Oakley Cricket Club

Oakley Cricket Club Welcome to the official page of Oakley Cricket Club.

Oakley Cricket Club was founded in 1849 and has a picturesque rural ground at Dummer Lane, Oakley, near Basingstoke, Hampshire - with good facilities. We have been playing at Oakley Park almost since our inception, and celebrated the ground's 150th anniversary in 2004. We have various of teams:
* Mens (2 Saturday League teams, 1 Sunday team & 1 Midweek team)
* Colts (U9, U11 U13 & U15)
* Ladies

Great father and son moment at Oakley today. Bowled Dan Saines, caught, Paddy Saines.Well done lads.
06/09/2026

Great father and son moment at Oakley today. Bowled Dan Saines, caught, Paddy Saines.

Well done lads.

Interesting fact. According to the Met Office stats, we have just lived through the hottest summer in Oakley Cricket Clu...
02/09/2026

Interesting fact. According to the Met Office stats, we have just lived through the hottest summer in Oakley Cricket Club’s history.

Yet, somewhat perversely, the very first and very last games of the 2026 season were washed out. In fact, this was the second season running where rain wiped out the entire final Saturday.

Even more remarkably, 2025 was itself the hottest summer on record, until 2026 came along and nicked its title a year later.

The five hottest UK summers on record have now all occurred this century: 2003, 2006, 2018, 2025 and 2026. Throw in 2022, when the UK temperature passed 40°C for the first time, and there appears to be something of a pattern developing.

And yet, through record heat, drought and climate change, one great British certainty remains.

If there’s an important cricket match to be played, it’ll probably p**s down.

Soon be spring.

Top 10 batting and bowling for Colts. Well done lads, some decent looking future Oaks there.
31/08/2026

Top 10 batting and bowling for Colts. Well done lads, some decent looking future Oaks there.

Complete list of Saturday honours boards from 2026.
31/08/2026

Complete list of Saturday honours boards from 2026.

Club honours board for 2026. Well done to everyone who made the top 10 and to veteran ‘all-rounder’ Dan Beckell, who fea...
30/08/2026

Club honours board for 2026. Well done to everyone who made the top 10 and to veteran ‘all-rounder’ Dan Beckell, who featured in both. 🏏👏

Well done to the First XI, who have bounced straight back up to County III after last year’s relegation.It wasn’t always...
29/08/2026

Well done to the First XI, who have bounced straight back up to County III after last year’s relegation.

It wasn’t always easy. For a little spell in the season we made life considerably harder than it needed to be, but that’s the Oakley way. Why take the straightforward route when you can put everyone through the wringer first?

Huge congratulations to DJ, but also to the 2s and 3s skippers, who supported the club’s ambition to get the First XI straight back up. Promotion might appear next to the First XI in the record books, but it has been a proper club effort.

And a special mention for DJ and Stef, who finished first and second in the league bowling averages. A fantastic achievement and a pretty useful pair to have around when you’re trying to win promotion.

Relegated in 2025. Promoted in 2026. Straight back up.

Well done, lads. County III, here we come.

Always feel humbled when I see my statue at Lords.
28/08/2026

Always feel humbled when I see my statue at Lords.

So, here we are again. The end of the season is upon us and, with it, my final preview.Fittingly, after what has felt li...
28/08/2026

So, here we are again. The end of the season is upon us and, with it, my final preview.

Fittingly, after what has felt like the hottest summer in cricket history, the weather has decided it would quite like the final say. Disruption and cancellations are possible, just as they were on the last day of last season.

The difference is that last year a great slab of low pressure was marching towards Hampshire and, by Wednesday, everyone knew we were doomed. This time it’s localised thunderstorms, the sort of forecast that suddenly turns every cricketer into a meteorologist and every cricket ground into a “unique microclimate”.

If it rains at Sherfield, the First XI are promoted. No ifs, no buts. Job done after last week’s comprehensive victory over Whitchurch.

If Sherfield’s unique microclimate consists of glorious sunshine, there is still a little work to do.

Cricket ramifications are rarely straightforward, but these are relatively simple. If Whitchurch batter champions Ashford Hill and take maximum points, we need eight of the 24 available at bottom-placed Sherfield.

I’ve been around Oakley Cricket Club far too long to put my house on anything, but this is about as close as I’d get. We’re talking a catalogue of catastrophic circumstances that even Oakley would have to work extremely hard to manufacture. Although I appreciate that sentence alone may have tempted fate.

The 2s and 3s have only pride to play for, so hopefully they can enjoy themselves and treat the day as a celebration. The plan at the start of the season was for all three teams to push upwards from the bottom and help the First XI bounce back after recent relegations. They are now on the verge of doing exactly that.

It’s been a genuine collective effort. The captains have supported the promotion push throughout, allowing DJ to put strong sides on the field virtually every week. This Saturday is another example of the club’s depth. Holidays and injuries have taken their toll, yet there are still three full sides ready to go.

There will probably be some weather disruption. There may be none. Someone five miles away will undoubtedly send a picture of biblical rain while another ground is applying factor 30.

Whatever happens, enjoy it.

Barring a calamity that would make Laurel & Hardy blush, Oakley will have achieved what it set out to do. Promotion after a tough season, earned not by eleven players but by everyone who has turned out, captained, scored, umpired, supported, filled a gap or answered a desperate WhatsApp on a Friday night.

And that’s it from me for another season.

Thanks for the tension, the drama, the ridiculousness and, most of all, the buzz. Cricket has an extraordinary ability to consume your Saturdays, ruin your mood, lift your spirits and make grown adults stare at rain radar as if national security depends on it.

Yet every spring, we come back and do it all again.

Go well, folks. Enjoy the last Saturday.

And hopefully, sometime tomorrow afternoon, we can finally say it:

Oakley are going up 🎉🎵🏏🍺

It’s been the hottest summer on record down at the theatre of scenes. It might not be enough to save this weekend’s game...
25/08/2026

It’s been the hottest summer on record down at the theatre of scenes. It might not be enough to save this weekend’s games though.

25/08/2026

A rare moment at any level. An Alex Brundle hat trick.

Address

Oakley Park, Dummer Lane
Oakley
RG237EA

Telephone

+447956537076

Website

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