“Glorious Mud”

Match: 24 / 613

Won by 2 runs

Team	Total
FFTMCC	146 - 5
L. Ainsworth 58, J. Harris 36
Wootton & Bladon CC	144 - 6
J. Harris 1 - 6

After a winter that seems to have stretched across an entire millennia, cricket once again reared its tousled head and blessed us with a truly gripping season opener against old rivals Wooton & Bladon CC. A two-run win off the final ball of the match was a climate-beating prairie oyster of a late winter warmer and a cracking way to welcome another cricketing year.

Collectively, we were all cruelly deceived as we awoke to bright blue skies and warm sunshine. But by the time we had settled down in The Red Lion* for the pre-match pint the skies had dimmed, and the temperature had dropped significantly (and by the time we returned to the pub 5 hours later the landlord had lit a sizeable log fire).

Arriving at the ground there was some conjecture as to where the wicket actually was, but it was precisely as you imagine a village wicket to be in early May after one of the wettest springs in history. Imagine the third or fourth day of the Battle of the Somme and on one side a boundary so distant fielders were asked to supply next of kin details before setting off towards it.

The usual pre-cricketing scenes unfolded. Some light stretching was attempted before the sound of twinges turning into tears and tweaks turning into life threatening injuries stopped it all. New bats and boots were compared. Dave Shorten was keen to try out his brand-new jockstrap but seemed mildly disappointed at its ordinary appearance and has pledged to ‘vajazzle’ it in time for the next fixture.

At 2pm(ish) James Pearson and Lee Ainsworth left the dim comfort of the village hall and trudged their way through the mud to begin the 2024 season.

Trinder opened the bowling for the Boys and his first delivery was straight and on a good length, prompting him to do a lap of high fives with the fielders in the ring. And fair play to him too. Who starts a season like that? He and Walker then bowled a pretty testing opening spell which saw The MAD openers dig in. The odd ball squatted and the occasional one popped and the bounce was mostly low. The grassy outfield slowed most hits to a trickle, but even so the batsmen were nicely selective and picked up the odd single here and there.

After 10 overs of watchful batting The MAD had reached 31-0 and just after drinks The MAD season had started with an unbroken 50-partnership for the first wicket. Somewhat inevitably, this ushered in the introduction of Pooley snr and his infamously flighted sky filth. With a short legside boundary and the undoubted capacity to clear it Pearson’s lofted drive was a fair enough shot but had more elevation than distance and he was well caught just inside the boundary for 22. Yet another MAD victim for Pooley.

But with a good start under our belts and plenty of guns in the bag in came John Harris, and he and Lee started to push up the run rate. Harris played probably the most fluent innings of the day. Smartly he’d recognised that you had to wait for the ball, and he dealt with it largely by going right back on his stumps and slapping it legside. 36 at better than a run a ball was, until the last few overs of the oppo’s innings, the quickest rate of the day. At the other end Ainsworth played the best knock of the day, patiently waiting for the bad ball and dealing with the good stuff by playing late and moving his feet well.

Pearson doing something.

The two of them added 70 in just over 11 overs before Harris was bowled, preceding a little flurry of late wickets. Lee went for a highly impressive (and man of the match winning) 58. Carter (1) was run out, gamely going for a 2nd run, bringing in Darley (0), who received the following sage advice from his batting partner, “Watch the ball.” Andy followed this to the letter and watched transfixed as his first ball squelched into the pitch approximately a metre in front of him, rose to a majestic height of about 4 inches and then dropped onto his stumps with just enough kinetic energy to disturb the bails. Webster and Turner then biffed a few in the closing overs and The MAD were fairly well satisfied with a hallway mark on 146-5. Which at the time seemed pretty defendable.

The big news about tea is that there was a tea… which isn’t always the case nowadays and was a very welcome bonus.

On the resumption, Shorten and Roberts opened the bowling and were both steady, WBCC settling into a rate of around 4 runs an over before the first wicket fell at 23, with Collett cutting Roberts to Webster at point. But then Ashley and Nick Hambridge started to play some powerful drives through the offside. An early contender for catch of the season came when Dave Shorten (inevitably) raced in, dived and brilliantly caught the ball while sliding and at full stretch. It would have been even better if the ball hadn’t been a free hit after the previous delivery had been no-balled….

Things were beginning to look slightly ominous when W&BCC approached drinks at the 15 over mark having reached 59-1 when Andy Darley, bowling off a short run, beat and bowled Nick Hambridge (12).

Andy had come on at the same time as Corne, who carefully measured out his run to bowl round the wicket then ran up and bowled over the wicket without having mentioned to anyone that was his intention. Once he got going and rather to everyone amazement, including his own, having not made a single net session or bowled a ball in six months, Corne then settled down into a quite inspired spell where he dropped the ball on a perfect length consistently throughout his spell. Ashley Hambridge had batted very well but once drinks had been taken Corne really troubled him, eventually causing the batsman to abandon his straight driving and start swishing. One such swish saw Roberts get under a skier and take a good catch very calmly. In this instance, figures of 1-21 off 6 overs don’t flatter. 74-3.

While he hadn’t realised it, Mike Reeves started his spell with a MAD career total of 299 wickets**. (his first was A. Fisher ct Edwards against Wootton & Boars Hill back in April 2006). And while unsuccessful in purely statistical terms Mike’s first over was memorable enough to win The MAD moment award. The first ball was a very wide wide, his 2nd bowled Stone, but on the 3rd bounce, eventually causing the skipper to ask the umpire to declare it a no ball and recall the batsman***. Inevitably, the batsman then pumped the next ball for four and then reduced Mike’s right hand to mincemeat by smashing the next two straight back at back at him. Bravely/foolishly Mike refused to yield. And to cap off a simply wonderful experience for him, Gary Doggett then popped up a lovely slow, simple looping chance to mid-off which Webster promptly juggled and dropped like a hot knacker.

Things slowed just a little as Stone had a cracked rib and Doggett a buggered leg, making running a little tricksy. However, Mike’s 300th was shortly in the bag as he again bowled Stone with a classic lefthander’s delivery going across the baffled batsman. This meant Mike became only the 2nd MAD player (after James Hoskins) to reach this landmark. Hats off to Mike.

John Harris came on for a brief spell and had Doggett brilliantly caught by James Pearson, one handed and high above his head at square leg, off a shot that really deserved 4 – a well-deserved champagne moment.

With three overs to go W&BCC needed 30 to win and here Trinder really came into his own. He was determined that if he couldn’t reach the boundary then they would take 2 runs regardless – and it paid off as he and his partner scampered to and fro. Even so, as James Pearson took the ball for the final over, 14 was required, a tall ask at any level and particularly on a mudflat in a dimly lit and slight drizzly May afternoon. Kudos to the opposition then as twos were run off each of the first 5 balls leaving us with the cricket classic last ball – six to win, four to draw. Pearson raced in, Trinder stepped back and across, got under the ball and smashed it high towards midwicket. For a moment it looked like it might have the legs to go, but then it dropped. Corne got under it but couldn’t quite hold on. However, he was quick enough to get the ball back to the bowler just as the batsmen were completing a 2 – The MAD had held on and won by 2 runs.

Wootton discussing how they lost to a shit pub team.

This was a proper cricket match between two nicely matched teams who share a healthy attitude towards this daft game we play. As Mr Pooley said as the teams shook hands, “Great game. This is why we play you lot.” Says it all really.

* - In Cassington. Not Yarnton, Eynsham, Chalgrove, Northmoor, Old Marston, Brightwell, Kidlington or Adderbury.

** - Mike’s first wicket for The MAD was A. Fisher ct Edwards against Wootton & Boars Hill back in April 2006.

*** - 21.7 Ball bouncing more than once, rolling along the ground or pitching off the pitch.

The umpire shall call and signal No ball if a ball which he/she considers to have been delivered, without having previously touched bat or person of the striker,

- bounces more than once or rolls along the ground before it reaches the popping crease.

’Colonel Swampy Wet-Ones’

*

Statto Scorecards

Far From the MCC versus Wootton & Bladon CC Played at Cassington, 5 May 2024 Wootton & Bladon CC won the toss and elected to field Far From the MCC won by 2 runs Far from the MCC debuts: n/a

24 / 613 30 over match

Team	Far From the MCC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	L. G. Ainsworth †	st Doggett b Dale	58	(79)	3	-	1-51
2	J. W. Pearson	c Trinder b Poole	22	(38)	1	-	2-121
3	J. Harris	b Dale	36	(35)	5	-	3-130
4	J. vdG. Webster	not out	18	(16)	1	-	4-134
5	G. Carter	run out	1	(5)	-	-	5-136
6	A. Darley	b Dale	0	(1)	-	-
7	R. P. Turner *	not out	1	(6)	-	-
8	D. Shorten
9	M. K. Reeves
10	C. D. Roberts
11	C. J. Vermaak
	Extras	W2, LB4, B4	10
	TOTAL	(for 5 wickets, 30 overs)	146

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Trinder	4	0	9	0	2.25
2	Walker	6	1	22	0	3.67
3	Barber	5	0	25	0	5.00
4	Poole	5	0	31	1	6.20
5	Dale	6	1	20	3	3.33
6	De Bono	4	0	31	0	7.75

Team	Wootton & Bladon CC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	A. Hambridge	c Roberts b Vermaak	38		2	-	1-23
2	A. Collett	c Webster b Roberts	7		1	-	2-55
3	N. Hambridge	b Darley	12		-	-	3-74
4	J. J. Bouwer	b Reeves	23		3	-	4-92
5	G. Doggett †	c Pearson b Harris	6		-	-	5-103
6	D. De Bono	b Pearson	15		-	-	6-123
7	J. Trinder	not out	26		4	-
8	W. Dale	run out (Pearson/Vermaak)	2		-	-
9	J. Barber
10	A. Walker
11	S. Poole
	Extras	NB2, W7, LB6	15
	TOTAL	(for 6 wickets, 30 overs)	144

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Shorten	4	0	16	0	4.00
2	Roberts	4	0	19	1	4.75
3	Vermaak	6	0	21	1	3.50
4	Darley	6	0	25	1	4.17
5	Reeves	5	0	34	1	6.80
6	Harris	2	0	6	1	3.00
7	Pearson	3	0	21	1	7.00

MOTM: L. G. Ainsworth Champagne Moment: J. W. Pearson’s towering one-handed catch Buffet Award: J. W. Pearson’s army surplus mouldy biscuits MAD Moment: M. K. Reeves’ first over of filth

Opposition: V025 / 040 Ground: G067 / 011 Captain: C024 / 083 Match No: OT / 041