Fair Oak maintained their second placed position among the Southern Premier Division 2 leading group with a six-wicket victory over Waterlooville at a rather damp and dreary Lapstone Park.
The Oaks attack relished the slow pitch and humid conditions, and Waterlooville got off to a turgid start, taking 20 overs to compile their first 30 runs; the first boundary did not come until a few overs after that! They lost three wickets along the way to Jimmy Hawkings (2 for 27), Ben Smith (1 for 14) and Ross Stewart, whose 8 overs cost just 10 runs and also earned him a wicket, writes Greg Boughton.
Oaks skipper Charlie Gwynn bagged another four wickets for 11, also off of 8 overs, but the introduction of the spinners enabled the visitors to loosen the shackles. Tim Jackson (30), Dan Birch (27) and Hayden Knight (20) got their innings moving, and some desperate hitting at the end took Waterlooville to a more respectable 120 for 8 off their 40-over allocation.
Gregor McKenzie (pictured) got the Oaks reply off to a typically flamboyant start. He walloped the first ball of the innings over square leg for six, and launched the second skywards only to see it fall to gully – who dropped it.
Waterlooville were to pay dearly for that slip. McKenzie, who faced just 26 balls, contributed 46 to an opening stand of 48 with Will Hughes before inevitably holing out to a superb diving catch by Birch on the boundary off of the persevering Sam Hillman (2 for 21).
Up to that point Hughes had contented himself with a watching brief, but he went on to unleash some fine classical strokes, eventually making 26. He shared in a third-wicket stand of 40 with Gwynn, who struck 29 runs of his own. Ashan Silva pegged Oaks back by dismissing both, but by now the hosts were so far ahead of the asking rate that victory was a formality.
Rising stars Tom Clark (11no) and Harry Reed ushered Fair Oak to a winning 121 for 4 with nearly eleven overs unused, rounding off a victory that was rather more satisfying than the weather.
Fair Oak are second in the log, 11 points behind OTs & Romsey, whose home match against Hartley Wintney was rained off.
The Oaks attack relished the slow pitch and humid conditions, and Waterlooville got off to a turgid start, taking 20 overs to compile their first 30 runs; the first boundary did not come until a few overs after that! They lost three wickets along the way to Jimmy Hawkings (2 for 27), Ben Smith (1 for 14) and Ross Stewart, whose 8 overs cost just 10 runs and also earned him a wicket, writes Greg Boughton.
Oaks skipper Charlie Gwynn bagged another four wickets for 11, also off of 8 overs, but the introduction of the spinners enabled the visitors to loosen the shackles. Tim Jackson (30), Dan Birch (27) and Hayden Knight (20) got their innings moving, and some desperate hitting at the end took Waterlooville to a more respectable 120 for 8 off their 40-over allocation.
Gregor McKenzie (pictured) got the Oaks reply off to a typically flamboyant start. He walloped the first ball of the innings over square leg for six, and launched the second skywards only to see it fall to gully – who dropped it.
Waterlooville were to pay dearly for that slip. McKenzie, who faced just 26 balls, contributed 46 to an opening stand of 48 with Will Hughes before inevitably holing out to a superb diving catch by Birch on the boundary off of the persevering Sam Hillman (2 for 21).
Up to that point Hughes had contented himself with a watching brief, but he went on to unleash some fine classical strokes, eventually making 26. He shared in a third-wicket stand of 40 with Gwynn, who struck 29 runs of his own. Ashan Silva pegged Oaks back by dismissing both, but by now the hosts were so far ahead of the asking rate that victory was a formality.
Rising stars Tom Clark (11no) and Harry Reed ushered Fair Oak to a winning 121 for 4 with nearly eleven overs unused, rounding off a victory that was rather more satisfying than the weather.
Fair Oak are second in the log, 11 points behind OTs & Romsey, whose home match against Hartley Wintney was rained off.
