A 35-over game was played, which has the virtues of guaranteeing a result, allowing those with smart dinner-dates to arrive before their wives combust, and those of us with a drink problem to get to the pub before the shakes. We won the toss, batted and started indifferently, Rob Noble being bowled for 1. But the two Ollies, Holroyd-Pearce and Bett, put on a quick 80 odd before Bett was out for 18, after two delightful boundaries. H-P went on to make a stylish 91. All would have been very different if Thebetons had caught 6 chances before lunch, some that Noddy or Fotherington-Thomas would have snapped up. After lunch– during which the Red Kites performed an entertaining air show – they suddenly started to hold catches and our total, which seemed to be heading for 200 plus, receded alarmingly, eventually stuttering to 187. De Caires, Nixey, Bloxham, Morris and […]

A GLORIOUS JUNE DAY. And some glorious V&A batting. Sarah was away so catering was shared by Debs, Lucinda and your correspondent. All fine and dandy except that the opposition’s leading batsman was nobbled by Lucinda’s excellent tea-time trifle. The rich melange did for the poor man’s irritable bowel, his sorry condition was audible from the boundary. Roger was captain and was, as always, a decisive commander, but tactful and selfless too, dropping himself to number 11. One player (R. Smith) described his captaincy as ‘brilliant’. We played a 20-overs from 6.00 p.m. game. They won the toss but put us in to bat, being perhaps somewhat weaker in this department. Adam and Rob opened, soundly, Rob hitting a fine 4 before being caught – frustrating, as he rightly saw nothing fearsome in either bowling or pitch. N. Bird joined a free scoring Adam and the pair put on 50 […]

The talk in the dressing room was about Stonor suddenly bumping up the charge for the pitch to £130, and our proposal therefore to charge £15 per V&A player for a lunch day. Roger thought this would deter yoof. We will see. But, after discussion, we decided to ask the opposition for a total of £130 for their day out (with lunch included), which amounts to a bit over £12 per person. Next year, when we can give oppositions due warning, we would also charge them £15 per man. £10 per player for a tea-only afternoon is proposed. The day was again glorious. David Maddocks – the C.A.C. captain – he of the striped blazer and commanding ways, refused the limited overs option. We agreed eventually on 20 overs after 6 o’clock. David quite understandably prefers not to lose, and the possibility of a draw was an attraction. Through an […]

THE DAY LOOKED DODGY, weather-wise but there was no rain at 10.30 a.m. so we went. We have been lucky with this fixture in the past, snatching victory in the last over, assisted by a 12 year-old girl (Maria Bird) and an old man of 84 (Tom Bird Snr.) and – in a memorable game – tying a game off the last ball when our bowler had bowled a wide, which the umpire was about to signal, when the idiot batsman snicked it to the alert keeper (Bird, N). We lost the toss and batted in a (flexible) 35 over game. Ed Black and another almost equally good bowler opened for the Chancers and had us tied down. Rob and Sean did a fine job getting through the first overs, although it was impossible to score more than 2 an over. Even that was impressive. Rob was bowled by a […]

THIS IS OUR OLDEST FIXTURE. We have seen the Hermits grow old and fat, drink having taken its toll. But they are still keen and competitive, none more so than the combustible Jerry Bevan who can be relied upon to explode in the field. He did not disappoint on Sunday. What was a little disappointing was variable umpiring which saw Rob and Will dismissed for leg before which even our dopiest umpire would have considered too far forward to assess with any accuracy. Two rather better shouts from Olly Betts when we were bowling were rejected. Nevertheless the absence of Martin and Roger was the crucial difference between the two sides; we didn’t have enough bowling. This was compounded by our dropping 5 catches and the ball invariably falling between fielders. Nevertheless I would like my penn’orth. I happen to know that Tim, my brother-in-law and the offending umpire, does […]

A PERFECT DAY, cloudless, hot but not humid. Kites soared, deer gambolled, Bruno returned. We lost the toss. The Nashers put us in to bat (because we were then not quite a quorum, but were later 12), in a 40 over game. Adam and Rob started briskly. 9 off the first over – an Adam trademark 6 to square leg – and continued apace. Then the rate slowed a bit until umpire Bruno took a hand and gave Rob out LBW. A controversial decision. Rob thought it incontrovertibly bad, and said so. There was some debate as to whether the ball had hit the front or back foot. The wicket-keeper didn’t help Bruno’s case by commiserating with Rob. Rob asked for a simple apology and got one, sort of, which seemed to defuse the situation, and later they were seen to exchange pleasantries, sort of. The over rate was lamentable. […]

WHAT A DIFFERENCE a week makes. The previous Saturday’s V&A team of lethargic and creaking outfielders, was transformed into a brilliant unit of focused athletes who could run and bend and throw venomously, something quite alien to last week’s geriatrics. Even more importantly our fielding was punctuated by three extraordinary catches that dismissed their best batsmen, catches which rivalled Rob Noble’s recent effort at mid-wicket. Richard Cowley captained for The Pretenders and was uncharacteristically only ten minutes late (our skipper Martin Bowden, with Adam and Shaun arrived promptly at 12.23). We compromised on a 36-over game (they had wanted 40, too much for those with a drink problem and a pub to go to). They won the toss and elected to bat. Olly Betts and Andy Sharp opened the bowling and kept them down to about three an over. They had some decent batting but the ball popped up menacingly, […]