Match Reports



Match Reports

14th September 2024
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V&A CC v The Refreshers CC

Refreshers  152-6.  Pitlarge 2-27,  Jacot 2-15, Hayley 1-21 V&A 136 all out. Arnold 59, Bird 47.  Richard Jory 5-23 On Saturday the 14th a hand-picked and carefully selected band of brothers (enhanced at the last moment by most of captain Bird’s extended family) took on The Refreshers, apparently a bunch of lawyers who clearly knew a thing or two about the rules (or should one say ‘laws’) of cricket, comprising 7 men and 4 women – who proved to be their secret weapon if not with the bat, then certainly with the ball taking two if not three of the first few wickets when it came to their turn to show how things should be done. One of the Birds seemed to win the toss and so the mighty V&A took to the field with as they say the sun shining brightly over the Stonor valley and the deer wandering […]
25th August 2024
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V&A CC v Stonor CC

Tom Bird said arrive to start play at 1pm sharp, which was either a mistake or a lie to get Jonkers to turn up on time. Embarrassing ourselves with poor timekeeping against our Stonor CC hosts was the least of our worries, though. A ramshackle X1 at the best of times, our bank holiday Sunday outfit was a mixture of those who had never played cricket together and those who looked like they had never played cricket. That said, we started well, with Jasper sporting a large brown Surrey hat, leaning his full weight into the new ball and walking ferociously between the wickets as the ball continuously threatened the moist boundary. His partner, Rory, took kindly to some early (or late) buffet, making up for the lack of customery Saturday lunch, plonking the ball into the parked cars. He was out going for one too many, bringing Ed Shepherdson […]
17th August 2024
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V&A CC v Raedarii CC

SIMON BARNES, late of The Times and doyen of sports writers, used to play for the V&A and was a good hater. His heroes were Homer Simpson (‘I don’t know much about art but I know what I hate’) and W.C. Fields (‘I like children – fried’). Apart from split infinitives he also hated the languid school of cricketer, the Plum Warners and Douglas Jardines(‘MCC at its worst’), the sort who loaf in cravats and wear a striped tie as a belt. I once accused Simon of being a bit chippy. ‘Jesus was a chippy,’ he replied which I thought a non-sequitur. Christiaan Jonkers, who I revere, is the Plum Warner de nos jours and commanded our team in mufti, deigning to change into trad whites only when taking the field. Apparently, he wears a tie as a belt to keep his trousers up. Good reason. But he lacks a cravat, […]
10th August 2024
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V&A CC v Penn Street CC

This was a new fixture for the teams. Penn Street CC were put into bat and the V&A took the field. The weather was somewhat sultry, the sky was cloudy whilst the breeze was constant and kind. A lovelier day for cricket in a lovelier spot I could not imagine. Excellent bowling by Adam Knight and Chris Mounsey-Thear slowed the scoring and between them they took 5 of the six wickets. Nick Constantine, Adam Jacot and Enzo Nicoli bowled well and economically but all were unlucky as dropped catches threatened to be the highest scorer. Not that excellent catches weren’t taken by Nick Constantine and Tom Bird. Jasper Arnold like all good wicketkeepers did his job tidily and organised his slips with authority. Dominic Scott almost stole the show with a wonderful bit of fielding and shy at the stumps. It should be noted that the combined talents of the […]
6th July 2024
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V&A CC v A Few Good Men

The forecast was poor. England were playing in the European Championships at 5pm. When Lachlan pulled out in mid week, due to a bad back (which he didn’t want anyone to know about), I thought “here we go”. But actually, very few V&A players take any interest in football. In fact, Christiaan despises it. “Ah, we’re suffering a pincer movement on the cricket owing to bad weather and the footy, are we?” he guffawed in the changing rooms. We were going to have to play. The pitch squelched underfoot and there were puddles on the square, but the beauty of the hallowed turf at Stonor is it dries fucking quickly. A tactical early lunch was called and an afternoon T25 was agreed with Alistair Metcalfe (skipper of A Few Good Men). Lunch was an assortment of beef, salami, sausage rolls, hard boiled eggs, potato salad, tomato salad, but no booze […]
29th June 2024
Acme v V&A (29.6.24)

V&A CC v ACME

Facial hair tells us a lot about a man. And a lot about cricketers. There is the lazy stubble of the ultra-cool. Though, admittedly, this can double as the lazy stubble of the increasingly moribund. There is of course the villainous “moustachio” worn as part of a wider assembly of beard, twirled occasionally when batsmen take liberties. A look favoured perhaps by second hand booksellers. One of the earliest documents of the usage of moustaches can be traced back to the Iron Age Celts. Graham Gooch took on the look. W.G Grace got carried away sadly and I think we can all agree that his great rhododendron of a beard was a bit de trop. Douglas Jardine, Jack Russell…we acknowledge the effort, but the originality feels strained. And Jack Russell is an awful painter. But then there is the “Woke Wayne Larkins”. The perfect moustache. It involves a nod to […]
22nd June 2024
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V&A CC v Bacchus XI

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 […]
8th June 2024
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V&A CC v. Thebertons

  Given the fact that the V&A has, finally, entered the 21st Century and begun using a WhatsApp ‘Noticeboard’ for weekly selection (the metrics of which I had to explain to Jacot, Jonkers and Bird Snr.) you might be forgiven for thinking that we are in danger of becoming a ‘modern’ cricket club. You would be entirely mistaken. Jonkers still wears flannels and uses his silk tie as a cummerbund, like some regimental pre-partition sahib. He also fields in round, tortoise-shell spectacles; he assures me that this is purely for aesthetic reasons. One of our number was partially responsible for The Hundred, but he issued an apology and has been forgiven. Nicky Bird’s humour roots him firmly in the 1890s. We aren’t modern because we do still, albeit rarely, play that rarest form of cricket: the timed game. Do people understand it? Not anymore. Does that matter? Not unless you’re […]
1st June 2024
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V&A v The Town & Country XI

This game was about the sixteenth iteration of a fixture which has its origins in the connection between our erstwhile tea lady and doyenne of the side of cold roast beef, Sarah Jenkins and the Winters family.  Martin Winters had bought Sarah’s house in Cornwall and as a consequence had been introduced to Nicky Bird.  I can only assume that Martin wasn’t firing on all cylinders at the time as it is reported that he found Nicky both polite and amusing and suggested that his son, George, who had recently moved to Wargrave, gather a team to play the V&A.  In the early days their team was made up of George’s school friends and a rag tag of fellows from nearby Wargrave, who were for the most part, not very good at cricket.  They always won the toss, but seldom the match.  One one occasion that had the misfortune to come […]
25th May 2024
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V&A v Invalids

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. […]