With Hampshire’s men’s team suffering a poor start to the season, Oakley Ladies headed down to play at the Utilita Bowl and show them how to win cricket matches. Despite being billed as a summer event, windy conditions with small pockets of rain made it look anything but.
Playing three matches on a pitch that has seen some of the worlds’ best cricketers take to the field was a great opportunity for the ladies, and they didn’t disappoint, putting in a fantastic team performance to take a clean sweep and put themselves into the mix for the winners’ tournament later in the summer.
First up was Sarisbury. Oakley fielded first and did well to keep them to a respectable total in slippery conditions, including Sels sending one of the openers’ stumps tumbling and Jude taking a good catch off the bowling of Jenny. It was then up to the batters to chase it down, and after the first two pairs had struck 50 from their 4 overs, the final four kept it sensible and brought it home to get off to a flying start.
Sarisbury 57-2
Oakley 71-1
Oakley win by 18
Next up were Hursley Park. This Oakley team bring a positive attitude to everything they do, and this was no more evident that in the very first over. After a couple of dots, Lucy conceded back to back boundaries. Did she let her head go down? No. The team rallied behind her and she kept plugging away, and the opposition batter found Brenda on the boundary for an excellent catch and swing the momentum back to Oakley. Gemma then struck with ball in a very tidy over, and Jude claimed a crucial run out in the final over to restrict the opposition to 55. Again, the batters continued to take big chunks out of the score, culminating with needing 5 to win from the final over. A single from the second delivery left Jenny needing simply to find the boundary. The tension built as the first three came and went. Buoyed by shouts from the onlooking crowd of LFG, Jenny connected with the 4th. Agonisingly, it headed towards a waiting fielder, who charitably let it slip through her fingers to allow Oakley a 1 run win!
Hursley Park 55-3
Oakley 56-2
Oakley win by 1 run
The final match was against Totton and Eling and the ladies looked to finish with a clean sweep. Fielding first again, the tone was set early with Jess taking a great catch off Lucy. Runs for opposition were proving hard to come by, further helped by Sels taking two catches, the second of which was a smart reaction off her own bowling. Oakley yet again came out to bat with a no-nonsense approach, the first pair of Jude and Gemma leaving just 12 needed from the final 6 overs. Even a comedy run out from the final pair was a very minor blot on an otherwise excellent team performance. Three out of three, and on to the next one in September!
Totton & Eling – 40-3
Oakley – 58-1
Oakley win by 18 runs
Well done Emily for scooping the player’s play award.
