Not quite good enough!
Mick Reeve and Alan Cooling on the attack
The excitement gets too much for JW
Last Sunday saw us enjoy a marvellous fixture at The Oratory School, between
Reading and Henley. For those of us who only attended a state grammar school,
and didn't go to a so called 'red brick' university, it was an eye opener
it terms of facilities, quality and location. Having successfully negotiated
the 'Birdseed Revisited' style entrance, most of us then took a minor detour
of the school grounds passing umpteen superb cricket pitches, golf courses,
sports halls, etc.. before finding the right spot-a large oval with two
storey pavilion with balcony, lush outfield, and boundary rope! It was a
lovely fixture and one we desperately want to preserve. I think we made
enough friends amongst the opposition before and after the game, the only
disappointing aspect of the day being our dismal performance.
Alex
Cudworth gives it the charge but gets stumped for his trouble
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat, having told me they only had
3 or 4 batsmen and the rest all rounders. We got off to a flyer with Alan
Cooling, in his comeback match, taking two quick wickets, both superbly
caught at point by Ashley Westen, who was due to open the bowling but
got so lost he was late onto the field and just plugged a gap on the off
side. From 5-2, the home side staged a recovery before another Ashley
catch, and the 'once a season' jaffer from the writer reduced them to
68-4. What followed is very painful to describe, as the Crossbatter's
skipper and a 14yr old schoolboy put on 177 for the 5th.wkt either side
of a lovely roast Sunday lunch. All our bowlers after lunch took varying
degrees of 'tap' with most of our averages suffering. The fielding was
generally good, on a large & fast outfield with Ashley, Alex, Matt
and Toby showing up particularly well, although towards the end of a long
hot afternoon one or two of us were showing our ages! Crossbatters finally
declared at 255-6. Bowling figures: Alan C. 5-0-19-2, Ashley W. 6.4-1-18-2,
Alex C. 12-1-51-0, Matt H. 5-0-32-0, Jerry W. 9-0-45-0, Toby C. 4-0-35-0,
and myself 8-1-45-2.
In reply we made a bad start, losing Keith Green and Jerry Wright cheaply, and having reached tea at 35-2, then lost two more wickets almost immediately and the day was virtually lost. Both Ashley with 14, and Alex with 13, looked as if they were in charge but then got out, Brian forgot that he isn't as quick between the wickets as he once was, and Alan gave cover point some catching practice. It was nice to see the chairman make the highest score with 28 but when the home side unleashed their former Glamorgan quick bowler, Mick and Toby perished in successive balls. The writer was then joined by last man Matt H. with 17 overs to survive or 153 needed to win. We managed to frustrate them adding 30 for the last wicket before I stupidly left my leg in front to the final ball from the welsh quickie. We came within 6 balls of an unlikely but hardly deserved draw with Matt H. unbeaten with 11.n.o. which was a terrific effort on his part.
We were all out for 133, and lost by a crushing 122runs.