Saturday

Eynsham (H) – OCA Division 3

In a curious Back to the Future-style time-twisting turn of events, we go back to Day 1 of the season... the weather had been wet, and prospects for cricket were not good. The tractor had already been stuck in the squelchy grass in one corner of the ground, and that corner had to be cordoned off for safety. But, the weather was fine, and thanks to the efforts of the ground staff we were out in the sunshine and keen to play. First blood went to Eynsham as they won the toss and…continue reading →

Witney Swifts (A) – OCA Div 3

Looks like this will be the first match report of the season, based on Barry forgetting the rule that MOTM has to write the match report. Two changes to the team this week, Duncan dropping out for what we assume to be work reasons and Bully dropping out for what we assume to be trouser issues, unconfirmed reports that he had to look at wedding venues. We turned up at Witney Swifts full of excitement, just to see the dark clouds gather and the brand new covers quickly see their first action. Half…continue reading →

Westcott (H) – OCA Div 3

Following the celebrations of the 150th anniversary event, it was back to league business as we hosted Westcott for our first league match in August. Although they were languishing near the bottom of the league table, we knew our opponents had some potentially destructive batting and therefore the game was unlikely to be dull.   With skipper IC finding himself better things to do on a Saturday, Barry was at the helm and made us look very professional as we went through some warm-up drills, and had to be dragged away to conduct…continue reading →

Britwell Salome (A)

First things first, apologies to any of our rivals who came here to read a detailed match report of any of their victories over us in the last 3 weeks. When it comes to Wantage CC reports, losses don't count... At Britwell, a small ground, Ian won the toss and elected to bat. In the absence of Colin, Vendor got a chance up the order, and he and NiB looked assured for the first few overs. Dave flicked a couple of nice shots off his pads, and had a slice of fortune when…continue reading →

Fringford (H) – OCA Div 3

Our first home game in what seems like years, was met with the usual early Saturday rain. Much running around, including the application of covers ensued. When I say covers, obviously I mean three little bits of plastic held down with sand bags and bricks. The important thing is that they did the job, and with the square a little damp in places, we got underway on time. With Ian dropping himself for only averaging 107 with the bat and 5.25 with the ball, it was left to Baz to captain the day.…continue reading →

Chesterton (A) – OCA Div 3

After a week off due to the withdrawal of Freeland from the division, we returned to action having slipped down to 5th in the league, albeit with matches in hand. One of the teams above us were rivals Chesterton, with whom we have had many matches over the last few years, with varying degrees of success. Good news for us was the fact that Chesterton were missing Jimmy Appleton, who was apparently travelling the world. Even better news was the revelation that Steve Lewis was attending a wedding and so would not be…continue reading →

Charlbury II (A) – Telegraph Cup

The first round of the Telegraph cup saw us return to picturesque Charlbury, notable for its scenery both on and off the pitch. The observant amongst you may notice a number of similarities to the report from last year’s visit to Charlbury. It’s not plagiarism, that’s just how it happened… Changing room number 2 was allocated to The Wantage (Chasing The Sun), which baffled half of the team until Ian played a captain’s role and informed us that it was another song by The Wanted, following last year’s label We’re Glad You Came.…continue reading →

Westcott (A) – OCA Div 3

Westcott were an unknown quantity to us, having dropped out of Division Two the previous year, and therefore finished fully 15 places above us in the 'ladder' in 2012. The verdict from Cairns Fudge whom a couple of our players had seen over the week suggested the Westcott team had some hard hitting batsmen who could be very dangerous. This ultimately proved to be an accurate report as we were to discover. First things first though, after negotiating the lengthy journey to Buckinghamshire (despite playing in an Oxfordshire league game - something NiB…continue reading →

Witney Swifts (H) – OCA Div 3

The first home league game of the season, a time of great excitement, the weather looked fair, the ground looked excellent and we had 11 players fit and ready. Time for the hard work to start. Before I talk about the game, I want to mention the ground and the hard work that has been put in to get it looking so good this early in the season. The square is looking as good as ever and the same can be said about the outfield. Thanks to Nordic for cutting and rolling the…continue reading →

Cairns Fudge (A) – OCA Div 3

The weather looked to be the main talking point of the day for our match against our old rivals Cairns Fudge, and so it proved throughout. We trundled up to Stanton St John more in hope than expectation, to discover the Fudge boys preparing a new wicket as the one provided for Saturday's game looked distinctly sub-par. The roller was out, and the white paint was plastered onto the Sunday wicket as we got an alternative pitch ready for whatever game we could manage. There was some talk about reducing the game to…continue reading →