SIMON BARNES of The Times, and of the mighty Tewin Irregulars (a team we beat regularly), once quoted me as saying matches are won and lost on the telephone –meaning that the strength of your team is in direct proportion to the time spent on the phone. But, conversely, a game can be lost on the morning of the match in a trice with four phone calls from chaps crying off (for good and bad reasons), which happened on Sunday. There was a suspicion that drink had played a part in a couple of cases. We missed the batting of Andrew Taylor and the batting and – particularly – the bowling – of Jake Warman. What a difference 10 overs from Jake would have made, he rarely goes for more than 3 an over and would have picked up wickets.Father Alaster is a great asset but does not share his […]

A DREADFUL CRASH on the M40 meant a three-hour drive to Stonor for some. Bummer. Typically, the police closed the motorway to photograph bits of glass and tyre marks, but only after traffic had built up for 2 hours and had backed up 20 miles. They do things better in France. And probably provide crudités and a crisp Sancerre. We didn’t start until well after 1 and although Bird N. – temporarily standing in for the marooned Richard Woolhouse (captain) – won the toss and might have preferred to bat, he put the Erratics in as they were only 5 at that stage, hardly a quorum for fielding. We decided on a 30 overs game because of the late start. Sunil and James Nixey opened the bowling and did extremely well, doing just what was required, keeping the runs down while avoiding a hatful of wickets which, in the circumstances, […]

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 […]