Match Reports
Match Reports
9th November 2017
We had some nice days in the sun, fabulous lunches and teas, and lovely evenings at the Golden Bollock that made the jam in between, the cricket, almost irrelevant.
1st September 2017
Saturday 2nd September was a day of two great sporting events. I am assured that cricketing fans across the nation were torn between attending the T20 Blast finals day, featuring Alex Hales and the like, or attending the long running V&A vs Thebertons, featuring two members of Jonkers Rare Books (or is that Jonkers Rare, Books), + 10. We were at one point thirteen, until it was agreed that there were no phantom cricketers in the changing room, and Nieboer’s tent was nowhere to be seen. A quick pre-game chat on the green wicket soon turned into a conversation about lawn mower insurance, by the sounds of it a good game to be in, but realising where our conversation had arrived at, we promptly cut it short. Unsure whether to bat or bowl against what looked to be a capable side, captain Jonkers wisely lost the toss and we were sent out […]
27th August 2017
Sammy Woods will skipper my all-time overseas-born Somerset CCC XI. Sammy played 299 County Championship matches for the Cidermen, 230 as skipper. So what? He also played Test cricket for his native Australia and for England; Test rugby for England; soccer for Somerset and Sussex, and hockey for Sussex. “In later life he watched sport, drank heavily, continued to relate anecdotes and failed to apply himself”. True V&A, unlike Sunil Gavaskar. Our annual landlord and tenant match defied the bookies. Earlier in the week, Stonor had just 8 bodies, while the V&A was oversubscribed. Stonor recruited the V&A flotsam of Nick and Tom P-G. The V&A lost Lachlan Nieboer at a late hour. On paper, the V&A still looked a stronger side. Neiboer’s withdrawal seemed to dent the V&A mojo with several players stating he would have made the difference. But cricket remains a team game, and it was a real […]
19th August 2017
It was a gap in our fixture list which caused Lachlan to volunteer to raise an opposition with the help of Nick Constatine. The exercise was not entirely fruitful and on the eve of the match they had mustered but half a dozen.
11th August 2017
THE SILK BOUDOIR XI were actually VII, because several of this youthful side couldn’t get out of bed. The V&A keep themselves nice on Friday nights so they’re perky for the match, would that others had our
5th August 2017
Variety is the spice of life, and this was a spicy day in the best possible sense. Not in the euphemistic sense that implies angry argument if not actual fisticuffs. There was none of that.
16th July 2017
Unlike the V&A CC, whose members nowadays have little to do with the V&A (although some have visited the museum by accident), The Authors XI are actually authors (alumni include P.G. Wodehouse and Conan Doyle). Currently they include Tom Holland, the popular classicist, and Andy Zaltzman, the comedian and podcaster (also a fine batsman). Tom Bird chatted to him, not entirely aware of his pedigree. ‘What do you do?’ ‘I have a podcast, The Bugle.’ ‘Been doing it long?’ ‘Ten years.’ My daughters, who went to the circus in Stonor Park that was noisily in evidence all day Saturday, squeaked with excitement on hearing Andy was in spitting distance. If only they’d known. I have a family connection with The Authors. William Fiennes is a regular. He was raised at beautiful Broughton Castle near Banbury, about which he wrote so movingly in The Music Room (2009). His Dad is Nat […]
14th July 2017
Looking back at old match reports, I noticed that the Jesmond Jaguars were, until 2008 or so, known as the Jesmond Joggers. I don’t know if they felt that changing their name would make the team sound more butch or menacing, or whether the team, made up of Newcastle University graduates, feared that as middle age spread came upon them, their original epithet might not be taken with the irony it was intended. They are however, still young and for the most part can run and throw in a way many of the V&A faithful can barely remember. They were however only nine in number, when eleven is expected. Midway through the week a plot was hatched to commandeer our captain, Chris Mounsey-Thear, originally a Jaguar (or Jogger), but now most definitely a V&A man. Their plan was foiled and instead we lent them a fielder. CMT neither batted nor […]
1st July 2017
ACME are Bowden’s old team and had some good young players who could catch; a few could bat too. I was impressed by their cars (including an Aston Martin) and wives.