WOKINGHAM closed the gap on third place Harefield as they defeated them by five wickets to earn their ninth victory of the league season.
The Oaks won the toss and elected to field first. The hosts didn’t have to wait too long before they picked up their first wicket of the match as Harefield’s opening batsman Daniel Ogden was caught out by Danny Housego, from the bowling of Lewis Sharp.
Will Shepherd was then judged lbw from the bowling of Callum Creighton as his 19-run batting spell came to an end to leave Harefield on 36-2.
The wickets continued to tumble in quick succession as Harefield struggled to put many runs on the board in the middle order as a brilliant spell for Wokingham, including two wickets each for Jacob Clark and Max Uttley, saw Harefield on 77-7.
The tail order proved to provide the most runs for Harefield as they not only stopped the flow of wickets, but managed to pull Harefield from 77-7, to recording almost 100 more runs.
Stephen Croft (26), William Hatton (28) and Douglas King (22) added to Harefield’s score to take them onto 169 runs before Simon Myles took the final wicket of the innings after 41 overs had been bowled.
Harefield made a fantastic start to defending their first innings total with three early wickets.
James Bird was first to go for Wokingham having scored zero runs from 21 balls and his opening partner Stuart Parsons quickly followed having scored seven. Housego was then caught out as Jordan McLeod added his third wicket of the game in a brilliant spell with Wokingham in trouble on 16-3.
A recovery was desperately needed in order to get the Oaks innings back on track and that was provided by Archie Carter.
Despite losing Myles for three, with Wokingham on 51-4, Carter and Sukhmeet Kang started the Oaks revival as they moved on to 133 before Carter was removed, having hit nine fours and one six to score 75.
Wokingham’s recovery in the middle would prove to be crucial as they cruised to victory after their terrible start, with Kang hitting 39 not out and Ben Myles adding 16 without losing his wicket to wrap up a five-wicket victory after 46.1 overs.
The Oaks still have a shot at promotion, with just two league games remaining they sit in fourth with the top two sides in the division still within reach.
Wokingham bowling: Sharp 1-32, Creighton 1-35, Myles 2-33, Clark 3-44, Uttley 2-23.
Wokingham batting: Bird 0, Parsons 7, Housego 5, Carter 75, Myles 3, Kang 39no, Myles 16no, Clark dnb, Sharp dnb, Creighton dnb, Uttley dnb.
