Chemistry/Pharmocology (Jack Cox) at Balliol College ground. Twenty overs.
On the week where we celebrate the marvelous moon landings, Bodley sought to launch themselves into the Jack Cox Plate (the Cup seems too giant a leap this year), and with it the chance to plant our flag on the dull grey surface of that estimable serving platter. A strong team had been assembled, with Bodley occasionals Asad and Ollie joining regulars only just recovering from the rigors of the annual tour. Skipper Neely won the toss, and wisely chose to bat with rain forecast for later and a decent line up to send to space. Freeman and Shaw left the capsule and walked gently along the turf to open the batting. For Freeman, this was one of the best days of his storied life - playing for the UK's, if not the world's pre-eminent Legal Deposit Library cricket club, is surely up there with the other pinnacles of Dave's life. More on that later. The pitch at Balliol is best described as a firm, polyester carpet laid within a building site next to a creche for scientists. As such, it is not conducive to good bowling, and is surprisingly unhelpful to attacking batsmen. Nevertheless, Bodley got off to a good start and a target of 140 minimum was broadly agreed to be about right, should we get there. Unfortunately, Shaw was soon caught behind by the wicketkeeper, a scrum-half if ever there was one. This brought Ollie to the crease, and the runs ticked along. Freeman, enjoying himself more than Jack Leach enjoyed Lord's, was sadly out for 21, having looked set for retirement and complementary pipe and slippers. Next up on the launchpad, out strode the skipper, and before you could say dark side of the moon, the ball had disappeared for 6 into the tennis courts and 17 had been scored off an over - as many runs as there were Apollo missions. What a time to be alive. As with all highs, there are inevitable lows soon after, and once Neely retired for a well-constructed 31, the rate dropped and wickets fell at regular intervals. Asad broke his bat trying to send the ball into orbit, Jones and Robinson swung the bat rather less destructively, Philipson and Miten came in peace, Dave Busby entertained, and finally Ackland ...erm, also entertained. At the end of the innings Bodley had racked up a bare-minimum 122-8, Defendable, maybe, but not normally enough on the Balliol runway. Bodley's fielding innings rather went by in a bit of blur for most of us, as the ball splashed down in space, the short boundaries were peppered (just how many fielders should you put on that tennis court side?!), and one of the Chem/Pharm openers blasted 33 from barely 5 overs to retire with all of his sides runs at that point. Not a good a start if you weren't a scientist. Asad picked up the other opener with a plumb lbw, and shortly after Freeman plucked and edge out of the air at slip, arm swinging wide to catch the ball like a barn door opening in the breeze, causing team-mates to congregate in congratulation as Dave leaped like a salmon in celebration. Having swung the game back our way, it just as rapidly veered away from us, despite some energetic chasing and boundary saving. The next batsmen in both went stellar into the 30s to retire, before a streaky four won the game in the name of science. Twenty, maybe thirty more runs, and we'd have been over the moon, but it wasn't to be. But we play this sport not because it is easy, but because it is hard. And by the end of this decade we will win the bloody Plate!! Well played all, a good match where we just came up short against a slightly better team on the day. Drinks and social afterwards was great fun and reminded us all why we love this game so much - especially Dave, who really did have one of the best days of his life. GJ
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St Clement's Strollers at Magadalen College Ground. 20 overs.
Sometimes - not too often, thankfully - but sometimes, you play a game that leaves you wondering what on earth just happened. This was one of those, a bit of a mismatch with a bunch of youngens bolstering a normally decent team and a no contest being the result. A tour-weary Bodley team arrived hoping for a gentle mid-week game under a pleasant sky on a lovely pitch, but couldn't match the accuracy, intent and sheer skill of the bolters in the Strollers ranks. There were excellent performances from Phil Burnett and James Shaw with the ball - the former being on a hat-trick at one point as normal service resumed after the openers had retired. In the field necks were craned as sixes rained down into the trees, but a Strollers total of 170-odd was not half bad given the state of play half-way through the innings. An early wicket and things would have been much more interesting, but them's the breaks. With bat in hand Bodley fared a little better, first ball going for four as Phil tonked them from the off. Wickets fell at regular intervals as Bodley tried to hit out against a selection box of bowling but nothing to make the eyes light up. With a close field and plentiful resources to call upon the total looked a tad beyond us this time, though a heartening rearguard from Ben Parish and Dave Shorten proved most entertaining as the three slips were made to look entirely unnecessary and boundaries built the score. With six needed off the last ball to get us to a century, we almost got there only to be caught near the ropes - probably a fitting end to a funny old game. Roll on our next fixture, and a return to winning ways! Credit to all who played and threw themselves around in the filed, bowled when pressed into service, and batted with keenness, calmness, and a smile. GJ. Inkpen CC at Inkpen. 30 overs.
Inkpen is a suitable name for opposition to a bunch of librarians. It’s also a sleepy little village in Berkshire which always seems just a little bit too far to travel to until you are there and it suddenly seems worthwhile. The pitch has all the eccentricities of a village ground, slope across the pitch and very short on and off-side boundaries mean you don’t want to bowl down leg (which is, of course, just what happens) with a wicket which is on the livelier side of interesting. Oppo are darned friendly and round our level, games in the past have always been close so despite the distance it’s a fixture to hold on to. Skipper Jones loses the toss and a new opening partnership of Shaw (Jnr) and Webb (Jnr) to open. Bod are fielding 3/4s of a Father-Son combo with James keeping Dan company while Malcolm makes a welcome return filling in for the recuperating Mike, who umpires and scores to make up for it. At least they’ll still be a ‘Webb, M’ in the scorebook, something to confuse statisticians in years to come. The team also welcome Miten, travelling all the way up from London to air his Bodley whites. It's all change for Bodley, and new partnerships through the order, exciting times. Bodley off to a good start, helped by some wayward bowling from Inkpen, extras soon racing ahead of any scoring shots before both Dan and Malcolm start to find the middle of the bat. With a short outfield runs are scored more often than not in boundaries but with youth on their side both run some quick singles as well. Malcolm is out first, top edging to the wickie so Matthew goes in at three and gets off the mark straight away. Dan out soon after so Leigh comes in and starts to hit out before Matthew is out going for a second run. James in but Inkpen start to bring on some quick and accurate bowlers and the runs dry up. Despite not being able to bat together father and son combine well during James’s innings with Dan giving his Dad out caught behind, to add insult to injury James is then accidentally whacked in the neck by the oppo wicket-keeper when going for the catch. Gareth blocks a few then whacks a few to aid a recovery as Inkpen's terrific young swing bowler impresses everyone, before making the short walk back to be replaced by Tim, then Miten, then Dan’s friend Max, then Dave Busby and the reporter, none of whom cause too much trouble for the scorers. Bodley all out for 157, not even batting out their overs, which considering it is a 30 over match is pretty poor. Extras score pretty highly, something which will prove important as the game reaches its climax. Credit to Leigh for top scoring for Bodley with 28, next best those extras! Tea, which is always good during innings break, even when it’s not. Today's feast was built around a central core of generously stuffed baps - many containing Philipson-befuddling coleslaw - and a glorious variety of cakes, crisps and fruit. All was gulped down with tea, and the players waddled off to pursue excellence in the second innings. Dan and Leigh opening the bowling, all tight lines and speed but Inkpen, worryingly, soon get up to and then beyond the run-rate. Inkpen look like they have some big-hitters in their ranks so it’s a relief when Dan breaks the partnership with a caught-and-bowled, followed by a great catch from Miten. James comes on with a spell of good accurate bowling that slows the run-rate down. The writer of this tale soon joins him and manages, despite not doing anything with a ball since September, to keep the momentum created by James very much with Bodley. Runs dry up, apart from the occasional delivery down leg which is treated with the respect they deserve (Tim grabbing a great catch tight to the boundary line off a no-ball particularly galling) before both James and I manage to take key wickets, one of which is a wonderful catch by Matthew behind the stumps. Malcolm and Matthew then finish off the overs with Max going behind the stumps, both bowling excellently well before a master-stroke by the skipper, bringing on Dave to bowl the penultimate over. Inkpen need around 24 but find it impossible to get Dave’s perfectly flighted loopers away. He even gets a wicket, inducing the Inkpen bat down the wicket only to get stumped by Max. Matthew bowls at the last over, Inkpen still needing around 20 but tight bowling and keen fielding combine to reign them in, Bodley win and thank the cricketing gods for the extras column in the Inkpen innings. SA Thursday 4th July. Osler/Green/Templeton, Jack Cox Group stage. Twenty overs.
Our second Jack Cox game, with one rain-off and one victory so far seeing us standing mid-table and looking good for the Plate (the Cup is all very well, but plates are more useful). Skippper Matthew Neely had very impressively won the toss the previous day by way of an expected mini-exodus of Osler players in the second half, and taken the offer of batting first. The pitch looked green and plasticy, whilst the outfield was grassy, and green. As this match was some days ago and I do not have the score book to hand, I will attempt to recount events as best I can... The kick-off was fumbled by the winger but the opposition defence effected a ruck and made hard yards over the gainline. Hang on, that didn't happen. Daves Freeman and Shackleton strode out to open the batting for what must be Bodley's most correct and attractive partnership. As expected, these two settled in very nicely and the runs began to flow, whilst the Osler fielders worked hard on this years Edinburgh Fringe routine, with one-liners the order of the day. In between the hilarity Bodley ticked along to the halfway mark for somewhere in the region of 80 runs. Roughly. Shortly after that Shackleton was out, and Freeman retired shortly after a brief partnership with new player Joe. The skipper joined Joe and then, after some more Ken Dodd impressions from the fielders, Joe gave way to new Bodley buck Jagdish, who gave way to serial swinger Tim Philipson, then Gareth Jones came in only to be told he had a hole in his bat, more misses than Henry VIII, and - there's more - more blocks than a Lego set. Well, as you can imagine, batting whilst being entertained so royally was very hard indeed, and Bodley rather faded away from what could have been a big score, to posting about 130. Not bad, but outside the comedy circuit Osler are known for being a bit good with the bat, most of the time. So, with tea consisting of a mars bar and a trip to the loo, we quickly headed back out for the second innings and hopefully more belly laughs. Bodley are not exactly disciples of Steve 'oh do shut up' Waugh or disgraced Australian cricketing comedian Steve 'sandpaper' Smith, but nevertheless we took to the task with relish and tried to entertain our opponents as best we could, the cricket having now become almost secondary to the task of mentally disintegrating our enemy. That second innings exodus of players failed to materialise as those concerned opened the batting and swung like millionaires. After some cutting asides and a canny fumble to lull the batter into ever-more daft shots, the first wicket fell and Bodley looked well on the way to victory. Sadly, as sometimes happens when players swing for all they're worth, the swinging comes off and the runs fairly race along. Thirties were blasted, the short boundary was peppered, catches fell agonisingly short, and by the time the much more accomplished middle-order came out to bat, the match was all but over as a contest. Well, sometimes you just get beaten by the better side, and Osler certainly were that on the day. It's fair to say a lot of work is needed before either routine is ready for the Fringe though, so not all good and something to take away from the game for Bodley. Keep calm, and carry on. GJ. |
Note from the Ed.Generally always written late on the night of the game. Any accuracy or sparkling prose is purely accidental. Archives
September 2019
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