The Men’s 1st XI travelled away to Middlewich on Saturday with captain Craig Phelan losing the toss and the home side electing to bat first. The innings started well for Oakmere with Matt Howard taking the first wicket and Matt Worsdale the second before the end of the third over. At 12/2, the home side looked to swing the momentum by playing some shots. The score started to move, but the increase in scoring rate also saw wickets fall. Howard and Worsdale (both 2/25) took a further wicket each as the score reached 46/4 after nine overs. After the powerplay the introduction of Benedict Verma and Josh Westwood continued to bring wickets. A wicket each in the 12th and 13th overs saw the home side six down. Not allowing the batting side to recover, Verma (2/7) took his second wicket in the 16th over to make the score 62/7. An eighth wicket partnership provided some fightback as Westwood continued to bowl tightly and Ethan Mackin was introduced from the other end. In the 23rd over Westwood made the breakthrough which was followed by a wicket for Mackin (1/15) in the next over and a third for Westwood (3/11) with the first ball of the 25th over. Tight bowling all round and a strong effort tin the field saw Middlewich bowled out for 87 in 24.1 overs.

Oakmere headed out to bat looking to capitalise on a good first innings. An early wicket in the second over brought Westwood to the crease. Runs slowly ticked along before the second wicket fell leaving the chasing side at 15/2 from 6 overs. Nick Verma joined Westwood and the pair began to build a partnership with Westwood quickly moving to 30 before falling at the end of the 13th over. With the score at 52/3, only 36 more runs were required for victory. Avoiding the panic of any further wickets falling, Verma and Harry Poole slowly went about their business adding 7 runs in the next four overs. Poole began to up the rate with a few boundaries and the pair guided the side to victory before the end of the 21st over. With Verma finishing 13 not out and Poole an unbeaten run a ball 21, Oakmere reached 88/3 from just 20.5 overs to wrap up a comprehensive victory.

After a convinving win and an all round team performance, the Men’s 1st XI has built on a strong previous win and kept the side 3rd in the league with 4 games to go. With an exciting run in to finish the season, the side are facing league leaders Tattenhall on Saturday looking to make it a very interesting conclusion to the season.

Oakmere Men’s 2nd XI (206/8) vs Ashton on Mersey 2nd XI (52 all out) – Oakmere won by 154 runs

The Men’s 2nd XI hosted Ashton on Mersey at Overdale Lane on Saturday, winning the toss and electing to bat first. Openers Dave Purcell and Dan Faulkner got the home side off to an excellent start, sharing an opening stand worth 68 runs before both were bowled in quick succession for 37 and 19 respectively. Ian Eaton and Jack Mackin took up the mantle and took the score into three figures before Mackin was out LBW for 8. 104/2 quickly became 113/6 and Oakmere were under pressure, but Eaton and Nick Guest batted sensibly to steady the ship. The pair shared an excellent recovering partnership worth 78 runs before Eaton was bowled by the last ball of the 48th over for a superb 74 runs as he looked to push the score on further. Guest fell in the final over having made 33 as Oakmere posted 206/8 from their 50 overs.

Oakmere opened the bowling with 13 year old Henri Shovelton and 15 year old Corey Lewis and the pair started superbly. Shovelton struck with just his fourth ball, finding an edge behind to Faulkner before Lewis made it 3/2 in the fourth over courtesy of an excellent catch in the covers from Jack Mackin. Lewis picked up his second in the sixth over with a great delivery that nipped back to hit the top of off stump, before a stunning pick up and throw in the next over from Mackin got a superb run out to make it 14/4. Lewis struck again with an LBW on the first ball of the eighth over and Shovelton made it 20/6 in the very next over with an LBW of his own. At the end of the first ten overs of the chase Shovelton had figures of 2/11 from his five overs, including two maidens, and Lewis 3/6 from his five overs, also including two maidens. Oakmere then turned to spin from both ends in Nick Guest and Jimmy Sidebottom. Sidebottom was first to strike, making it 38/7, before Guest (1/22) got his revenge with an LBW having been hit for a boundary and a maximum in the two preceding deliveries. Sidebottom (3/8) wrapped things up by bowling the two final batters in consecutive deliveries to leave Ashton on Mersey 52 all out.

A superb performance with the ball from Oakmere’s youngsters, with the U15’s combining for figures of 8/25 from 13 overs, whilst two great partnerships with the bat from the more experienced members of the side set things up nicely.

Prestbury 2nd XI (176/9) vs Oakmere Men’s 3rd XI (172 all out) – Prestbury won by 4 runs

The Men’s 3rd XI visited Prestbury on Saturday, where the hosts won the toss and elected to bat first. Oakmere’s opening bowlers of Percy Bratherton and Ian Bett kept it tight early on with Percy (1/45) getting the breakthrough with the score on 7 with and LBW. Dan Gilbert (1/21) came on to replace Percy and took the second wicket thanks to a catch by Harry Peters. Ian Bett continued to bow through to his maximum ten overs, taking the next two wickets and keeping the run rate down as he finished his ten overs with 2/31 as Prestbury found themselves 77/4. Harry Peters replaced the captain and bowled a good, fast spell, and was unlucky not to take a wicket. A bit of fantastic work by George Warburton in the field resulted in a run out which made it 87/5, before Sean McDonnell’s introduction brought two wickets as he took 2/23 from five overs to make it 105/7. A healthy eighth wicket partnership followed took the score past 150. Hartley Edwards bowled his first overs for the Men’s 3rd XI, starting with a maiden and doing well before the innings was closed with two wickets for George Warburton (2/12) as Prestbury posted 176/9 from their 40 overs.

Oakmere started steadily with the bat through openers Adrian Watts and George Warburton. Both were still at the crease at the halfway stage of the innings, frustrating the bowlers and building a very nice platform for the innings. After George was bowled for a well made 27, a number of wickets fell, but Adrian continued to do well and was joined by Ian Bett who began to increased the scoring rate before he was bowled for 24. Paddy Bratherton also provided good support to Adrian until he was also bowled. Adrian was eventually bowled for a fantastic 62, which is a personal best for Adrian at the club. Hartley Edwards provided hope the team could chase the total with only a couple of overs to go, hitting a boundary and then a huge six. Hartley was bowled for 13 in the final over, leaving Oakmere just five runs short of a fantastic win.

Another strong performance from the Men’s 3rd XI with a number of great contributions from seniors and juniors alike.

Oakmere Women’s 1st XI (161/6) vs Didsbury 1st XI (162/4) – Didsbury won by 6 wickets

The Women’s 1st XI played their final home game of the season at Overdale Lane on Sunday, hosting Didsbury. Oakmere won the toss and elected to bat first and despite losing Nat Lyons early, Phoebe Cottam and Rach Warrenger navigated a tricky opening spell well. The score reached 52 before Warrenger’s entertaining innings of 21 from 18 balls came to an end. Sarah Worsdale added 14 before she was bowled which brought Amy Jones to the crease to join Cottam. The pair batted very nicely together, taking the score into three figures and past the 150 mark. Phoebe fell to the last ball of the 37th over for an excellent 64, and Amy was caught three balls later for a very good 37. Oakmere reached the end of their 40 overs on 161/6.

The Didsbury chase was a very solid one, with both openers reaching half centuries. Oakmere battled hard and did their best to not let Didsbury get too far ahead of the required run rate, with a wicket eventually coming in the 27th over for Maddi Lawson (1/20). Becky Jones (1/21) removed the other Didsbury opener soon after to give Oakmere a hope of causing a collapse, but the damage had already been done, and despite further wickets for Nat Lyons (1/25) and Sarah Worsdale (1/52), Didsbury reached their target for the loss of four wickets in the 36th over.