MIXED FORTUNES FOR OAKLEY TEAMS

Friday saw Oakley travel to Alton Social for the Hants and Berks Cup and, although at twelve ends the scores were level, Oakley then fell apart as the rain began, and went down to a 30 odd shot defeat with the match being conceded at 18 ends. (Exact scores and teams are not available as Captain Ric left the score cards at Alton).

Saturday dawned fine, as Oakley and Basingstoke Town met for the third time this season in a Top Club event, this time the County Mixed Top Club, where last year the Club reached the County semi-final. With 5 points on offer, Ric Newson redeemed himself for the previous evening by picking up the first point with a 21-10 victory in the Men's Singles. Town, however, were soon level as Claire Flannigan went down by a similar score in the Ladies' event. The Pairs saw Janie Vickers and Sean Lassman surge to a 15-3 lead but with the other two disciplines close it was still a match either side could win and when Town pulled back to 17-14 and took leads in the Triples and Fours they looked favourites to win. Things looked bad for Oakley as the Triple of Mary Varndell, Spencer Kerley and Bob Goodyear went down to a 14-17 defeat, and, at this stage with 3 ends to play in the Fours the Oakley rink trailed by 4 and a loss in this discipline would mean certain defeat. How ever, Sue Dixon, Shirley Ball, Malcolm Grime and Graham Tompkins rose to the occasion picking up the 5 shots necessary for a 19-18 victory. With everyone having finished, all eyes now turned to the final discipline the Pairs, where despite having been pegged back to 20-19, Oakley now led by 5 with just 2 ends to play. Would Janie and Sean see out the victory or would the Town snatch victory at the death? The Town won both ends but were held to one shot on each end so Oakley sneaked through by 3 points to 2 after a thrilling and absorbing battle.