Doing their best against Beaufort-West
Despite some typically gloomy morning weather threatening to see the game called off, Oakhill School's U19 cricket side succumbed to a 128-run loss against Sentraal High School on Saturday 26 October. Both Oakhill and Sentraal's U19 teams find themselves taking part in the SWD Schools Super League, which is SWD's highest level of schoolboy cricket. Oakhill would go into the clash off the back of a tough loss against Oakdale the week before, hoping to avenge the result with a good performance at the Oakhill Sports Campus last Saturday.
Oakhill fielded a very young side that saw a few juniors don their whites for the game, as the school's matrics are no longer eligible for selection to the team, meaning they had a bit less experience than their Karoo counterparts.
Sentraal would bat first at the OSC, and were handed a few lifelines in the early stages of the game as Oakhill would put down some catches in the first half of the innings.
The senior players in the side took ownership of the team's spirit and refused to let Sentraal off easy as the home side fought back strongly to restrict the big-hitters from Sentraal as best they could. Oakhill would hold the side to 251-6, with Nicholas Hill ending as Oakhill's best bowler with figures of 56 runs for two wickets in his 10 overs.
Oakhill's run chase would struggle against the more experienced Sentraal bowlers, with opening batsman Ryan Shearer putting up the biggest fight batting for most of the innings. He would finish on 24 as Oakhill was bowled out for 112 runs, with Sentraal finishing the game with a 139-run victory.
"Oakhill is in a rebuilding phase with our matrics having left the field for their final-year exams and a group of young and less experienced players from Grade 8 and 9 being included for the new season," said Oakhill coach and head of cricket Chicco Ponela.