mozz and Stuart Spalding (33) put the Oaks in control.
It was an excellent display of batting by Mozza, who ran George and Stuart ragged, running between the wickets like a cricketing Forest Gump, turning ones into two’s and threes as the scoreboard raced along.
Nice Ton Son: Mozza had a great day
Late cameos from Kalum Sappumanage and the excellent Neil ‘Nellie, Nellington’ Warner (34) tooks the Oaks to a massive total of 282 and from there it was all about whether maximum points could be achieved with victory all but sealed.
Defending the total, Jeff King became the first cricketer in history to bowl four wides off his first four deliveries and follow it up with an excellent five for, whilst at the other end Ollie Rabley was desperately unlucky to finish wicketless after a great spell.
Sparsholt offered little resistance and Kalum Sappumanage bowled a fine spell to take 3 wickets, with George Lethaby picking up the other, courtesy of a good catch by Nathan Rabley.
Sparsholt were all out for 88 and maximum points were sealed.
In such a one sided game, we look for other sources of entertainment and these were provided by a young lad apparently trying to steal the sightscreen, a plethora of vagrants inadvertently invading the pitch, Marley getting stuck in the river, and Deano expressing concern that 282 might not be enough after Jeff’s 4th wide took Sparsholt to 4-0 in the first over.
Deano did his best to make his doomsday scenario reality, entering the Wisden book of cricket with a dropped catch that took so long to get to him, he could have had a three course meal, a cigar and a double brandy and still have time to take it.
That said, at least he didn’t look confident, which is more than could be said of Nellie who looked cooler than a frozen cucumber as he approached his looping sitter; he was later seen wiping away the remnants of the metaphorical custard pie that smacked him clean in the face.
Despite all this, it was maximum points and a 198 run win for the boys, not that the Hampshire Cricket League were happy. They decided it was a 164 run win for Sparsholt.
They certainly are a strange bunch.