The last time Oakley’s Third XI faced a Holybourne side who have no business being in the division they find themselves in, three of the top four in the order got ducks and we were all bowled out for 77 after 23.4 hapless overs. Holybourne, mercifully, caught that total within the 11th over, ensuring that we could all return to Oakley Park from Newfound in time for the Second XI’s tea and second innings.
It comes as no surprise then, dear reader, that the return leg away from home was one that not many in the side were particularly looking forward to and, perhaps cynically, may explain a few key absences and a surprise midseason holiday to the Canary Islands (only joking, skip!).
Needless to say, as news broke through to the team that we were being sent out to bat first (again), we set par at 77, with the sole purpose of a sunny Hampshire afternoon as being one where we desperately attempt just to win a few batting points.
With the in-form Captain Dan sunning himself in Lanzarote, the armband was passed to experienced head Tom Harris, who strode out to the middle with the ever venerable Steve Savage. Their aim? To frustrate Holybourne’s openers and mount a partnership that could put us in a position to win a few of those precious points.
Oakley Top Order Digs In
Runs were hard to come by from the o?, unsurprising considering former Oakley man Dave Bowers (who had secured a fifer in the first matchup at Newfound earlier in the year) andHolybourne’s star colt were bowling solid line and length. But the experienced men of Oakley kept their heads and grabbed the singles when they were offered and didn’t swing at anything unnecessarily. When the fifth over arrived, Harris sprung into life, finding two incredibly timed boundaries to kickstart an opening partnership that reached 45.
The gulf in quality was evident, despite our best efforts, with the second order bowlers coming in and being even more threatening than the openers. The pace was ramped up and the ball was being moved in all sorts of ways. This was to result in the end of the captain’s innings, with a quite spectacular ball swung in that clattered top of off. “Too good for me” was the honest assessment from Harris; still a very worthy 22 of 24 to get us up and running. Tom no.2 came in to replace and dug his heels in even further. By this point, ensuring the damage that Holybourne duo Patel and Callingham could threaten was minimised became the primary objective. Savage and Hartgill did just that. Even though the strike rate was lower than an adder’s nut sack, the wickets column on the scoreboard still read 1 as we headed to drinks.
Middle Order Pedal to the Metal
That wasn’t to remain the case for long, as Hartgill fell for a stubborn 18 with Oakley on 75. Par very much in sight. Dave Parry came in with zero intention of allowing Holybourne’s attack to maintain their lowly economies, and smashed a trademark four to surpass the total from the previous matchup. This aggression shook the opponents, with Parry punishing the leg-spin-or-was-it-off-spin-no-one-knows attack, including a sequence of three boundaries in a row in the
27th over. Five boundaries and some quick singles led Parry to a stellar 26 o? 25, but the reintroduction of the bearded Bowers was to become his undoing – bowled trying to whack one that really didn’t need whacking. Prashanth came in with similar intent, but a rush of blood to call a quick single resulted in the eventual dismissal of Savage, who by this point had faced 87 balls and turning a shade of bronze the Eifel Tower would be proud of.
Will Hodgetts replaced him at 6, a man who was yet to reach double figures for Oakley, but had started the week with an unbeaten 4 in the Slam and a 25* for Mad Alan’s pub team midweek.
Was his luck finally turning? Quick singles and well timed boundaries for both Hodgetts and Dev helped accelerate the score towards the 150 mark – including a sublime cover drive from the former dubbed “shot of the match” by numerous players in the opposition, as well as Savage later on – another batting point in sight! But, despite hitting six o? the first two balls of the 37th over,
Prasanth was bowled, middle stump out the ground. Sadly, the damage wasn’t done, with Zac Newton coming in to be caught for a golden duck, and despite George Bird saving the hat-trick ball, he was gone for a second ball duck to end a catastrophic over for the Oaks.Will did what he could to protect Ravi at the other end, turning down singles in the hope of something more, but a single on the fifth ball to prepare for the following over proved ill-fated, with Ravi going for the Oak’s second golden duck of the day.
The energetic Alex Holman came in at 10 with the message clear – run, run, run. Patel was probably hoping to finish the job after the three wickets he’d just taken, but with rapid singles and a wonderful flick out of the feet from Hodgetts for 4 and his final over went for an uncharacteristic 10. With one over left, Hodgetts gave himself the green light to go after everything, hitting a fine four off the first ball, and exchanging singles with Alex over the next two. A swing and top edge sent the ball fizzing in the air, and the Holybourne captain made no mistake, Hodgetts was gone for a personal Oakley record of 25 having led the charge down the stretch. Lottie Harris, first time in whites for Oakley, came in to see off the final two balls to ensure that Oakley had survived their innings.
An absolutely phenomenal effort ensured that the Oaks had more than surpassed their own expectations. A total of 161 was by no means a lot, but considering the quality of the opposition, and the score that had been mustered a couple of months prior, this was a valiant effort.
Be Aggressive, Let’s See What Happens
Having been caught within 11 overs last time these sides met, the message from Captain Tom was clear – bowl at the stumps, be aggressive, and let’s see where that gets us. He backed this message up with the field set, with only fine leg on the boundary, everyone else in – Holybourne would have to find the sweet spot and the gaps if they were to run up the score.
Well… they did, sadly. That man Patel, again, flicked a couple of sweet shots over the mid-wicket and square for four to start their innings. Another 8 runs off the second over and the hosts were already a tenth of the way there with two overs down. Despite this though, openers George Bird and Prashanth Dev kept their heads. When they bowled full and on the line of the wicket, they gave the batsmen some serious trouble, limiting the boundaries and opportunities.
This composure was duly rewarded, with Bird getting the breakthrough, a wonderful full ball clattering the bottom of off. Oakley were up and running with the ball. He didn’t have to wait long for his next one either, forcing Patel into a shot he really shouldn’t have played – sending the ball straight down the throat of Parry at mid-on.
Kancharla Masterclass
Ravi Kancharla came on at the other end to over something di?erent with his trademark off spin. It was, simply put, a joy to watch. The Holybourne batters just could not deal with his line, varying pace and movement. It was truly a masterclass in spin and one that didn’t take long to yield a result, forcing another drive into the safe hands of Dave Parry, this time at mid-on.
Zac Newton helped to maintain the pressure at the clubhouse end opposite, but Holybourne rediscovered their ability to find boundaries through gaps in the field. Once a ball was hit, it stayed hit, there was not an awful lot the Oaks could do to stop it.
The over of the match came just before drinks, however, with Ravi grabbing himself a wicket maiden, caught by Bird. Holybourne headed into the break 126-5.
The opportunities were there and they kept coming, it was just whether they could be taken. Alex Holman got himself out the way of one at square leg with a backward bend Neo would have been proud of. In his defence, had he not got out the way, the ball still probably would have gone for four, just attached to his sternum. But the very best opportunity came to George Bird, who rather than attempting to put his hands in front of himself to catch a ball coming straight at him at mid-on, decided the best way to try and get the batter out would be to turn 180 degrees and try and catch it with his arse. An innovative way to go about it, given he’d already taken one, but without success this time. Still, it gave everyone a good giggle.
Holman, at least, managed to redeem himself by taking Oakley’s final wicket of the afternoon, with Holybourne now on 154-6. A four o? the final ball of that over took them to 158.With Ravi’s race run, having bowled a phenomenal eight overs at figures of 3-23, it meant Harris had to turn to someone new for the 26th over of the innings, with both sides needing four to win.
Sadly, for Oakley, four wickets are distinctively harder to get than four runs. With that in mind, assumedly to save the Oakley bowlers from bruised egos, Hodgetts was given the ball to see what he could do with it; after all, he only needed four wickets and he had six balls to do it with.
All 15 men on the pitch, 11 Oakleymen, two batters and two umpires, had no idea what to expect, including the bowler himself. But he came steaming in and delivered what can only be described as a textbook bouncer that Curtly Ambrose would be proud of, flying past the batter’s helmet into the outstretched, vertical hand of Savage behind the stumps. Have some of that. It turns out, that for two balls, Hodgetts had turned into prime Malcolm Marshall, with the second ball also whistling past the helmet of a ducking batter – where had this come from?! All of a sudden, the
Holybourne batters didn’t know what to do. Sadly, it was only to be the two balls. Despite bowling at the wickets with a nice full line and length, Holybourne’s number seven was able to flick the third ball out of his feet towards deep forward, which Zac let trickle over the boundary before exaggerating a dive so choreographed that Tom Daley would have stopped knitting and applauded for. He was clearly done, as so toonow was the match.
A Valiant Effort
Considering the predictions pre-match, the Oakley Third XI, to a man and woman, put up one hell of a fight. Holybourne are a team that would likely steamroll the division above, let alone the division they’re in, so to survive a full innings with the bat, and create a bit of squeaky bum time with the ball is something to be immensely proud of.
There are some tough, but winnable, games coming up for this team over the next few weeks and if they perform anything like they did on this day against this team, then there is no reason why the Oaks can’t string a few wins together to finish o? the season in style.
Before we end, a final word of appreciation must go to Holybourne for their demeanour and hospitality. The vast, vast majority of the game was played in a way that cricket should be played at this level – light hearted, well meaning, and overall, fun. To top it off with homemade pizza and a few drinks in the sun afterwards was the icing on the cake. Finish off the season well and we hope to never have to play you again.