St Clement’s Strollers at Magdalen College Ground. 20 overs. Wednesday 9th June.
www.pitchero.com/clubs/bodleiancc/teams/255079/match-centre/0-5106065 With memories of a heavy defeat in our last match against the Strollers back in 2019, we arrived at the glorious Magdalen College Ground anticipating a tough contest. One Bodleian player courted controversy with the groundsman with some ill-fated off-road parking attempts, but our luck improved as we were put into bat. Matthew Neely and Phil Burnett opened the batting against some tight bowling, Phil falling for the first of an extraordinary 6 LBWs in the match. In marched David Shackleton who put together a terrific partnership with Matthew before retiring, unbeaten, on 51. Matthew scored 27, anchoring the innings with his trademark array of glances, pushes, and cuts, while David combined classical drives through the covers with a mighty six biffed over long-on. James Shaw came in at four and hit a quick 19 before Strollers struck back with a flurry of wickets as Dan, Tim, Asad and Gareth scrambled additional runs in the final overs. Bodley finished on a respectable 124-6 from 20 overs, a defendable target if not an unassailable one. Phil and James opened the bowling, James continuing his good run of form with an LBW in his first over. Strollers were scoring runs but unable to put a lasting partnership together, as Bodley took wickets at regular intervals and fielded well. Asad and James took three wickets each while keeping things tight, thanks also to some excellent fielding despite some light drizzle. At one stage in the middle of the innings, Asad bowled 10 deliveries, picking up 2 wickets with no runs conceded. Dan Shaw and David joined in the fun with wickets of their own, while Andrew Milner’s flighted wrist spin bamboozled their batsmen as they looked for runs. Strollers could certainly bat, and as the gloom descended it looked like they would do it, having reached 100-8 in the 18th over. However, Phil took a comfortable catch as their dangerous batsman tried something a bit clever and David Shackleton sealed the win with yet another LBW. A pleasing end to an exciting game played in very good spirits. Our next match, against a friendly XI from Cumnor CC, is on June 20th, before a busy July filled with fixtures against some old sparring partners. DH
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Rainmen CC at Great Tew, thirty five overs
www.pitchero.com/clubs/bodleiancc/teams/255079/match-centre/0-5106064 In fair weather and in good spirits the team arrive at their spiritual home and as lovely a place to spend the afternoon as you could wish for, Great Tew, to face the Rain Men, an off-shoot of the Captain's Scott's XI. Skipper Matthew wins the toss and bats, conditions are warm with cloud cover and possible rain at some point. Dips and Roy McMillian round off the team with a few regulars awol. The usual openers are late (pub? deli?) so Dips and James open. Rain Men have some useful bowlers, line and length making scoring shoots tricky but Dips starts to put away anything loose, and this approach is carried on with James, then Phil, David Shackleton, Matthew and Roy. Bodley take advantage of a) some loose stuff and b) the lovely outfield at Tew to put on an impressive 190 off 35. Tea, usual rules apply in this covid world, I can't be the only one longing for a proper cricket tea? Taking the field Phil opens, with Stuart from the other end. Stuart's first ball is a regulation rank full toss but he makes amends a few balls later with a cleaned bowled, helped out by the batsmen playing a pre-determined shot...and missing. We bowl well, James as economical as ever, and good spells from Gav and Andrew. The heroes of the innings though are the two Davids. Messrs Shackleton and Busby, as different a pair of cricketers as you could imagine, both bowl three perfect overs, and both pick up three wickets. It's always good to get Dave B bowling, one of the joys of Bodleian cricket and in many ways our not so secret weapon. Rain Men are bowled out for below sixty as Bodley find their mojo and take wickets at regular intervals, but hopefully enjoyed the game as much as we did (well, maybe not as much). A thoroughly enjoyable game and hopefully the start of a regular fixture. SA, GJ Wolvercote CC at Kennington, twenty overs.
www.pitchero.com/clubs/bodleiancc/teams/255079/match-centre/0-5106063 A belated start to the season began with a mid-week match against the competitive Wolvercote CC, and a new ground for us at sleepy Kennington, south-west of Oxford and a very fine wicket. Skipper Gareth proved that you really should always call tails and promptly lost the toss, so off we set to bowl first. Bodley openers David Shackleton and Dan Shaw bowl tight lines but experienced batsmen use the pace of the ball to score on a regular basis. Wolvercote look set to make a good total but a change of bowling after 8 overs sees James, Gav, Phil and the evergreen Andrew Milner slow the scoring rate down. An early retirement of a Wolvercote opener with a bad knee helps the visitors immensely as the rest of the order struggle to score with the same fluency. Catches are either held (all to Dan) or dropped and Wolvercote get to 126 off their 20 with wickets for Gav and a great effort in the outfield from all involved. In reply Bodley scrap to 50, with first-game nerves accounting for a few strange dismissals and a rapidly climbing run rate brining about risky shots and some red bull running. Despite the result a good performance to keep a strong opposition down to a low total considering the start they made. Onwards and upwards, as they say! SA, GJ |
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