A glorious day, with none of the predicted showers, a perfect setting for both the Derby and cricket at Stonor. The ghastly VW rally was, thank God, on Sunday although the tossers in their camper vans were assembling as we played. Martin Bowden lost the toss and The National Theatre elected to bat, a surprising decision in the light of their being a better bowling side, but possibly influenced by the delayed appearance of their most lethal bowler, the lofty Mike Morris (of which more later). They started at a sloth’s pace, which slowed to a snail’s. But they were hampered by a sluggish pitch, humidity that made the ball swing prodigiously and calypso bowling from Jake Warman, who began a devastating spell by bowling gritty opener David Lumsden with an unplayable ball for 2. Truly, it would have bowled Bradman, swinging from well outside off stump to hit middle. […]

THE NASHERS are a pleasant and sporting lot who make the day an agreeable one. From the cricketing point of view they are depressingly young, in their twenties by the look of it. They scamper between the wickets, and throw over-arm. Some of us do, some of us did. Bird N. won the toss and elected to bat as he had to do the lunch in Sarah’s absence. In retrospect he got the batting order wrong. Jake Warman and Dennis de Caires agreed to open but perhaps their aggressive batting style is better served at 3 or 4. Both were out cheaply, Dennis to one that bowled him off his pad. A pity as he was looking sound. Jake was playing nicely when out for 11 – his succession of twos would have been fours but for the uncut outfield. The next 5 batsmen all went for 8 or under […]

THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW TERM heralded a change or two. Stonor have invested in pitch covers on wheels which is a bonus. There is a smart display cabinet in the pavilion, the sort of thing you find in a hotel foyer. Some things don’t change and the kick-off time of 11.30 proved optimistic. We started at 12.30. Midnight C.C. are a very decent and agreeable side of butch men under 30. The Jacobite Chancers are the only other team we play without a single Old Fart. On Saturday we had 5 men over 50 (some the wrong side of 55) and only 3 under 40. Yet there were those among us who looked like they had weathered the winter well, notably Martin and Dennis who had been playing in the West Indies and looked fit. Unfortunately, in Martin’s case this was a delusion as he was crocked and […]

ANOTHER FINE DAY, although some people arrived rather less than gruntled owing to duff directions. Sorry. Nevertheless, on the plus side was a good view of the new grandstand (not perhaps an architectural masterpiece), a nice secluded ground (though the pitch itself was erratic) and a very decent tea to look forward to. The opposition and their hirsute skipper Nick were very hospitable, and next season we hope to entertain them at Stonor. Ascot preferred a timed game – 20 overs from 5.00 p.m., but in the event they went in first and batted longer than expected so generously extended the time to 20 overs from 5.30, which meant the light was fading fast at the end. We started rather badly, or – to put it another way – very badly. Dennis’ bowling was tight and fast and he only went for 14 in 8 overs. But Adam, unfortunately, was […]

WE STRUGGLED to get a team together, as 4 or 5 regulars were away playing for some other tossers. But I did not want to disappoint the Jacobites, as this was their last game of the season and a farewell match for their Kiwi captain, David Macmillan, who was returning to New Zealand for good. Perseverance paid off and we ended up with a conventional 11 men, although Olly Bett’s dad Hugh had to be cajoled on the day, and handed my old cricket shoes that had been condemned in 1967. They did not help his fielding, but a missed catch at deep square leg would have been dropped by most of us; in the event it was a bit harsh of his son to shout abuse at him. Hugh is an antiquarian book dealer, not a professional cricketer. The Bett family provided three players – having also brought along […]