This fixture was due to be played against “Bandits”. They cancelled and Chris Mounsey-Thear managed to salvage the game, engaging worthy opponents in the form of Sky CC. The visiting side apparently hail from Edmonton and its environs. Its members were concerned that it would take a long time to drive to Stonor, so requested a late start with the game then due to commence at 1200. At 1145 the full Sky CC XI were on the outfield in a well drilled circle having grown up catching practice while about half of the home side mooched around waiting for the other half to arrive. This was the eighth fixture of the season. All have started, seven have finished and, of those, all have been defeats for V&A.  A triumvirate came together to deal with the team’s dismal record so far: Christiaan Jonkers was assigned to deal with the martial aspects […]

On a perfect early May morning Stonor valley is truly poetic. John Clare’s unabashed joy of rural splendour is captured in “The Shepherd’s Calendar. In “May” we find twittering swallows, hedgerow crickets, swarthy bees, flowers in bloom and the deepening sky. That said, Clare’s account of May-time sporting activities refers to “ …children, wild for sport [ who] , alternate catch the bounding ball” – nothing at all to do with the V&A team taking the field on this beautiful morning. After a stressful week trying to drum up a full XI, V&A fielded 9 players in a 10 a side game. The team was not young – at best, autumnal. Christiaan Jonkers was comfortably the youngest player at 50 years old. Nicky Bird suggested that I check the players’ ages and record the average age of the team. The questions I would have had to ask seemed impertinent. For […]

Bacchus XI are, by now, regulars at Stonor. It is the cricket team for former members of the Oxford University Wine Society. The team’s name, purpose and location suggests frenzied rites and undergraduate revelry of a now unfashionable kind. Such associations do not, however, spring immediately to mind on shaking hands at the start of the day with Patrick Hudson, the team’s articulate and self-deprecating captain, a writer for “The Tablet”. The discussion that followed was a diplomatic assessment as to how we might maximise the cricket and enjoyment of the day to follow for all concerned. The chosen mechanism was a modified time game –  80 overs for the day with a maximum of 42 overs for V&A as the team batting first, with the option to declare at any time. Bacchus hitherto have not fielded strong teams at Stonor. However, they more than compensate with the exuberance and […]

The V&A season moved on to the last fixture for May and probably the first fixture where everything came together suitably – pitch, temperature, sunshine and a full complement of players. Rob Taylor was this week’s incumbent as captain, tackling all of the accompanying duties with energy and diligence. His first challenge was to find 11 players on a Bank Holiday weekend. In this, he was more than successful; 12 turned up on the morning. Christy’s friend Irwin Sharif, one of the first to arrive, stepped aside with equanimity for young Charlie Knight, although the swap had little impact on the average age of the V&A team. The tactful note in the scorebook records the toss as “uncontested”. Invalids batted first. James Anderson was recently given a firm nudge to retire at 41. Brendon McCullum considered him too old to open the bowling for more than a match or two. […]