‘Wow my gosh!’ What an innings! And even “You must retire him!” I heard them say. For here was a match where one player made all the difference – more later! Our favourite arena: the bowl that is Stonor cricket ground or “Lord Camoys’ meadow” as Henry Blofeld famously dubbed it, was competing with the gleaming cars of the craft fair on the twin hillocks opposite and the new sunflower trail behind us. The harvest had been reaped. The stage was set. The cast assembled. The coin cast. The play to be performed across the ‘inside of the day’. A 35 over match preferred to a time game. Just as well as wickets here have proved hard to come by in August and with only seven wickets falling all match a draw would otherwise have been the likely result. We played the village: a key fixture in our calendar: it […]

Royal Household CC 214-2 (41 overs) (T Mellor 100 not out, A Hawkesworth 100), The V & A 30 (Mandip Sohi 5-3). Forgettable or unforgettable? That is the question. How long will this loom large? How long will it hurt? What will those who didn’t play make of this, the most feeble of responses on record from a V+A batting X1? How will some of you, grandfathers to be, pass this down? One compensation for recording such a match is the range of adjectives justifiably on offer: from dire to diabolical, from abject to abismal. It was October and so a bonus game. I remember playing when September meant mud on the boots and leaves on the spikes. But today the sun even shone: physically at least. It all seemed idyllic and, once endless admin allowed us past the gunmen gatemen, we were soon all safely secluded in our security […]