Oakley’s bowling seals the match
Oakham's Jamie Oakley took five wickets during Saturday's demolition of Stoughton and Thurnby 2nds Photo: Geoff Atton
BOWLERS win matches as Oakham showed with devastating effect in the Everards Leicestershire League on Saturday.
Jamie Oakley took five wickets to turn Oakham 1st XI’s game on its head at the Lime Kilns, while Matt Osman took six for 20 for Oakham 2nds as he almost single-handedly demolished Loughborough Carillon Old Boys 2nds.
There were decent knocks with the bat as well, most notably Paul Haynes (49), Sean Cowley (47no) and Bhavin Shukla (68no) for the firsts, and that man Osman again for the 2nd XI a half century - but it was lethal spells of bowling in both games that decided the results.
Oakham were struggling at home to Stoughton and Thurnby 2nds when skipper Cowley introduced left-arm spinner Oakley along with Chet Shukla who bagged three wickets himself.
“The turning point was the bowling of Jamie Oakley,” said Cowley.
“They were about 100 for two after 15 overs and I thought at one point we would be chasing 300.
“Jamie is a match-winner with the ball and was well supported by Shukla who got three wickets. Those two bowled very well after we introduced them.”
Matt Parnham, on his debut for the 1st XI, took two for 36 to claim the other two Stoughton wickets as Oakham reeled them in for just 192 - a tally that gave Oakham every hope of a home win, which they duly did with eight wickets in hand.
“We got off to a great start with Paul Haynes making 49 and Bhavin Shukla unbeaten on 68,” added Cowley.
“They are good quality batsmen. Now we have the possibility of picking up points from teams around or below us in the next couple of games. I feel we are starting to get a top-half-of-table side together.”
Oakham play Kegworth 3rd XI away on Saturday when they will be without Oakley, who is unavailable.
Oakham’s 2nd XI face Loughborough Town 3rd XI at home on Saturday and will hope to maintain the form that destroyed Loughborough Carillon Old Boys last Saturday.
The seconds arrived at bottom-of-the-table Carillon Old Boys to find a wet pitch and outfield following a torrential downpour a day earlier. However, the game went ahead on a pitch that resembled rolled mud, and Osman again lost the toss, condemning Oakham to bat first on a pitch that could only favour the bowlers.
Oakham were soon in trouble at 23-3 with the top three batsmen back in the pavilion but the captain made amends for his inability to win the toss, steadying the ship with a fine 50 that included several crisp cover drives to the boundary despite the wet and muddy outfield.
He was well supported by Ryan Thwaites (38) who struck two fine straight sixes off the opposition’s opening bowler, and this pair took the score past the 100 mark before both were dismissed leaving Lyle Copeland (25) to take the total past the 150 mark with some brutal strokes including 20 runs from one over.
Oakham finished on 151-7 which proved to be a very good score on a difficult wicket.
With their frontline seam bowler promoted to the 1st XI, Oakham turned to their spin twins, Osman and Thwaites who repeated their batting heroics with the ball. Osman finished with 6-20 from 15 overs and Thwaites chipped in with 4 wickets as Oakham dismissed Loughborough Carillion OB for a meagre 65 runs to win by 86 runs and secure a maximum 24 points.
The victory pushed Oakham up to 2nd position in the league, 10 points behind Saturday’s opponents.
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Weather for Oakham
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North
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Temperature: 7 C to 14 C
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