Report by Michael ‘Ooh my ribs’ Wood.
Oakley arrived somewhere near Portsmouth in a good mood following a fine win the previous week. The good mood didn’t last long when we saw how big the cricket pitch was. I have never seen such a big outfield, which didn’t help as the grass was awfully long. Anyway, Alex won the toss and decided to have a bowl.
Josh opened the bowling with some absolute gas and at the other end the lad from Egham was bowling some good line and length. It was a slow start, andwith the long boundaries not much happened. Well, apart from crisp hands DJ, and small hands Alex, dropping catches.
Finally Oakley got a breakthrough when Gayan bowled the opener (who had been dropped a few times). Gayan went on to claim a further 2 wickets and bowled very well apart from when he strayed with a few wides.
Further wickets did fell. with Alex getting one as well as crisp hands DJ. But with the outfield being so long the home aside seemed to be happy with getting 2s and set the target of 164 to win. It didn’t look a lot but we knew had to bat well.
Did we bat well. No we bloody didn’t.
DJ caught behind. Will Monty caught behind. Woody (2 broken ribs and a broken arm) caught, George caught, Alex bowled. However. Matt Burrell was batting well and as long as he was there we felt there was a chance. Josh Carpenter was also batting well and suddenly it was game on!! This didn’t really last to long though Matt got out to a low one. Savage then went in and got caught and Josh was bowled. This left Gayan and Tom to give it a whack but there was too much to do.
So Oakley left, with DJ and Woody considering jumping in front of the train that we had to wait go past. They didn’t but it was very close.
Overall.
Stefan, Josh and Gayan all bowed well. Matt Burrell, Tom, Gayan and Josh all batted well.
We just didn’t quite do enough. Bowled too many extras and didn’t bat well enough as a team.
That’s life. Move on. up The Oaks!