Another hot day greeted the 3s, as we travelled to Oakley, facing their 1s in yet another stern test in this very competitive Division 4C. The 3s welcomed back Rich Padmore and Sean Merriman to the side, in addition to first 2026 appearances for Andy Clouting, Harry Clothier, and James Blackwell, and 3s debuts (under the current regime) for Drew Birch and Noah Horne (behind the sticks), who'd both impressed early season in the 4s and 5s.

On request from the hosts, we were in for an early start, as they had a bbq and champions league watch party awaiting in the evening. Thankfully everyone remembered the 11:15 meet time, as we gathered to see a typically green Oakley track, that potentially had a little more moisture in it than expected. Oakley won the toss and decided to bat. Gleefully for all, this was the first 3s game to be live-streamed on a Frogbox since game 2 of the 2025 season!

1st innings

Padmore opened the bowling from the far end, with CT joining him with the new rock. Both found a little swing but early signs were that the pitch was playing true, with both opening batters able to play through the line comfortably to get the scoreboard moving. In the second over, CT was swept for 2 off a leg stump half volley behind square - not sure if that's happened many times. Insulted by the dismissive nature of the shot, CT threw the next ball even further down the leg side, and the batter tried to repeat the dose but somehow top edged the ball straight to Noah, who took a comfortable catch behind the stumps (11/1 - 1.3 overs).
A good start for the 3s, but Oakley have a strong batting lineup, and with ideal batting conditions, we knew we had to be disciplined. To add to the challenge for the bowlers, both straight boundaries at Oakley are incredibly short (think horse field end at long Sutton - maybe shorter than that on both sides), and we were playing legside wides for the first time. There was little margin for error for the bowlers.

That margin proved to be too thin for us throughout the innings, as a combination of regular "four-balls", extras and some good batting helped Oakley rack up a big total. Anything loose was punished, with a full toss from Padmore narrowly avoiding the diving reaches of Harry at cover point (would have been a stunning grab), before another couple of deliveries on leg stump from CT were ruthlessly pummelled to the boundary.

The batters certainly were taking the positive option at every opportunity, hitting the loose ball hard and running well in between, which helped keep a very healthy run rate. Padmore did beat the bat on a number of occasions but we couldn't quite build the dots/pressure to make it count. Dave moved to a very straight short mid off, and was almost in the game straight away as a powerful drive flew just past his right hand for 4 more. The skipper was kept very busy at midwicket, chasing the ball up and down the hill on a regular basis in those first 10 overs, with him regretting not pushing for a 3rd drinks break in the heat! A couple of cracking cover drives saw Padmore and CT finish their opening spells with Oakley at 61/1 (10 overs).

Harry Clothier was into the attack from the top end, and made an impact immediately. Harry's first ball, a full swinging delivery was chopped onto the stumps as the team celebrated - briefly, before umpire quickly called a front foot no ball. Gut punch. Another front foot no ball followed a few balls later and was lashed away for 4, with the team wondering how costly that might be. Luckily for us, Harry produced an absolute ripper with his 4th legal delivery, that hit the top of leg stump (67/2 - 10.4 overs). Will Cheyney (who's knock proved crucial in Oakley's win over our 2s last year), strode to the crease and was immediately into his stride with a lovely cover drive for 4 - a sign of things to come perhaps. Dave joined Harry as first change, for his first bowl of the season in the 3s, as Cheyney gave Dave a dose of the same medicine, carving one up the hill for 4 more.

Harry and the batter Cheyney were in a good battle, with HC bowling some lovely areas and getting the ball through nicely - it was however at the end of the 13th over where the batter started to assert his dominance, first lofting a straight drive for 4, before playing a 'Kohli-esque' front-foot pull shot for 6, straight over the sight screen. Two good balls that went for a total of 10, sometimes you just have to applaud excellent batting. After a good 5 minute hunt for the ball, a spare was brought out, but that unfortunately continued to go the distance. Between Harry and Dave (0-43), some good balls were mixed in with a few extras, and then the seemingly mandatory boundary-an-over, either from a good shot, a loose delivery or something in between.

The 16th over saw a chance go begging, as Cheyney firmly drove a full delivery wide of Padmore at long off, who made good ground to get there but could only tip it over the bar for 6. A tough chance, but as the skipper learnt last week, good bats don't offer many. The runs continued to flow through until the 20th over, as Oakley rattled along in advance of 8 an over. Harry found the edge on a couple of occasions, yet the ball somehow evaded both slip and third man, with ball flying again to the boundary.

At 20 Overs, Oakley were 157/2 and well in command of the game. It was time for a double change in bowling as the 3s were desperate for a breakthrough and to put some kind of lid on the runs. Seany replaced Harry, and started nicely, but yet fell to the same 'boundary-ball' as the rest of our attack. It really was desperate times as the skipper took the ball himself to bowl his left arm 'medos', with various comments of 'liquorice all sorts' and 'demon bowling' that could be heard on the frogbox, no one knew what would be thrown down. Safi chucked one down the leg side for 5 wides as he started to regret his own decision, before a miracle happened, as a full delivery may have swung a touch, and found the inside edge - the ball ricocheted onto the opener's pad before trickling onto the stumps and dislodging the bails - doesn't matter how they come (174/3 - 21.5 overs).

With the wicket, the scoring slowed over the next few overs as Seany and the skipper managed to put on a bit of a squeeze, with some good ground fielding all round (particularly James B) helping to keep things tight. Noah was also very tidy behind the sticks as the noise remained high in the field, despite the heat and game situation. In the 25th over, the batters pushed a tight two and the skipper threw the ball into Noah who took the ball cleanly and cleaned out the stumps with the batter seemingly short of his ground. Unfortunately the decision didn't go our way (listen for Padmore's magnificent appeal on the frogbox), but our intensity in the field was certainly asking some questions of the oppo.

The score continued to tick along as Cheyney narrowly avoided Dave at long off with a straight drive that just went for 6, this time off the skipper - there was a plan at play but it wasn't quite coming off. Until the 28th over - as the saying goes 'poop gets wickets'. A back-of-the-hand slower ball dipped into a low full toss and batter Cheyney could only spoon it into the offside, where Padmore sprinted in to take a superb diving catch (sliding on the astro - ouch), and we had our 4th wicket. Cheyney gone for a brutal 77 off 56 balls (208/4 - 27.4 overs). The skipper will argue he should have had his 3rd wicket just two balls later, as the ball cannoned into the front pad of new batter Bennett, with the umpire waving away the vociferous appeal - two noises, pad-pad - oh well.

Seany finished his good 5 over burst at the second drinks break, with Oakley still in a commanding position, but a decent comeback from the 3s after a challenging first 20 overs. After trying to take himself off due to being 'tired', Drew convinced the skipper to keep going after drinks as Padmore returned to the attack, but was greeted with some positive batting as Oakley looked to kick on again. Safi (2-39) eventually finished his 7 over spell, with another back-of-the-hand slower ball almost finding Harry at extra cover who was inches away from taking a blinder.

Harry himself came back on and got his deserved second as Brundle carved the ball to the safe hands of Padmore at point (253/5 - 35.6 overs). Padmore's (0-58) second spell brought a chuckle to all as he managed to convince the umpire that he didn't bowl a wide, as the ball was 'on the line, the ball was on the line'. As we motored through the last 10 overs, Oakley still had wickets in hand so were swinging hard, but Harry was not done yet, bowling a super second spell and getting his 3rd wicket, with a gorgeous slower ball (283/6 - 39.5 overs), finishing with figures of 3-71 - he bowled much much better than those figures suggest.

Sean was back to finish his spell and was also on the money, only going for a single boundary in his last 4 overs, before CT got in on the fun in the penultimate over. First, batter Bennett flat batted the ball to Harry at long off who took an excellent catch, before castling the no.9 bat first ball (302/8 - 43.4 overs). The hattrick wasn't meant to be but CT (3-39) bowled nicely to grab an extra bowling point for the team. Sean (1-55) finally got his reward bowling the no.10, and also bowled excellently on a tough day for the bowlers. We got the full compliment of bowling points with the last ball of the innings, with combination work from Dave and Sean running out the no.11.

Oakley finished on 313, an imposing score for sure - I cannot fault the team for their efforts in the field on another scorching hot day. Everyone kept going right to the end, and after Oakley were 174/2 before the 22 over mark, it could have got really ugly, but the team kept going to the very end, and Oakley only scored 139/8 from the remaining 23 or-so overs.

2nd Innings

After some much needed hydration and BYOTeas, Andy C and Lizo set about the chase. We knew it would be a tall order, so to get anywhere near the total, a solid platform was crucial. Oakley's opening bowlers were on the money from ball one and gave very little away, making the chase look increasingly challenging. Andy got going with a signature Clouting square drive for 4, before Lizo nailed his first (of many) cover drives that raced to the fence - Lizo should have been gone the very next ball, with a short ball hitting the splice, but he was inexplicably dropped by the lad at midwicket. The bowlers however continued to ask questions and finally made the breakthrough as Andy (7) was trapped in front by a swinging delivery and was out LBW (23/1 - 8.1 overs).

Drew joined Lizo in the middle, and was quickly off the mark with a push for 2, before almost chopping on, with the ball narrowly missing leg stump and flying away for 4. Lizo was looking to be positive and hit two boundaries in the 10th over, one a cracking on drive, and the other a slightly less convincing slip drive that flew over the cordon. The first change bowlers brought some brief relief from the tight bowling, as Lizo tucked into two full tosses off the leggie and put them away to the fence. The bowlers settled back in but the surface was playing true, and anything slightly loose was punished (much like earlier in the day), as Drew crunched his second boundary through the covers.

The 3s were at 59/1 after the first 15, and the chase was looking increasingly unlikely, but we still had wickets in hand. Lizo did try to run Drew out by calling 'one' when he meant 'waiting' - the apology was as loud as the call, but it was quite amusing for all. At the same time, Lizo somehow managed to break his own helmet (the ball didn't touch it!), so was given a selection of lids, but went with Andy's! Drew found another brace of boundaries, before Oakley put the squeeze on again - Drew hit one to the man at cover, took a couple of steps before Lizo (rightly) sent him back - unfortunately for Drew (24) he was not able to get back in time, ending a good 51-run partnership that was looking promising.

Harry showed a lot of promise with the bat at the back end last season with the 3s, and was promoted to no.4 hoping to go big. Unfortunately Harry's stay was fairly brief, with a change of bowling seeing the oppo skipper Jones come on to bowl his offies, and Harry (1) just couldn't resist trying to hit over the top and was well caught at midwicket (75/3 - 19.2 overs). With two quick wickets, conversations started to shift to see how many batting points we could achieve, as Safi joined Lizo in the middle - he brought the news to the oppo that Arsenal had taken the lead in the Champions League final, much to most of their disappointment (other than Mr Bennett at short cover, who apparently was an Arsenal fan).

A few tight overs followed as both batters found a few singles, but the bowling remained tight - Safi tried to break the shackles but was fortunately put down at slip, after trying to throw the kitchen sink at a full delivery. After a couple more plays and misses, the skipper finally found some rhythm against his opposite number, with a mixture of sweeps, drives and hoicks finding the leg side fence. Lizo ditched his helmet and brought up a superb 50 with another boundary through the covers - he was at his very best - it was just a shame about the game situation! Much like the partnership with Drew, Lizo's partnership with the skipper had just started to motor when it came to an end, as Safi (23) played all round a straight one (112/4 - 26.5 overs). Dave got underway with a solid cut for 4, before Lizo gave his second chance to the oppo skipper, who put down the caught and bowled chance.

At the second drinks break the 3s were 127/4, so the chase was firmly out of sight and the sole focus was maximising batting points (225 the target) - the chat was to be positive and try to move the score along. Dave got the ball rolling after drinks with a beautiful back foot punch for 4, before the miracle happened. The highlight of the day - Lizo took the seam bowler downtown and launched a six over long on. Yes you read that right - Lizo hit a six, and it was glorious. With rapturous applause from his teammates, Lizo did the Root/Babar 'shrug' to the pavilion. Some say it's his first six since Margaret Thatcher was in power - now that's history.

Yet again another promising partnership was broken, as Dave (15) could only spoon the leggie to point (149/5 - 33.4 overs), as James B strode to the middle with some work to do to get us a few extra batting points. James was into the game quickly as he punched two lovely drives straight for 4 with his first two deliveries. Oakley were ringing the changes as they sought bonus points of their own. Lizo continued on his merry way, flicking another boundary past square leg for 4, to move him into the nervous 90s.

A brace of 2s and a single took Lizo to 98 for the start of the 42nd over - a single took Lizo to 99, before James did the right thing and got Lizo immediately back on strike as Oakley squeezed the field in. The leggie was into bowl, flighted the ball up and Lizo slog swept the ball into the leg side - the ball went quickly but agonisingly, the fielder at a wide mid on timed his jump to perfection and took a stunning catch to deny Lizo a much deserved ton. Lizo was out for a magnificent 99, and to their credit over half of the Oakley side ran up to Lizo to shake his hand as he walked off. I for one was gutted for Lizo, he batted so well, continuing his good run of form and absolutely deserved to have three figures against his name. Alas Cricket can be a cruel game and Lizo walked back to the pavilion (200/6 - 41.4 overs).

The innings ended fairly quickly after that as Noah (1) was bowled by one that kept a touch low, James (19) hit a glorious straight six before getting bowled by the next delivery, and Padmore (0) and Sean (0) showed why they tend to round off the tail of our batting order by missing very straight deliveries, leaving CT (0*) at the non-strikers end (207ao - 43.5 overs).

Wrap up

The 3s were second best for much of this game and finished up 106 runs in arrears to Oakley, who deserved to win the game. Whilst the Whitchurch game may have looked closer, similar lessons can be learned as whilst the effort never dropped through the game, we were out-bowled, batted and fielded by our opposition for the second week running. A tough first 20 overs with the ball put us on the back foot, but to Oakley's credit they were ruthless with the bat, and put the game beyond us in the first innings. We battled with the bat, and got 5 out of 6 batting points which are all important.

POTM: Liam Schooling - 99 off 131 balls (15x 4s, 1x 6s) - another top knock from Lizo, deserved his ton, and just a shame that no-one could really stick with him. And how about that 6 - magnificent. Long may his form continue.

Oakley were kind hosts, and offered the team a drink in the sweltering heat, with the Champions League Final on in the background - we look forward to playing the return fixture at Long Sutton. This delayed match report means you'll know our match at home to table-toppers Ashford Hill was rained off (along with the rest of the league matches), so our next fixture is on Saturday 13th June, away to St Mary's Bourne. We have not been near our best as a collective, so there's a lot more to come from this team - an opportunity to bounce back and get back to winning ways.