Report by 3’s correspondent, Adam Triner
Ollie off to a Flier
Skipper Jeff lost the toss on a sunny afternoon and the Oaks were asked to bowl first by Basingstoke. The team thought it looked like a 200+ pitch with shortish boundaries and a fast-looking outfield. We had a brilliant start with Ollie Rabley dismissing the top 3 batters in his opening spell the first of which was an amazing diving catch by Deano at mid-on.
At the other end Mike De Vos bowled 5 tidy overs with no reward unfortunately. Mike was replaced by Ryan who bowled well with some good pace but again without reward. A very good partnership of 76 runs followed before Jeff came into the attack and with Steve standing up he took a blow to the end of a finger – he soldiered on with gritted teeth.
Steve Takes a Whack as Partnership Ends
Shortly afterwards with Steve now standing back Jeff found a thickish edge of the number 4 batsman’s bat (who was on 60) sending the ball in the direction of point where debutant Will McCarthy took a very good catch. The very next ball Jeff found the edge of the new batsman and Steve took a good catch behind leaving Jeff on a hat trick again (twice in 2 games). He didn’t get it but the Oaks were now back in the game with Basingstoke 118-5 after 25 overs.
Ravi replaced Ryan and found a good rhythm straight away and at the other end Kalum replaced Jeff. Kalum bowled the number 7 with his third ball and bowled tidily finishing with 1-21 off 5 overs. Ravi picked up a couple of wickets at the other end and finished with 2-26 off 7 overs. With Basingstoke now 145-8
Oaks Finish the Job
Will McCarthy came on to bowl and he looked a little nervous in his first over but his second over was right on the money, unfortunately he didn’t pick up a wicket and finished with 0-12 off two overs. With 2 overs to go Jeff brought himself back on and bowled the number 9 with his last ball.
We now needed one more wicket to get maximum bowling points and Jeff threw the ball to paceman Ryan who delivered with his 4th ball with a great delivery that bowled the Basingstoke number 11 leaving Basingstoke 174 all out.
The Reply
Oakley didn’t get off to the best of starts with Jeff out in the 3rd over for a quick fire 14 followed by Kris soon after. Steve Savage walked to the wicket at this point and we then had a bit of a recovery before Kalum was out LBW for a solid 12. Ryan was in next and nicked his 5th delivery which was caught by the wicket keeper. The Oaks were now 38-4 and looking in real trouble!
Adam was next man in and along with Steve they put on 24 before Adam was caught at mid-wicket. Deano was next in and he made a good 5 before he was bowled by a corker that would have troubled Joe Root. Will McCarthy came in next and batted really well hitting a couple of fine 4’s but then disaster struck when Steve pulled a hamstring going for a quick single.
Savage the Legend
He could barely walk so called for a runner – at one point it looked like Kalum was going to come out as the runner but luckily for the Oaks Ryan saved the day and got his pads on quicker. Will was out soon after and at 116-7 after 30 overs the Oaks looked like they were going to be beaten.
But then in walks Ollie Rabley who along with Steve proceeded to dispatch the Basingstoke bowlers to all parts of the ground. There was some fine running between the wickets too by Ryan – can he run for Steve every week? Before long they had knocked off the required runs with 9 balls to spare bagging another 24 points for the Oaks! Man of the match Steve finished on 68 not out and Ollie on 36 not out.
On we go!