Weather Hot Oakley Not

Oakley wilted in the heat yesterday as some uncharacteristic poor batting, bowling and sloppy fielding let an average Aldershot side win comfortably at Oakley Park. Right from the off, the scoreboard was ticking quickly as wides and no balls became the highest scorers. Too often a good delivery was followed by a poor one, and the body language of the side was tired looking, courtesy of perhaps a few too many late nights and very humid weather conditions. Over half of the Aldershot total came in wides and no balls, that is very deflating, and it showed in the field at times.

In reply Bradley Coates continued his return to form and tore into the Aldershot attack before a careless run out saw him depart for 16. From then on it all fell apart with all the opening batsmen going cheaply in a dramatic collapse, with Julian Worthington and Henry Newcombe the only other batsmen at the crease for any real amount of time. Some needless back biting and finger pointing left a bad taste in the mouth, but that’s sport, and Oakley must now come back a stronger team unit. The fact that there was a lot of emotion flying around at the end of the game shows that parent’s and children care about losing, a very positive sign from a bad day at the office.

A massive game versus Basingstoke next week is maybe what the players need.

Batting (oh dear)

Coates LBW 16
Bulley caught 0
Lancaster bowled 0
Worthington NO 19
Lethaby Bowled 0
Vickers Bowled 0
Blackall Bowled 0
Vickers Bowled 0
Van Dyke Caught 0
Grey Bowled 1
Newcombe Bowled 8
Rowley Bowled 0

Bowling

Worthington 4-0-18-2
Lancaster 2-0-18-0
Vickers 4-0-24-2
Lethaby 4-0-12-0
Bulley 2-0-16-0
Rowley 1-0-11-0
Grey 2-0-6-2
Newcombe 1-0-7-0