PROBABLY THE MOST PERFECT DAY AT STONOR we have had in terms of cloudless skies, sun, and complete absence of planes thanks to the Icelandic volcano.What a pain these people have been with their boring sagas, cod wars, toxic debt and now toxic ash.

Martin was late so I tossed up with Euan, their captain in a 35 overs game. I lost and they elected to bat, a wise decision as it turned out. Although they started very slowly [20 after 8 overs] they soon accelerated despite two wickets from Olly Bett [both bowled] and one catch off Dennis [by Olly at point to dismiss their excellent and fearless lady opener]. But we missed 4 catches, the most important of which was a rare Morris drop at mid-on which would have seen the departure of a league cricketer who then cut loose. Peter Linthwaite dropped a couple but one was tricky and the other would have hurt his hands. Martin of all people dropped one at mid-on, where he had gone after moving Morris to a less prominent position. Martin has injured hands, as well as other bits of him that don’t work.

Olly palmed a skier off Dennis and Hugo dismissed their league player with a beauty that pitched outside off and hit middle. Adam bowled with precision and so did Peter until his last over was carted. Robert Taylor bowled neatly, so did Sean after a wobbly start; Al bowled well too. But in the end they reached 210 with only 5 wickets down. We missed the bowling of Jake Warman [a no-show, summoned to his office], Chris Mouncey-Thear [stag weekend] and Richard Woolhouse [wife poorly].

Sarah did lunch. I should have grovelled a bit more so let me say now how much we appreciate her culinary skills and lovely dogs who add so much to the day by their exuberant barking. There was another dog watching the cricket named after Dennis de Caires, but fitter and younger – Sean looked after it, sort of, as it rushed regularly onto the pitch to check the state of the strip. It is always interesting to see how our cricketers have fared over the winter and one phrase can sum it up, not well. I will not go into details but some looked older, fatter and more confused.

We started our innings slowly. Openers Rupert and Hugo were out trying to force the pace, having scored a few boundaries. Martin went in 3 and N. Bird went in 4 and they scored quite briskly until Martin was out LBW going quite a long way forward [Rupert was the unpopular but brave umpire]. Dennis came in and for a while Bird and de Caires kept up with the required rate but then Bird was bowled by a shooter [for 35] and Dennis succumbed to a top edge [38]. After that only Sean [25] and Peter [15] managed to whack a few. Their fielding was notable for athleticism and some good catching – their lady cricketer bowled tidily and nearly got the bravest of caught and bowleds, a catch that some of us would have eschewed.

In the end we petered out 70 odd runs short of our target. Nice day though, with agreeable company.

This website has been improved but the webmaster needs to update addresses and put the fixtures in order. By the way, Rupert Morris is our new Treasurer, Jane Linthwaite having retired after long service, for which we are much in her debt, some of us financially so. You will be hearing from Rupert who is meaner than Jane and will be chasing you for subs etc.

Our next game is against Midnight Cowboys on Sat. May 1. Let us know if you can play. To date we have two confirmed – Bird N, and Peter (soft hands) Linthwaite.