Match Reports



Match Reports

12th September 2009

V&A v. ACME

A BEAUTIFUL SEPTEMBER day, sullied by a dreadful crash on the M40 which made most of us very late. The 35-over match didn’t start until 1.15 with BBQ lunch at 2.15 or so, and – because darkness threatened – no tea until after the match was won and lost. Martin Bowden, skippering against his other club, won the toss and elected to bat. Robbie Lawson, he of the 145 not out last week, and Rupert Morris opened very briskly, at 6 an over, Rupert swinging his bat to good effect and Robbie as graceful and purposeful as ever. By lunch Robbie had scored 50 and Rupert had just been out – in a stand of 70 or so – for 15. Linthwaite was advanced up the order and faced 6 balls, five of which he failed to hit while the last bowled him. This was the start of a bad […]
5th September 2009

V&A v. JACOBITE CHANCERS

Turville Park is a lovely ground, surrounded by fields and sheep. Usually the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye, but this year there wasn’t any, so 35 overs took a lot less time than in years gone by – Sarah’s BBQ lunch was also not such a protracted affair as our formal Stonor lunches. Those with long memories remember Vib in his pomp whacking balls into the corn from both ends, obliging us to plant ballboys in the undergrowth to search for the wretched things – we must have lost 6. Vib now plays for HMP Parkhurst CC which is a pity. But we have Robbie Lawson. We tied a game here with the Chancers ten years ago, when I caught their last man off a wide. And we think we won our only game against the Chancers here a year or so later when my daughter Maria […]
16th August 2009

V&A v. The Hermits

THE HERMITS fixture is possibly our oldest, going back to 1976 perhaps [the archivist is uncertain, the scorebooks seemed to have been nicked by trophy hunters]. Many of the original Hermits, named after a pub in North London, are still playing –Tim Squires [my brother-in-law], Terry Blake [skipper] and Jerry ‘Chucker’ Bevan were all in the field on Sunday and only a little greyer and fatter. Jerry is as combative as ever, Tim may have lost mobility but makes up for any technical deficiencies with keenness, and Terry still looks like a proper cricketer, which he once was, having played for MCC Youth while Head Boy of Radley. But I don’t think he would have dropped that skier twenty years ago.Terry’s son, aged 13, now plays, Rob Kir’s and Graham Dixie’s boys – both original Hermits – also played on Sunday, and Sam Kir batted magnificently. Unfortunately the V&A sperm […]
26th July 2009

V&A v. JESMOND JAGUARS

THE JESMOND JAGUARS are a team formed while they were all at Newcastle University. They seems to have done rather well, a collection of lawyers, accountants and other professionals, and their captain – the excellent and generous Adam Chataway – is organising lottery funding for the 2012 Olympics. They are almost perfect opposition – they give us their best player when we are short and never whinge at crap umpiring decisions. They help with the tables without being asked to.Incidently, Adam Chataway arrived early and went for a 15 mile run. I don’t think this was why Adam Jacot was late. But they have two fatal flaws…they are rather good at cricket, and they are all under 30. They can run, they can catch, they can throw. They can all throw to the top of the stumps from the longest boundary. Amazing. Martin Bowden lost the toss in a 35 […]
12th July 2009

V&A v. The Old Taboltians

THERE WAS AN IRONY in the Talbotians fielding eleven good men, while we only managed 9 somewhat iffy men, three being pretty crocked [Dennis, Jake and Jack] and some being a bit passed it by the look of their fielding, not mentioning any names like Rob. A couple of weeks ago their skipper, our friend Sunil, told us that they were struggling and that we should look for alternative opposition. But they persevered and found 11. On the day we had two drop out, one through a suspected dose of alcohol poisoning, which I can sympathise with, horrid business, hits you unexpectedly. The Old Talbotians, incidently, were founded by journalists on Now! magazine, an ill- fated venture by the late Sir James Goldsmith. Private Eye referred to the mag as Talbot! for some obscure reason. We started at 1.45 or so without lunch because it rained overnight and, briefly, in […]
12th July 2009

V&A v. Old Talbotians

THERE WAS AN IRONY in the Talbotians fielding eleven good men, while we only managed 9 somewhat iffy men, three being pretty crocked [Dennis, Jake and Jack] and some being a bit passed it by the look of their fielding, not mentioning any names like Rob. A couple of weeks ago their skipper, our friend Sunil, told us that they were struggling and that we should look for alternative opposition. But they persevered and found 11. On the day we had two drop out, one through a suspected dose of alcohol poisoning, which I can sympathise with, horrid business, hits you unexpectedly. The Old Talbotians, incidently, were founded by journalists on Now! magazine, an ill-fated venture by the late Sir James Goldsmith. Private Eye referred to the mag as Talbot! for some obscure reason. We started at 1.45 or so without lunch because it rained overnight and, briefly, in the […]
5th July 2009

V&A v. THE THEBERTONS

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 […]
20th June 2009

V&A v. LONDON ERRATICS

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, […]
30th May 2009

V&A v. NATIONAL THEATRE

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 […]
2nd May 2009

V&A v. Midnight CC

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. […]