“Special Relationship Forged at Cumnor”

Match: 14 / 321

Won by 8 wkts

Team	Total
Bodleian	96 - 8
G. Timms 3 - 18, I. Howarth 2 - 9
FFTMCC	97 - 2
M. Westmoreland 30*, R. Turner 22*

There’s always something special about a Friday evening T20, but this one had some added extra ingredients. It was the first time that most of the team had played on the Cumnor ground, or indeed been aware of its existence. The general consensus was that we’d found a gem and questions were asked about whether we could make this a permanent home. It was a lovely warm Summer evening and being the middle of June there was no threat that fading light would affect the result. The Bodleian are long standing warmly regarded opponents who always provide a decent contest. The final ingredient was the welcome return of much valued T20 skipper G Timms having that morning stepped off a plane from Boston. So tick, tick, tick and tick for an enjoyable evening.

Bodleian’s S. Ackland bowling from the Moo Non-Striking End.

Skipper Timms lost the toss, inevitably, so we were fielding first. That’s now one correct call in fourteen going back to last season. The artificial track provided a true bounce. The outfield resembled a billiard table and therefore for the first time this season, batsmen were getting excellent value for their shots. Openers Shorten (4-0-16-0) and Roberts (2-0-17-0) saw drives which would have picked up one or two in previous weeks on different pitches, now racing to the boundary.

Hoskins (4-0-19-0) had difficulty extracting anything out of the artificial strip, but Reeves (4-0-6-2) severely restricted the run rate leaving The Bodleian to have to start taking risks if they were to achieve a decent total. As balls started flying through the air, catches were taken and dropped in equal measure. Roberts, currently the safest pair of bucket hands in The MAD, took an excellent pouch running forward and sliding in the outfield, before later using all his height to pluck one heading skywards at mid-off. Reeves put his name on a spinning skier, atoning for an earlier diving miss. Moo was also relieved to take a sitter also making amends for an earlier drop or two. Timms (4-0-18-3) showed why he’s been missed this season up until this point and had several of his team mates cursing that they hadn’t yet taken advantage of the Fantasy League transfer window. Howarth (2-0-9-2) finished the innings off leaving the Bodleian with an extremely gettable 96.

A welcome return of form for M. Westmoreland (30*).

The Mad opened their reply with Pearson (15), on a hot streak after his record breaking innings of the previous weekend. However six days is a long time in cricket and he scratched around looking for the smooth timing seen recently. Conversely at the other end, Martin (30 n.o. off just 22) fired for the first time this season, keeping the score ticking along above the required five per over. Jan (13) seemed to take an age to get going, but when he eventually did start pushing the quick singles, he nearly collapsing after running the full 22 yards. Russell (22 n.o. off just 21) came in and again cemented The MAD innings. Batting at five was Nick Hill’s 10 n.o. off 5. Nick is more used to baseball, but seemed ideally suited to the T20 format, especially with runs already on the board, he was free to hit a couple of homers to see The MAD home with four overs to spare. Bob watched on, in his new role of not batting at six, which made a change from not batting at eleven.

Applauding a successful MAD finish.

In addition to a wonderful pitch, Cumnor has a wonderful pavilion with a bar and raised steps overlooking the ground. With their work done, most of the team were free to watch the closing stages with beer in hand as the sun set and two military aircraft inexplicably followed each other in circles around the sky. Finally Russell had to break out the green ink for only the third time this season.

So for every wet Sunday at Holton, there is an evening like this, with a great venue, great opposition and an ethos for other teams to envy.

‘Reevsie’

*

Statto Scorecards

Far from the MCC versus Bodleian Played at Cumnor Cricket Ground, 6 June 2014 Bodleian won the toss and elected to bat Far from the MCC won by 8 wkts Far from the MCC debuts: none

14 / 321 20 over match

Team	Bodleian
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	M. Neely	retired	34	(42)	4	-	-
2	D. Shackleton	b Reeves	26	(20)	4	-	1-48
3	J. Shaw	c Roberts b Reeves	3	(6)	-	-	2-52
4	S. Ackland	c Westmoreland b Timms	4	(13)	-	-	3-71
5	A. Milner *	c Reeves b Timms	7	(8)	1	-	5-89
6	T. Philipson	c Roberts b Howarth	5	(10)	-	-	4-85
7	R. Triggs	not out	1	(2)	-	-	-
8	A. Downey	c Hoskins b Timms	0	(3)	-	-	6-90
9	D. Busby	run out (Carter)	1	(2)	-	-	7-92
10	A. Paton	b Howarth	0	(1)	-	-	8-92
11	D. Shaw	not out	1	(1)	-	-	-
	Extras	(NB3, W5, LB1, B3)	14
	TOTAL	(for 8 wickets, 20 overs)	96

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts
1	Shorten	4	0	16	0
2	Roberts	2	0	17	0
3	Reeves	4	0	6	2
4	Hoskins	4	0	19	0
5	Timms	4	0	18	3
6	Howarth	2	0	9	2

Team	Far from the MCC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	J. W. Pearson	c Philipson b Milner	15	(23)	1	-	1-61
2	M. T. Westmoreland	retired	30	(22)	7	-	-
3	J. Webster	c Philipson b Shackleton	13	(30)	1	-	2-76
4	R. P. Turner	not out	22	(21)	1	-	-
5	N. Hill	not out	10	(5)	2	-	-
6	C. D. Roberts
7	I. Howarth
8	D. Shorten
9	M. K. Reeves
10	J. D. Hoskins
11	G. J. Timms *
	G. Carter +
	Extras	(LB5, B2)	7
	TOTAL	(for 2 wickets, 16.5 overs)	97

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts
1	Ackland	4	0	18	0
2	Shaw	4	0	19	0
3	Shackleton	4	0	20	1
4	Milner	4	0	22	1
5	Downey	0.5	0	11	0
Note: N. Hill replaced G. Carter + for the second innings
Note: M. T. Westmoreland retired with the score on 37-0

MOTM: M. K. Reeves Champagne Moment: C. D. Roberts’ sliding catch in the deep Buffet Award: C. D. Roberts’ tasty cheese and onion baguettes (with fiery relish)

Opposition: V023 / 17 Ground: G069 / 01 Captain: C022 / 13