MATCH REPORT V&A v. NATIONAL THEATRE, Sat. May 30, 2009 A GLORIOUS DAY, cloudless, with the VW rally in Stonor Park on the Sunday, thankfully, so set to ruin Stonor C.C.’s day and not ours. The National Theatre fixture goes back 20 years, and is a game Martin Bowden captains with relish, as – being a cricketing tart – he plays for them when off V&A duty, and enjoys the competitive edge with their captain Mike Morris and organiser John Langley. Martin and Mike agreed a 20-overs-after-6 game, which disheartened the elderly Andy Fraser and those who need whisky at 6.15. Martin won the toss and elected to bat in the comparative cool of the morning. Incidently, the NT had all arrived at 11.15 while we swanned in at 12, apart from Olly Bett and his mates, who were keenly practising in the nets when Andy and I arrived at […]

RICHARD WOOLHOUSE WAS CAPTAIN and lost the toss in a 40 over game. But that was the only blip in his first start as captain for the V&A. They elected to bat on a damp pitch, possibly a mistake. They were soon in trouble. Sean Mayana got the first wicket and their best batsman – a good ball and excellent catch by Richard at extra cover. Martin Bowden got a quick second wicket – a nifty caught and bowled. Sean got another and they were struggling but one batsman steadied their innings with a sound 44; it took a Richard Woolhouse spell of 3 wickets to reduce their innings to a meagre total of 135 for 7. Pete Linthwaite bowled ‘very very well’ according to Bowden and only went for 23 runs off his 7 overs. Ian McKinley also bowled tightly for his 1 for 16. Jacot bowled nicely too. […]

THE PITCH WAS WET IN THE MORNING AND BATTING was going to be tricky. An important toss, which your captain, Bird N, lost [there were two other Birds playing – Tony and Tom]. We were put in to bat and struggled. Even Richard Woolhouse. Patrick Cobb tried to get the ball away, but failed. He had a bit of previous with The Invalids, which added some spice to the day. We were about 20 after 10 overs, the long and sodden outfield not helping. But Cobb went and suddenly Richard opened up and with 16 in one over things looked respectable. But wickets fell and no-one scored any real runs before lunch apart from Richard, whose eventual 50 plus amounted to a sizeable chunk of our lunchtime 85 for 5. Dennis de Caires was caught, after a stunning 6, by an amazing if flukey catch at long on, which was […]

THE PITCH WAS WET IN THE MORNING AND BATTING was going to be tricky. An important toss, which your captain, Bird N, lost [there were two other Birds playing – Tony and Tom]. We were put in to bat and struggled. Even Richard Woolhouse. Patrick Cobb tried to get the ball away, but failed. He had a bit of previous with The Invalids, which added some spice to the day. We were about 20 after 10 overs, the long and sodden outfield not helping. But Cobb went and suddenly Richard opened up and with 16 in one over things looked respectable. But wickets fell and no-one scored any real runs before lunch apart from Richard, whose eventual 50 plus amounted to a sizeable chunk of our lunchtime 85 for 5. Dennis de Caires was caught, after a stunning 6, by an amazing if flukey catch at long on, which was […]

OUR LAST GAME. And a beautiful day, how different from recent experience. The opposition, A Few Good Men [ex Durham University], whose first visit to Stonor this was, arrived promptly. We did not. They were a very agreeable and helpful lot, and busied themselves bringing out tables and chairs in the sunshine. Eventually we dribbled in, but Adam, Jake and Ally Fraser only made it – from Cambridge and Marble Arch respectively – just before lunch. Jake had waited vainly, through a mix up, for Cobb Jr. to arrive. Adam, so he said, had been enjoying the company of a few good men in Cambridge. I mention the late arrivals because it had a bearing on the match. Martin Bowden, our captain and Alistair Metcalfe, their skipper, agreed – optimistically I thought – on a 40 over game. In the event the light persisted, just. We won the toss and […]

HEAVY RAIN in the night had drenched the pitch and it was generous of groundsman Tony Fisher to let us play. Terry Blake, captaining the Hermits as always (N. Bird was the V&A’s skip), won the toss and elected to bat (!). An odd decision considering the sodden outfield and muddy crease. We played a 35 over game, with an option to reduce to 32 if the rains came (they did, but only when the match was just won and lost). The wet pitch dictated our bowling order. Our key weapon was Jake Warman, but it would have been wasteful to open with him as his speed and accuracy need dry footing and ball. So Nixey opened for 3 overs with Shaun bowling his accurate medium pace the other end. Nixey nearly got Terry Blake out third ball when he skied a short one (or long hop) to Dennis at […]

A VERY GOOD DAY but it is quite a lot of work without a Sarah there. We played a 40 over game and bowled first starting with, arguably, the finest opening pair seen for the V & A – Jake and his mate Jack who is 6 inches taller and even quicker.Dennis and Adam came on afterwards and both bowled very well. Without Bird N. or Andy we were short a keeper so Fredi Devas, who kept for Bedales under 14s, bravely put the gloves on. He did a top job but dropped a sharp one off Jack and a low one off Adam, before getting hit on the side of his eye from an edge off Den’s 5th over. Richard Woolhouse took over for the last few before lunch while Fredi was patched up. Jake picked up the first wicket in his 5th over, with their opener adjudged LBW […]

ONE OF THOSE AWKWARD mornings when it’s not nasty enough to cancel, but looking distinctly iffy. As it turned out the sun shone intermittently and rain never threatened. From the cricketing perspective wind and an erratic pitch – its vagaries compounded by a wet summer and haphazard cutting – made batting tricky. The match started late, partly because Tim Young, the Thebertons’ supremo, got stuck in traffic in London and then meandered around the Chilterns without benefit of directions (left in Chiswick). Their captain Paddy balked at V&A skipper Simon Foster’s suggestion of a 30 over game and 35 overs was agreed as a compromise. Several of the Thebertons mentioned that they were very strong, as they had been the previous week when they’d ‘rolled over’ the opposition. They suggested they should bat first to make a day of it. Simon Foster, ever stubborn or perverse, won the toss and […]