Welford Park – Friendly – Away

After losing the toss but being in to bat first on a wicket that looked as hard as concrete, we were warned that the wicket had “variable bounce”. Their skipper wasn’t kidding. Some balls came on to the bat quite well, some shot through and the occasional one jumped up over head height. This led to an interesting innings. Coach and Benny opened but Benny was sent back to the pavilion after 10 balls with only one scoring shot (a four). Rich Lonnon also scored 4 before being caught. Nordic saw himself in…continue reading →

E&W Hendred – Friendly – Away

After some long awaited rain over the past couple of days, the sun was out and the Hendred wicket was slightly damp on the surface to give a little bit of interesting bounce, but nothing too nasty. Steve “Nordic” Bramley won the toss and elected to bat against a team that were an assemblage of youth and (to put it nicely) experience. Barry “Coach” Martin and Nordic opened and put on 56 runs, Coach playing shots and Nordic conspicuously defending, before Nordic top edged a ball to the keeper and was dismissed for…continue reading →

Swinbrook – Home – Cup

For our third successive Saturday home match, a quirk of the Cup draw saw us playing in the preliminary round against fellow Division 5 side and current Cup holders, Swinbrook. Heavy rain during the morning and previous evening had left the wicket damp and when the opposition captain called wrongly at the toss, Colin had no hesitation in inviting them to bat. Swinbrook’s opening batsmen had contrasting styles, with one looking to launch into anything loose and the other playing more watchfully. Ryan and Will Harvester opened the bowling and after several tight…continue reading →

West Witney – Away (Played at Wantage) – OCA League

So, to the first league match of the season as we began our division 5 campaign at home against West Witney. Colin continued his lucky streak for the season in winning a second toss on the trot and again putting us into bat on a very good wicket. [Captain’s edit – I lost the toss, they put us in] We started well and found ourselves in the surreal position of being 106-2 at one point with decent stands between Ben and NiB (33) and Ben and Barry (56). When Ben was 5th man…continue reading →

Sunningwell – Home – Friendly

First game of the 2011 season and after a bit of a selection headache for the panel, with 16 players making themselves available, the chosen 11 arrived at the home of cricket for a friendly against Sunningwell, in some very atypical April weather, the sun beating down on a rock hard pitch that wouldn’t have been out of place at the WACA! Colin won the toss, well at least didn’t lose the toss, and elected to bat, in the hope of giving both batting and bowling departments a good pre-season workout. The batting…continue reading →

Cold Ash – Away – Friendly – Lost

The day didn’t start well, as Steve neglected to tell everyone that Cold Ash had an Astroturf pitch only. This unfortunately meant that a lot of the team had to spend the opening twenty minutes of the game removing the studs from their boots. This was an inauspicious start which was not improved by a sterling opening partnership of two balls, no runs and one wicket as O.T.Bix fell in the first over. Mongo soon followed, and Ian and Ben then added a fairly brisk 60, including some exciting pulls by Ben, before…continue reading →

Dorchester – Home – OCA League (Updated)

And so to D-Day, Do or Die. Do Dorchester or Die a Death. Basically, we needed to win to guarantee promotion, or, as the mathematically gifted among us had worked out, score 5 bonus points and then get the match cancelled for rain. That didn't look like it was going to be a problem though, as the weather was fine for the whole of Saturday, so we knew what we had to do. We'd beaten Dorchester earlier this season, bowling them out for under 100, but struggling to their total for 5 wickets,…continue reading →

Shrivenham II – Home – OCA League

A bright day dawned upon Wantage, so for a change we didn't expect our game to be affected in any way by adverse weather. This probably pleased both teams, as we were both looking to win in order to try and secure promotion. Shrivenham had a long shot, given that it was their last game, but they had been reasonably consistent so we knew we'd have to play well to beat them. Despite another late umpiring arrival, we got started at 1.30, bowling as usual (I've no idea if Colin won the toss…continue reading →

Freeland II – Away – OCA League

Colin won the toss and as usual fielded, despite Steve Yates having told him he would be turning up late. This proved none too costly, however, as Chaz and Mabs bowled tightly for the first few overs until he turned up. Both of them were keeping a tight line and length, and James was eventually rewarded when the opener miscued an off side drive to NiB at point. The Freeland number three then decided that life was too short for cricket, spurning caution and technique to aim every single one of his 7…continue reading →

Chalgrove– Away – OCA League

We turned up at the allotted time, ready for a 1.30 start, which put us in a field of one, as only half of Chalgrove's team turned up, and the second umpire also didn't make it til the 4th over. He probably wished he hadn't though, partly due to Ryan sledging him for calling two or three tight leg side wides, and partly due to the paucity of actual cricket which was served up by the Chalgrove batsmen. They only had 8 men and appeared to be playing for rain, but we managed…continue reading →