September 4th 2005
Junior Cricket Skills and Single Wicket Finals Day
Scorching hot weather once again greeted the young Oaks cricketers in pursuit of single wicket glory. A total of XX young cricketers turned out to contest the five age-group finals. Amongst them were four of last year's winners Joel Gallagher, Scott Hartley, Nick Crook and Jack Davison.
The morning's events were once again a six-discipline skills competition designed to whittle the numbers down to two in each age-group for the afternoon finals. The disciplines were Running, catching, batting, bowling, throwing and fielding. The Running was held in age-groups with other events in mixed groups although the scoring system was against only each cricketers peer group. The Running skill comprised a 100 yard sprint and a 66-yard 'three-run' simulation with bat in hand. As usual the crowd were unstinting in their derision of any one considered not trying and this year was no exception. The five-discipline rotation followed for the remainder of the morning. The results emerged as below:
| Under 13s | Batting | Bowling | Throwing | Catching | Running | Fielding | Total |
| Nick Crook | 5 | 5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 0 | 6 | 24.0 |
| Brannan Lawn | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3.5 | 5 | 1.5 | 21.0 |
| Luke Chapman | 3.5 | 3 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 1.5 | 20.0 |
| Jack Hainsworth | 6 | 2 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 2 | 4.5 | 19.5 |
| Gordon Ingham | 3.5 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 4.5 | 16.0 |
| Michael Clegg | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3.5 | 4 | 1.5 | 14.0 |
| Daniel Aspinall | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 6 | 1.5 | 12.5 |
Under 13s Final
Nick
Crook the defending u-13 Champion qualified
with 5.5 points less than last year and would have a
tough challenge from Lords' Taverner Brannan Lawn.
Poor Brannan had a 'mare as he was out three times, once to a direct hit from
distance when going for a fourth run. His final tally of -5 (11 from bat)
was creditable but Nick's customary cool approach brought him 6 runs and a
winning margin of 11 runs to defend the Brunskill Trophy