Once again it seems that the Sunday match report has found it’s way onto the website before the Saturday one, I blame the captains…

This week was round 2 of the Steve Dixon Memorial Cup, after dealing with the troublesome Chipping Norton in round 1 we were confident when taking on Ducklington. The difference this time? We’re away. And anyone who’s played against Ducklington will know what I mean by that… whether you’ve played football or cricket you will have experienced the same facilities and insanely low showers. Only thing shorter are the straight boundaries (nicely decorated with fabric sight screens).

We won the toss and sent Ducklington out to bat, Ryan bagging an early wicket caught behind by me, after that the chances kept flying but we couldn’t hold onto any of them. A number of wickets later, and a number of drops later we had them 120 odd for 6, this paints a nice picture. However at the end of the innings Ducklington had found their way to 240, with the famous Mr Walker bagging 90no after being dropped in the 10s three times. Me most guilty, and deservingly receiving pigs ear. Special note to Olly T’s bowling performance, after being spanked all over the place in his first overs he came back very strong to dismiss Priest clean bowled with an absolute corker.

A mix up in the batting order due to injury saw Barry and Ian opening, with Mabbs at 3 and Nick at 4.  Barry looked strong facing, Ian not quite so and was bowled without scoring.  Barry was given LBW by an umpire who hadn’t given a run out earlier so was unlikely to be Barry’s best friend.  Ryan and Steve were next out to bat, some great stroke play got the score rolling, Steve continued after Ryan was dismissed to make 45 and top score. I had a quick bash around before being caught behind, via the keeper’s box. You’d think that was as funny as our batting could get, but oh no! I mentioned earlier about injuries, Duncs and Olly T both required runners, which meant with 10 and 11 out batting we actually had 4 players out at the crease. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn’t actually have to do any running as Olly was dismissed without scoring.

So we capitulated to 130 odd all out. Lets focus on the league and beat these guys next season, if they manage to stay up.

Cheers
Pod