Winning In The Rain

Oakley batted through the rain to make it four wins out of five in the league against Fleet yesterday. Oakley had to make several changes due to injuries and other commitments, and had the Rowley family to thank for donating George, Oscar, and eight year old Alfie to the cause, with all three performing brilliantly.


Oakley come off in the rain after another win

Oakley put Fleet in to bat, but started badly with unusually expensive bowling from the normally reliable Lethaby and Worthington. This wasn't helped by Matt Vickers deputising for Brad Coates struggling behind the wickets with an injured hand, and some sloppy fielding all round. However as so often happens this season, this gave the opportunity for others to shine, and up stepped James Lancaster (3-16) and 10 year old Oscar Rowley (2-15) with two great spells of bowling to reduce Fleet to 94 off 20 overs.

In response Oakley had a shaky start losing the openers early, but George Lethaby came in at three and hit a match winning 31 retired which was backed up by fine innings of 17 by Alex Gray who was a bit unlucky to be out LBW when going well. With Lethaby having to retire and the quick loss of Worthington (6) and Vickers (4), Oakley looked vulnerable, but Oscar (6no) and George Rowley (9no) calmly saw Oakley to victory with 6n.o and 9n.o respectively.

On current form Oakley are beginning to look genuine challengers, but the wides and sloppy fielding need to be addressed against stronger teams before this can happen.

Bowling
Worthington 4-0-18-1
Lancaster 4-0-16-3
Lethaby 3-0-24-0
O Rowley 3-0-15-2
Bambridge 2-0-8-1
Gray 1-0-2-0
Clarke 1-0-2-0
G Rowley 1-0-3-0
A Rowley 1-0-4-0

Batting
Bambridge bowled 2
Lancaster bowled 0
Lethaby Retired 31
Vickers bowled 4
Gray LBW 17
Worthington bowled 6
G Rowley Not Out 9
O Rowley Not Out 6

M.O.M George Lethaby 31 Retired

Winning Run Continues

Oakley were worthy winners against Alton on a beautiful morning at Oakley Park yesterday. Another fine bowling display by Oakley reduced Alton to 86 all out, with stand out bowling jointly coming from Worthington and Lethaby with identical figures of 4-11-1-3. The target should have been less but for some tiredness in the field allowing a decent last stand from Alton as they rallied from 48-8.




Oakley reversed the batting order to give opportunities to lower order batsmen, and Grey (4) Brown (7) and Newcombe (9) all contributed well, before leaving Lancaster and Bulley to set about the Alton attack at destructive rate, with Bulley proving there was to be no "After the Lord Mayors show" performance after blast weeks 32 n.o with another 30 n.o appearance taking his average is a staggering 87 this year in all competitions.

With Bulley retiring and Worthington going for 5, this left Lethaby and Lancaster to comfortably see Oakley home with Lancaster finishing the game in style with a thumping six



Bowling

Worthington 4-1-11-3
Lancaster 4-0-24-0
Lethaby 4-1-11-3
Vickers 4-0-22-1
Grey 1-0-9-0
Clarke 1-0-7-0
Brown 2-0-5-1

Batting

Brown bowled 7
Grey Bowled 4
Newcombe Bowled 9
Clarke Bowled 1
Bulley Ret 30
Worthington Caught 5
Lancaster Not Out 25
Lethaby Not Out 5

DNB
Coates
Vickers
Blackall

M.O.M: Too hard to call, great bowling from Worthington and Lethaby, great batting from Bulley and Lancaster. No award this week.

Odiham Bulley-ed

A tremendous batting performance by Sam Bulley guided Oakley to victory over spirited Odiham last night. Oakley got off to a poor start in the field with some misfields and off line bowling, but tightened up with some accurate bowling by Worthington, Lethaby, Clark and Grey and a devastating three wicket spell of slower bowling by Bambridge, who recovered well after an expensive first over. Oakley did ever so well as a team in keeping Odiham to 102.

Oakley chased the total with a controlled batting display to keep the run rate going, with Sam Bulley and Jack Bambridge totally in control until Jack comitted suicide with a daft reverse sweep that saw him clean bowled. Worthington joined Bulley at the crease and normal service was resumed with some fine running between the wickets with Sam retiring with an excellent 32. Oakley then lost the wickets of Worthington (13) and Lethaby (0) but Alex Blackall and Matt Vickers calmly saw Oakley home to a deseved win.

M.O.M Sam Bulley

Batting
Bulley ret 32
Bambridge Bowled 7
Worthington Bowled 13
Lethaby caught 0
Vickers not out 4
Blackall Not Out 7

Bowling
Worthington 4-1-11-2
Vickers 4-0-28-0
Lethaby 4-0-16-0
Bambridge 4-0-23-3
Grey 2-0-13-0
Clarke 2-0-8-0

Poor Batting Costs Oakley

Oakley must learn how to play good balls and wait for the bad ones to hit if they are to start winning games. Only James Lancaster (17) Julian Worthington (9) and late resistance from Henry Newcombe performed with the bat, with the rest of the team out to poor shot selection rather than good bowling by Cove that ultimately cost them the game.

A ferocious fightback led by excellent Bowling and tight fielding almost got Oakley back in contention but 70 was never going to be a competitive score. Julian Worthington steamed in and deserved better than 2-17, and he was well backed up by George Lethaby (2-14) and MattVickers (2-19) with James Lancaster and Alex Grey also bowling well helped by strong fielding.

Changes in the batting order will come tomorrow v Odiham

Overall: Batting Poor
Fielding: Excellent

M.O.M Julian: Great bowling, stoical last stand

Batting

Coates Caught 0
Blackall Bowled 1
Lancaster Bowled 17
Lethaby Caught 6
Vickers Caught 1
Bulley bowled 0
Worthington Not Out 9
Grey LBW 4
Brown Bowled 0
Rowley Bowled 0
Newcombe Bowled 5

Bowling

Worthington 2-15-4-0
Lancaster 0-23-4-0
Lethaby 2-12-4-0
Vickers 2-19-4-0
Grey 0-2-1-0

Poor Bowling And Bad Light Knocks Oakley Out

A poor bowling display from Oakley blew their chances of causing an upset against Holyborne last night, with only Julian Worthington and George Lethaby posting reasonable figures. However in fairness to the bowlers the strong cold easterly that blew across Oakley Park couldn't have helped. To emphasise the point 64 of Holyborne's total of 152 came in extras.

Having to chase a huge total Oakley had to bat with agression which proved the undoing of Blackall (1) Coates (0) Lethaby (3) and Vickers (3) before Lancaster 18 and Bulley 13no showed the way before the game was conceded in bad light with Oakley well behind the total.

This was a night to forget for the bowlers, but one to learn from also, and positives come from the fact that Oakley were certainly not outplayed by a team two leagues ahead. Man of the match was newcomer Sam Bulley with an excellent fielding performance and 13 not out with the bat meaning he is yet to be dismissed this season. Well done Sam.

Stats below note that they were 8 ball overs

Bowling

Worthington 1-22-3

Lancaster 1-35-3

Lethaby 1-20-3

Vickers 0-28-3

Clark 0-16-2

Bulley 1-13-1

Batting

Coates caught 0

Blackall bowled 1

Lancaster bowled 18

Lethaby caught 3

Vickers LBW 3

Bulley N.O 13

Worthington LBW 1

Grey N.O 1

MOM Sam Bulley

Oakley Beat Eversley

Oakley played extremely well to beat Eversley today in what turned out a comfortable victory at Wellington College. Oakley recovered from the early loss of Brad Coates, and James Lancaster (17) and Alex Blackall (10) set about building the innings. George Lethaby then made an impressive 21. Sam Bulley (11 n.o on debut) and Julian Worthington with an excellent 20 boosted the score aided by a thumping 6 from Alex Grey taking the total to 110

In reply Eversley got off to a good start before Julian Worthington took the vital wicket of their impressive opener, and terrorised Eversly with a cracking spell of opening bowling superbly assisted by James Lancaster. The two openers were then backed up brilliantly by George Lethaby , Matt Vickers, Matt Clarke and Aaron Brown, with new boys Newcombe, Bulley and Grey also doing their bit.

What impressed the most today was the spirit of the team, the constant backing and helping from the more experienced players, and the overall will to do well. Well done lads.

Oakley 110-Eversley 75

Batting

Blackall bowled 10

Coates bowled 0

Lancaster C&B 17

Lethaby bowled 21

Vickers Caught 0

Bulley N.O 11

Brown run Out 0

Worthington C&B 20

Gray N.O 6

Newcombe DNB

Clarke DNB

Bowling

Worthington 1-17-3-0

Lancaster 1-10-3-0

Lethaby 2-5-3-1

Vickers 3-12-3-0

Clarke 1-9-2-0

Brown 0-7-2-0

Newcombe 0-11-1-0

Grey 0-2-1-0

Bulley 0-2-0.4- 0

Eversley Away

The team for Eversly away is as follows: 10.00 am Start. This due to take place at the lovely Wellington College in Crowthorne
Drive through main gates at the college, go past the first pitch on right and carry on as if you are exiting on the other side, and you will see another pitch an pavillion on the right. This is a special place to play so enjoy everyone.


In order of Batting

Bradley Coates
Alex Blackall
James Lancaster
George Lethaby
Matt Vickers
Sam Bulley
Aaron Brown
Julian Worthington
Alex Grey
Henry Newcombe
Matt Clark

Res: Ben Farragher, Duncan Van Dyke

Fielding positions below: