“Phew what a scorcher” the Oaks intoned as they arrived at the ground. “Please win the toss Ian,” implored the bowlers, so that we can spend a couple of hours in the cool of the veranda. Ian duly disregarded that request, and lost the toss. Unsurprisingly Oaks were asked to field. But as any fool knows, on days like this the temperature rises as the afternoon progresses. So the marching instructions were quickly revised to making the best use of the relative cool, keep things tight in the field and hopefully squeeze the life out of the Bentworth innings. And that’s what Zak and Will proceeded to do….
A Missed Opportunity and a Tight Start
Zak’s first over produced a catching opportunity, one that would have been tough for a partially sighted one-armed crocodile to take (or maybe even an Oakley Chairman with a dodgy digit). But it should have been comfortably taken by a reasonably competent village cricketer. But Ollie chose not to exhibit those abilities and grassed it, leading to a light-hearted chuckle from Kris and probably dark mutterings from others around the field.
Aside from that the first 20 or so overs were a cagey affair, with Oaks making Bentworth work hard for their runs. Zak finished with remarkable figures of 8 overs for 10 runs, with 8 wides contributing the lion’s share of the runs.
Hoopy Hoopy Bowling and the Collapse Begins
Toney came on and proceeded to hoop the ball around like a hoopy thing, eventually getting the wickets of both Bentworth openers. At the other end, Ollie was trying to make amends for the shocking drop, and managed to pick up the wickets of hard-hitting Max Hill and Matt Mitchell.
Ollie and Toney finished their spells with three wickets each. Ian now needed a way to wrap up the innings, so the Skipper turned to the mystery spin of Jack Brundle. First ball – wicket; fourth ball – another wicket. The boy is unplayable, or so it seemed.
Tail Wags But the Oaks Finish Strong
Unfortunately for Oaks, Bentworth’s tail started to wag and they figured out a way of playing Jack towards and occasionally over the boundary. But Jack wasn’t finished with his wicket-taking antics and picked up another courtesy of a Noah “Safe Hands” Beckell catch. Joby snaffled the final wicket off the last ball, with the classic Village Cricket clip available on Playcricket for those who want to watch it!
A score of 180 with max bowling points was a good return for a warm afternoon’s work, earning the chance to devour a well-earned tea.
And what a tea it was. The wide selection of sandwiches, savoury snacks and cakes were appreciated by all. The suppliers of that spread have clearly earned the opportunity to provide teas for other games. Bring it on I say!
Fast Start to the Chase
The Oaks run chase started quickly, courtesy of Extras and Kunal going toe to toe to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Kris was there as well, but the team’s 50 came up in double quick time with Kris still to get off the mark. Kris eventually fell after contributing 5 to an opening stand of 81. But cricket is a game where partnerships are crucial, so the team score is all that matters. Kunal was back in the hutch soon after, but not before he’d completed his maiden Oaks 50 and lost a couple of balls in the adjacent fields.
Joby and Ian were able to keep the run rate up, putting on another 40 but then decided to give Bentworth a bit of catching practice, with nice looking shots unfortunately picking out well-placed fielders. Nick came in and did much the same, aiming a drive over the head of the mid-off fielder but without the power to get the required elevation, resulting in a decent catch being taken. Back to the gym with you young man to build up those guns!
Jack and Noah See It Home
At this point Bentworth’s former Oak Dave Fuller was starting to chirp about previous failed run chases he’d seen at Oakley Park. Was this to be another example of those? Spoiler alert…. Nah.
Jack was back to his more accustomed role as a batter, and with Noah as an able sidekick ticked off the required runs with a minimum of fuss, wrapping up a max points win inside 25 overs.
Final Thoughts
So what can we take from this? It was a decent all-round display against a Bentworth side who were short of two or three players who could have added 60 or 70 runs to their score. That would clearly have made the target more challenging. But following up this result with a few more wins could take Oaks from a relegation fight into mid-table obscurity.
on we travel.