The 4s arrived at St Mary's keen to push on after our large victory vs Hartley the week before. Sunday O's captain JP stepped-in with Matt away, and under 13s Seb and Big Scary Tom also joined us.

The skipper lost the toss and we were inserted on a tricky pitch, with pace and carry seemingly at a premium, making scoring tricky for JP and Aidy. JP (2) was looking to get forward but received one that popped and could only glove it to slip.

This brought Netty to the crease and he found scoring no easier than our opening pair, as we scored 15 from the first 8. While most kept low, a couple popped up with Netty and then the oppo keeper wearing deliveries early on, and umpires Drew and Stenners and some of the opposition fielders keen to review the safety of the pitch.

We decided to crack on and Aidy stayed calm as ever and put a couple of balls away to the boundary. Netty (4) was understandably still unsettled and was bowled, 27-2. James (1) was now in and keen to build on his fireworks from last week, but could only offer catching practice to Oakley, 31-3.

This brought Charlie Green in to bat with Aidy. The father-son combo dug in, with Aidy going about his business, unphased by the pitch, while Charlie combined a resulted defence with the characteristic firm hits to the boundary, as we battled to 66-3 from 20 at drinks.

By this point the pitch seemed to have started to settle down, albeit still slow with the Oakley bowlers targeting the stumps well and making things tricky. This eventually told for Charlie (20), who gave catching practice in the ring looking to find the boundary, just after bringing up the fifty partnership with his Dad, 83-4 from 23. Aidy then faced the next eleven legal balls, before Stenners walked in front of his stumps and kicked his first legal ball, 94-5 from 25.

Big Scary Tom Noel now walked to the crease on 4s debut, looking to rebuild with Aidy, who was still accumulating. BST was scary enough for umpire JP, who found himself hiding in the shade at deep square leg, clearly keen to show-off his binoculars-range eyesight.

Aidy brought up yet another half century, a superb innings, I'm not sure there are many other people who could bat properly and score runs in those conditions. Top top batting.

BST(4) was looking very solid but was caught trying to up the rate, 112-6. Drew had now joined early and, after being gifted an early life, got a couple of early boundaries away as we looked to get something we could defend.

Aidy (53) was eventually bowled trying to hit one to the Fox, 128-7. Drew kept going, aided by another drop from Oakley, some well struck boundaries, and some eager running from Charlie Terry (6) and Seb (1). Going into the last over, Drew (28) dragged on having dragged us to a defendable score, even if he had offered more chances than Mr Monopoly, as we finished 152 all out.

We weren't expecting a tea, but Claire, Leigh and Lottie ensured we were well fed, with plenty of scones and sausage rolls on offer. Thank you all, very much appreciated!

BST and CT opened up and bowled tidy lines as we tried to make things difficult. CT found an early breakthrough with one that kept a little lower as he bowled the oppo skipper.

BST finished his opening burst at was replaced by Seb, who bowled some excellent deliveries first up, but struggled for consistency of length. However one shorter ball kept low enough to beat the dangerous number 3 all ends up, as we picked up our second wicket.

CT had been relentless outside off stump at the other end and soon found his reward. Having moved JP a few yards to his right, CT landed another ball on his sixpence and saw the batter drive a ball straight to the safe hands of his Sunday skipper, JP taking a smart grab.

CT (2-23) and Seb finished their spells and were replaced by Merlot and Charlie Green as we looked to continue applying the pressure. Charlie clean bowled the number five after an excellent first over, while the skipper struck first ball taking a simple enough caught and bowled, to leave Oakley 5 down, before Merlot found an edge next over which ballooned up to BST at point.

Oakley were now around 65-6 at drinks, but as we've learnt this season, the game wasn't over, and 6 and 8 both could clearly bat.

Charlie (1-14) started to lose his radar after a brilliant start, so the skipper returned to BST as we looked to break a dangerous looking partnership. BST managed to bowl the number 8 who was looking to clear the ropes, Oakley 7 down, but a dangerous partnership having got them a lot closer.

We really needed to remove the left-handed number 6, so the skipper replaced himself with James. After a mixed bag of a first over, James found some dangerous turn and removed the leftie, to leave Oakley 8 down.

But Oakley kept fighting, and the youngster at 9 proved himself to be a superb player, punishing us with boundaries that were making light work of the remaining runs. BST (1-30) finished a fine debut and was replaced by Seb (1-24) who held his nerve tightly.

One more twist in the tale possibly, as James (2-28) bowled the number 10 with less than ten runs to win. Unfortunately 11 came out fighting too, and helped by some disappointing misfields, the Oakley youngsters saw their side home nine down.

Disappointing one to lose from the position we were in, but credit to the Oakley youngsters for seeing them home. Great effort to be as competitive as we were considering we had the worst of conditions, and apologies that I couldn't see us home.

Player of the Match: Aidy Green, yet another superb 50