Mansfield Road OBs+1 4/295 (40 overs)
Chadlington Lefthanded 9/144 (39.2 overs)
The day started well, with numerous OBs in attendence but not quite enough of them to complete a cricket team. Being the lucky idiot who brought his kit just in case, I was made an honorary OB for the day.
Tony Mc's suggested game for the day was `make the most amusing collection of words including the name of the England goalkeeper'. This game did not catch on. `Who's the Captain?', however, did have us going for a while until Dave Frame was elected. He then went and played `Who's the Ceptin?' with the opposition, won the toss and won immense respect with all the OBs (except Tony Mc) by choosing to bat first.
295 from 40 overs is quite a large score, and a number of batsmen made quite a few runs. Cries of "Huzzah" and "Well played chaps" go out to Marty Elliffe, Carlos, Phil Watts and Rob McD, who all made at least 50. "Boo"s to Chalky, whose kit-packing-contribution was 24 from a similar number of balls, and Dave `Skup' Frame for not getting everyone a bat. We didn't make 300 because:
I would not have believed the considerable lefthanded streak running through the Lefthanded side. Of the ten batsmen we saw, seven were retarded, despite the fact that only one of their bowlers was similarly afflicted - and he batted normally. Go figure!
Casper had taken a wicket before he remembered we were playing against Chadlington. Unfortunately that brought to the crease a batsman who `liked' Tony Mc's bowling (thankyou Phil). Casper removed said batsman just when Tony had him where he wanted him, i.e. at the nonstriker's end. That brought to an end the interesting part of their batting performance, as they were unable to put away Spawny's bowling, which to be honest was quite good. The final ten overs saw the `Reverse Alphabetical OB Quim-Off', which failed to live up to its billing, because it unexpectedly produced more wickets than runs. Skup produced the child-removing bowling we needed last week. Chalky saw an opportunity to capture his 99th wicket for the club, so didn't participate in the Quim-Off. Instead, he set a small child up by bowling a beamer, then claimed said wicket. He'll bowl again when he sees a small child not wearing a helmet.
Beers and BBQ afterwards - well cooked, Tony Mc - were attended by a number of other OBs, and Rich `I'm not f***ing doing anything' Clark. Tony Mc is apparently going to build a spa or something in preparation for about seventeen years in the future.
Thanks to the real OBs for letting me participate in their game. It was fun.
AO
If you have any comments about these pages, please email Anthony O'Dea (odea@physchem.ox.ac.uk) or Paul Miyagawa (paul.miyagawa@somerville.oxford.ac.uk).