The First XI headed to Alton expecting a very tough afternoon but found themselves up against a weakened Third XI. Alton were game opponents, but they were dismantled by a ruthless Josh Carpenter, who smashed a magnificent 146, before a complete bowling performance finished the job.
A thumping 275-run victory, and next Saturday’s game against Whitchurch is now looking increasingly like a promotion decider. No pressure, then.
The Twos made rather harder work of their afternoon.
The bowling was a bit iffy, the fielding occasionally joined in, and Hartley Wintney took advantage to post a decent, although certainly not terrifying, 238.
Then Kunal Solanki and George Lethaby decided enough of that nonsense.
They launched a rapid opening assault of just shy of 100, featuring the slightly ridiculous statistic that the partnership contained only five singles. At 64-0, both batsmen had faced only one of the bowlers.
George eventually departed for a lively 38, but with a flurry of useful cameos around him, notably Nigel Bishop (33) Kunal simply carried on. He finished his afternoon with a superb 120 not out as the Oaks cruised home with six wickets and plenty of overs to spare.
That’s now five wins in six for the Twos. Promotion form arriving just slightly too late to actually get promoted. Still, very handy to take into 2027.
The Threes couldn’t quite complete the Oakley hat-trick.
Once again, they were probably 30 or 40 runs short of where they needed to be. A promising start from Dan Beckell and Steve Savage faded, before a terrific last-wicket partnership of around 50 between George Bird and Zak Newton dragged us up to 208 and gave us something to defend.
Alas, it wasn’t quite enough, with Crown Taverners getting home by five wickets.
The Threes are getting very close to being a seriously good lower-league side. At the moment, they’re just missing that little bit of extra quality and experience that turns narrow defeats into narrow victories.
With the youngsters gaining a bit more nous every week, that will come.
So, two wins from three. Meat Loaf would have taken it.
Onwards to next week’s drama. Well done, everyone ????