Oakley missed out on what should have been a reasonably comfortable victory on Saturday, courtesy of some below par fielding, plenty of bad luck and finally, a good old bit of old fashioned controversy.
Titchborne batted first and somehow managed to conjure up a score of 171 after offering a series of chances that either just cleared fielders or were dropped.
All the bowlers did well enough to create openings and pick of the bunch was Sam Holbrook with three wickets whilst the others were shared between Clive Welsman, Tom Holbrook and George Lethaby.
Chasing the Titchborne target, Oaks lost a couple of early wickets but the excellent Chris Morris steadied the ship on his way to a quality 50. However batsman came and went with minor flurries of four and sixes, but no-one was able to hang around to see the Oaks home.
Ultimately it was left to Alex Brundle and Bob Lethaby to score 30 off the last few overs and they both offered some hope of heroics with a couple of boundaries each and good running between the wickets. However, the game was to end in controversial and cataclysmic circumstances that were well suited to Bob’s chaotic personality.
Facing the final ball of the the penultimate Over, Bob played and missed before proceeding to walk up the wicket to talk to Alex Brundle at the other end. Upon seeing that the umpire had not called the end of the Over, the Titchborne keeper stumped Lethaby and claimed the wicket, much to the bemusement of several players and the umpires.
It was seen by many players as an unsporting act but the fact is that technically, it was the correct decision and though 14 off the last over was unlikely, it would have been a better end to the game to see two tail-ender’s giving it a go.
Club members and guests came along to help Clive celebrate his birthday.
However, defeat didn’t stop the members hanging around to have a great evening celebrating captain, Clive Welsman’s birthday.
Up the Oaks!!