A mixed Oaks XI travelled to Hambledon yesterday, grateful for a run out after a washed out Saturday. It was always going to be a tough match against a team five leagues above The Oaks but they stuck with it, throughout.
Fielding First
Hambledon batted first and it was soon obvious they possessed some excellent batsmen. The bowlers stuck to the task though, and no one got smashed all over the park.
Josh Carpenter picked up two wickets and Brad Compton-Bearne another, with Harry Tucknott and AB also bowling some decent stuff, despite a few too many wides.
Credit also to Dan Jones and George Lethaby who held the Hambledon batsmen back when they were looking to push for 300. The only disappointment was a few dropped catches that wouldn’t have been game defining, but good for confidence.
That apart, the ground fielding and boundary patrolling was very decent and helped to curtail the scoring. Hambledon finished on a formidable but not embarrassing, 257-4.
Tough Time Batting
The response with the bat was quite binary looking and not worth dwelling on. There were small patches of resistance, notably from DJ and Brad but the bowling was on the whole, a high level, and too good for us.
So, as expected, we depart the village cup. It’s a tournament we enter to get us a game or two extra in preparation for our league challenge. Ok, we didn’t learn much with the bat but in the field, I thought we looked a good side that stuck together.
Hambledon were very good at the basics and didn’t make unforced errors in the field. A takeaway from the game is that if we do the basics well and try to cut down on the errors, we will have a good season. An increase in consistency levels will make a big difference.
Forward we go…