An Oaks XI made the short trip over to beautiful St Mary Bourne for their first friendly of the season on a lovely spring afternoon. The team was made up predominantly of 3rd XI players and, despite being up against a St Mary Bourne side operating a good few leagues above us, the players were looking forward to dusting off the cobwebs.
First Innings – Oakley Batting
Winning the toss, Dan chose to bat first, and in went Steve Savage and Noah Beckell to get the innings underway.A slightly sticky pitch (not unexpected) and good bowling made scoring tricky early on. Despite a low score, Steve got some valuable time in the middle. Noah grew into the game, and the scoreboard began to tick over.
Steve departed, bringing in Goughy, who immediately got going with some back-foot drives and good running between the wickets.St Mary Bourne rotated their bowlers while the partnership began to grow. Noah and Goughy increased the scoring rate before both retired at 43 and 52 respectively.
Adam and Will Mc came out and both settled nicely. Adam was unlucky to pick out a fielder with a well-timed shot, while Will struck two big sixes in a nice innings of 20-odd. James and Will H kept the scoreboard moving, with James hitting the first six of his career.
Oakley finished on around 185 which, given the strength of St Mary Bourne’s batting, was unlikely to be enough. However, that wasn’t really the point—overs in the legs, time in the middle, and building good habits were the priorities.
Second Innings – Bowling & Fielding
Alan and Zac opened the bowling, with Alan providing a decent line and length and Zac bringing good pace.Zac delivered the ball of the game, cleaning up one of the opening batsmen with a beauty.
Will Mc (2 wickets), Goughy, and James M all picked up wickets. Steve took a sharp catch behind the stumps off a good delivery from Will, while the skipper held on to a strong catch off Goughy with the ball travelling at a rate of knots.
St Mary Bourne Chase
Truth be told, the SMB batsmen were always going to see it home with ease. James took some heavy punishment as the game was wrapped up just before a biblical downpour arrived. Despite the defeat, this was an enjoyable game of cricket against a strong side who were gracious in victory and great fun to play against.
We wish them the best for their season, and the match proved to be of real benefit to our players.