"Ouch" !

A hastily re-arranged home fixture, moved from Blewbury, when they discovered their star player didn't have enough fuel to reach their pavilion. Thompy's PA neglected to inform him of this change, and he narrowly avoided arrest at Blewbury, who were hosting a Juniors match, and don't take kindly to "lairy gingers" barging into a dressing room of kids.

Further delays whilst Blewbury introduced themselves to each other; one of them even thought we were his team mates ! They seemed more than happy that Aravinda de Silva had "signed up" under the recent twinning arrangements between Colombo and Blewbury, and was making his club debut. The threat of Moreton Midweek is in fact taken so seriously that they fielded several first team players, appointed 3 captains, and then tried to disguise the team as "moderate" with a sprinkling of Saga members.

They even insisted on spinning the coin, as if they were the hosts, and Moreton decided to bat first. Wicksey is in a rich vein of form, providing the day has a "Thurs" in it, which luckily it did, so he retired unbeaten. Jonny & Stuart looked deceptively good, and scored well, but it was left to Sammy to show us how it's done with a fine knock including 2 sixes into the pavilion; one rather fortunately caught by a fielder wearing oversized boots that just touched the boundary. The quest for sex six by Templedoom continues, and to be honest he didn't look any more likely to succeed this week, than he has for the last 5 years. Never mind he's in the team for his bowling, fielding, comic value with Bomber seemingly unavailable for this key role, now that he's concentrating on his picture framing business. 131 seemed a fair, if not great score, and we left the Blewbury captains trying to sort out a batting order with their new found friends.

New member Wayne opened the bowling, and showed plenty of flair for the job, and when his mate, "Gardener to the stars", Howard joined him, we wondered why Swagger was holding himself back ? Howard in fact enjoyed good success with 3 wickets, as did Thompy. Howard must owe a lemonade to 'Gus MacGregor who took a corking catch at fine leg, just as his Dad looked away to check the Aussie Rules scores. Josh's strike rate is an impressive 50% when fielding, and this week it featured 2 drops and 1 "decline" from the 6 misses the team collectively managed. Sammy dropped a straight forward catch from Aravinda before he got going, and this cost us dear. Dave dropped a much harder chance, so can't really be blamed, whilst Jonny spilled a sharp C & B and was so angry with himself that he headbutted the ground in frustration. Unfortunately someone had raked up all the grass cuttings from the previous week, so the anticipated "cushion"  was not there, and surprisingly his hair failed to soften the impact either.

Following recent changes to Moreton safety guidelines, his Mother was contacted, he was told to take a week off work, and he may have to bowl in a helmet next week to protect himself from further self- injury. Bowling honours went to Sammy, who although he lost the match, by dropping Aravinda, still came up with four wickets and 8 sorrys.

Next week FCC-so we might see some familiar faces- or we might not !

I need a brand new combine harvester........

With silage costs approaching £100/ ton this summer, Moreton CC have stumbled upon a lucrative income stream this year, and the grass is certainly greener on this side of the Rec.

The players were not deterred however, and managed to wade through the hayfield and a competitive game of cricket v The Wurzels Aston  ensued. Batting first Aston were soon in trouble thanks to some good bowling from Jonny, Westy, Dave, and Howard; unfortunately Sammy fared less well. The fielding looked pretty sharp too, with Lockey diving all over the place and coming up with 4 catches, whilst Charlie got his enjoyment by inserting his head in a bush. "Jonny discusses with the umpire" is now a regular slot on a Thursday evening, giving us all a great insight into the pros & cons of their decisions. Ed took a great catch on the boundary with minimum fuss, Howard didn't, meanwhile Josh showed off his newly acquired skills with accomplished fielding, and Lucy threw herself at everything that came her way, no doubt reassured by the cushion of grass cuttings that surrounded her. All in all a great fielding effort to restrict them to 104 off 20.

A confident pair of openers approached the middle, but this was soon exposed as totally misplaced by a bowler called Oli Squires. Where was the real Oli Squires, as this impostor was really quite annoyingly skillful ? Tim had noted the variable bounce as he went out to bat, and it was still fresh in his mind as he wandered back a couple of minutes later with a golden duck ! Ed soon followed, and with Josh & Charlie also succumbing, we were a precarious 7 for 4 off 5 overs ! Wicksey steadied the sinking ship with a defiant, unbeaten knock, but our run scoring skills went a.w.o.l, and defeat was inevitable. At least some light relief was provided by Jonny "Golden Duck" Yaxley,  Dave "I have never hit a 6" Templeman, and Howard "it's this easy to hit a 6" Edwards. An enjoyable game nevertheless, and "must do better" springs to mind for next weeks trip to our great friends Blewbury. Tim Wigley is offering lifts there in his Range Rover by the way.

Willkommen zurück...... Miele

I love the fixture with Miele, mainly because it's a great opportunity to dust off the war time stereotypes about the Germans. To be fair, they rarely field any Krauts  Germans, as they are far too serious to play such a frivolous game as cricket. So the days of  playing against a Teutonic XI of blond & blue eyed youth, have long gone; mind you we are always wary of any Italian or Japanese allies who may turn up to assist their quest for world domination in the white handkerchief goods market.....

Kommander Baz conquered the toss, and issued orders for us to bat first. He swapped his usual cap for a natty orange one-no doubt trying to go undercover with the Dutch look- as if that would fool us !

 

Tim & Dave  looked relaxed despite the recent trauma of that run out. Dave decided strike deprivation would be the best option, and accelerated to 14 whilst Tim stood and observed, until Dave failed to pick the U boat ball from Barry. This brought in Sir Francis, who was under pressure after his disgraceful performance against FCC. More used to fighting the Spanish, this was an unfamiliar foe for the Sea Lord, but he stepped up in style and blitzed an unbeaten 25. Tim was shot down for 23, and the skipper swaggered in, scratched around for a bit (too long in some people's view) before being put out of his misery by the Swiss "neutral" umpire. Said umpire fell cheaply, as did Thompy, so it was left to Wicksy to give a masterclass in stroke play as he raced to 32; obviously living off PoW rations of just half a grain of rice and a cup of water suits him perfectly. 128 was only a par score for the wicket, and we did look short on bowlers....in fact we were short of a bowler who failed to turn up- DAN (note to self- check on possible German ancestors).

Jonny & Templedoom bowled tidily, keeping the run rate down nicely, and Doom actually bagged 3 wickets......somehow.  Thompy even took a good catch, which we now know was an aberration, and everything seemed under control, with the only excitement being when Rickart Schmidt from credit control broke his bat in half for not obeying orders. Lucy demonstrated great fielding skills on the boundary, Josh didn't (must remember to check who coaches him... ), and Angus tried to repeat his tactic of bowling out of the sun, but the Germans have come across this tactic before and both pilots bats survived the uber overs with ease.

Herr Turncoat Thompy bowled possibly the worst spell ever witnessed in peacetime, with at least 5 leg side deliveries per over, and his loyalties will be seriously questioned, when he returns from his holiday in Berlin, as he put Miele back on track for an unlikely Endsieg *. There's a suspicion that he's after an exclusive contract with Miele to install their washing machines in Didcot; if this turns out to be true, then we'll need to invest in a decent hoover to pick up what's left of him- post interrogation............................................

Chuchillian speeches from Jonny, and a good over each from Dave & Howard ensured the game wouldn't go to penalties, and another epic victory can be written into the history books. VM day was celebrated long into the night in the pub. Rule Britannia !

* Adolf used 'Endsieg' in his book "Mein Kampf & other animals" to mean final victory