2 Innings Taverners Game (12 x 8 ball overs)
OAKS: 87 for 7 / 86 for 8
Batting: D.Drumm 25*/13* S. Hayes 26*/9 C.Johnston - /19* P.Carroll 9/1
Bowling: A.Barber 4-19-2 P.O’Siochru 2-9-1 N.O’Reilly 2-15-1 G.O’Shea 2-16-1 S.Hayes 3-22-1 A.Syed 4-13-0 D.Drumm 3-13- 0 A.Williamson 2-11-0 P.Carroll 2-11-0
CARLOW: 76 for 3 / 68 for 5
Batting: Kehoe 25*/- Rafique 22*/3* D.Gray 12/- T.Nolan - /18* T.Gillespie 5*/15
Bowling: D.Gray 4-24-3 P.Goddard 3-14-2 Gillespie 4-36-2
President Hubert Beaumont exaggerated just a little when, speaking at our BBQ-less BBQ Day, said that I had captained The Oaks “since God was a boy”. I suspect it was a mere 16 or 17 years ago that John Browne passed the bat on and ”the social team” (as we were then) travelled to Wexford to play a strong Wexford 2. We were skittled out for a modest total and, having won the game in jig time with no loss of wickets, the Wexford captain asked if we would bowl out the remainder of the overs so his team (ie him) could get a bat. To a raw new captain it seemed reasonable, but I never forgot our dispirited trudging to various parts of the boundary as the captain slogged away. It was just batting practice for them- and misery for us. An exercise in pointlessness that I never repeated.
That came to mind when, winning the toss, the Carlow captain, unsure if his team could put up a decent total, put us in to bat but asked if we would bowl out the overs if they passed us out. I said we would bat alright, but not bowl out the overs. Instead I suggested a 2 innings game, a format learned in Mount Juliet 3 years ago but used rarely. We wanted our players to get to bat and bowl and have a decent game: this was the perfect solution.
My own worries about whether we had enough batting power soon looked well founded: after 3 overs we were 10 for 3! However myself and Stuart Hayes steadied things with a 37 run stand before Paddy replaced Stuart and we put on a further 31 runs together. Our final total of 87 runs looked good after the early carnage. For Carlow Gillespie and Gray took 2 wickets apiece with Rafique and Goddard bowling tightly too.
Our bowling then caused Carlow problems and though Kehoe and Rafique did well, the run rate was slower than ours despite us taking only 2 wickets as they got to 76. In the second innings, batting orders reversed, it was our turn to struggle, with just 32 on the board at the half way mark, but a late flurry from Andy Barber, Ahsan, Stuart and myself on top of Cecil’s 19* brought us to 86. Carlow started well in reply with 31 on the board after 4 overs. However we tightened up and held them to just 68 thanks to some excellent bowling, especially Andy Barber, Ahsan and Patrick, and good fielding. It was a most enjoyable game played sportingly in a fun format both teams enjoyed. Thank you Carlow for that and especially young Seamus for his immaculate scoring. It was good too to see the steady improvement in so many Oaks players- though I have to work on my calling!
Written by Des Drumm