Drawing Petersfield at home in the league is always a good thing because it’s blooming miles away. You won’t be surprised to hear it was warm and sunny when we welcomed Petersfield to a very brown looking Oakley Park on Saturday.
As is the way in village cricket, there was a last minute change to the team. Mozza’s fiancé Kat went into labour late on Friday evening meaning he wasn’t sure if he could commit to the whole game. It was decided it might be best to sit this one out. George replaced him, stepping up from the Two’s.
Petersfield Put In
After we won the toss and chose to bowl on a pitch reminiscent of the Nevada desert, Bownie dragged us out for a warm up.
Stefan and Neil opened the bowling in their usual menacing fashion. Stefan was particularly accurate and was furious unlucky not to get an early wicket for a caught behind. It didn’t matter though, as moments later Neil removed the same opener with a great delivery that took the edge. For the second time in 2 weeks, Ian decided it was easier to palm it up to Bown who flew to his left to take the catch. The number 3 didn’t hang around long as Neil then had him caught behind a couple of overs later.
Stefan was unlucky not to get a wicket in a fantastic opening spell and was replaced by DJ. Meanwhile the other Petersfield opener and captain, was starting to get his eye in. Josh then replaced Neil and proceeded to bowl his best spell of the season (apart from the front foot no balls). In his 6 overs he removed numbers 4, 5 and 6 from the Petersfield middle order.
Oaks on Briefly Top
At t 100 odd for 5 the Oaks were on top. Josh should have also had the wicket of the Petersfield captain as he trapped him plumb LBW. Unfortunately it was a front foot no ball. Classic misfortune just when we needed a bit of luck.
Brad then came on and bowled well for no reward as the Petersfield number 7 looked to dig in with the skipper and rebuild. Unfortunately at the other end, Oakley were a bit loose and the runs started to flow. Brad eventually removed the opener for a well made 82 although we did drop him 3 times. I won’t dwell on that because I was was not doing well in the field either.
A Hefty Chase
Petersfield finished on a very competitive 245 but the pitch performed better than expected so it was definitely chaseable.
With Brad and DJ opening the batting The Oaks got off to an inevitable quick start. Brad smashed 3 fours in the first before he was given out LBW in the 2nd over, making way for Will Cheyney.
Will carried on where Brad left off, hitting two big sixes in succession before being caught at gully. Bugger.
DJ fell soon after to a leading edge but Josh and Woody then started to rebuild, with Josh looking very fluent picking up where he left off from his century last week. After a couple of nice boundaries, Woody was unlucky to get caught as he nailed one straight to a fielder. Josh was looking good though and George and Bownie were able to provide valuable support for him with cameos of 18 and 21 respectively.
Terrible Josh
Whilst Josh’s knock of 68 looks like it was the perfect mix of crunching boundaries and good running, I must point out it was actually rubbish. Anyone from other clubs who are reading this should take more interest in our youngster Steve Savage. Steve scored one of the best innings of 12 you’ll ever see up at Newfound on Saturday, and we know the Hants over 70 player is being targeted by the big boys.
Unfortunately for Oakley, Josh’s awful innings came to an end with a fantastic one handed catch on the boundary and we were now 9 down with 40 still needed at a run a ball. The miracle wasn’t to be as I played a poor shot to get out. Fair play to Stefan who batted really well but was left high and dry 19 not out. An innings that deserved better reward.
In Summary
Well done to Petersfield and we wish them well in their push for promotion. They are a good side and if they can get up, they will do okay. It was refreshing to play against a good spirited team who couldn’t be more polar opposite to, for arguments sake, a community club from the Southampton area.
As for the First XI. We need a positive end to the season and a push for a top six finish. Then we can analyse DJ’s spreadsheets and see where we have not been quite good enough. On Saturday, for example, we scored 194 runs with the bat, Petersfield scored 195. We gave 50 extras, they gave 20. That is like Petersfield having another batsman. You don’t get promoted by being the masters of gifting extras.
On we travel.