So, here we are in late April, and The Oaks are preparing for their first rained-off game of the season as ‘The Greenland Spring’ continues unabated. The soon-to-be-cancelled game is at Ashford Hill, and despite shocking early-season availability and low training numbers, The Oaks have a full, if eclectic, 11, who will soon be making other weekend plans.
In the unlikely event it’s not utterly miserable, Matt Burrell opens the batting with Third XI skipper Dan Beckell, with both looking to find form before the opening Saturday. Second XI youngster Noah Beckell gets an opportunity to shine at 3, with Josh Carpenter looking to build on a good knock last week.
Skipper for the day, George Lethaby, is in at 5, with wicketkeeper Steve Savage in at six, followed by improving youngster Adam Triner, who is now looking to find some attacking strokes to compliment his obdurate defence that would make Chris Tavare weep with envy.
The tail, and presumably, the bowling, is made up of whatever the opposite of mercurial is, with Bob Lethaby in at an ambitious and nose-bleed inducing 8 (internal corruption alert – he is chairman and his son is skipper). Following Bob are King of Spin (or something similar) James Middleton, the eternally enthusiastic talented spinner, Ollie Thakur, and highly rated Zak Newton, who only emerged from hibernation about a week ago, thinking he had been transported to Norway in his sleep.
It’s hard to know what kind of team Ashford Hill will field, and it’s even harder to actually care. With rain forecast and a predicted temperature of around 10 degrees centigrade, getting anyone enthused is like giving a motivational speech to a conference room full of mallards on the benefits of moving to the Grand Canyon.
On we travel… or probably not.