We made 233. And got dicked!
A lot of new faces in the Oxenford side - and in ours, I guess. Schafer provided the inside information on the oppo, and advice on the deck which was dry, hard and green. We favoured bowling, which would have been a bad choice as it turned out, but didn't get to choose. They decided to bat, since one of their player's BMWs had broken down and they had to send a Mercedes to pick him up.
They made a lot of runs. More than Chalky has ever seen at Manny Road. 290 in fact, from 40 overs. Schaf correctly pointed out their best batsman, although he only hit 2 sixes in his 115 (softcock!). One of their openers made 76, and Seany made 30 at the end. I can't really fault any of the bowlers for their efforts. There was nothing in the deck and, as Deb said, bowling was a thankless task on the day. James (on debut) was the pick of the bunch. Deb and Mike were also tidy (in comparison). Geoff (also on debut) was unlucky, Stanton couldn't find his rhythm, Nigel was treated unmercifully and I was pants. Nigel took a great catch in Deb's first over, and the fielding was OK, albeit a bit ragged towards the end when the runs were piling up and heads dropped.
Heads dropped again when, after another pretty good tea effort, form batter Quentin was bowled first ball. Chalky wanted to enjoy the freedom to play shots afforded by a huge target, but probably needed to wait a bit. They took their only good bowler off after one over. Schaf holed out to midoff. James and Mike then went on the attack. James only just failed to reach drinks and his 50. Mike and Geoff continued after the break and put together a quick 70-odd. I destroyed a greenhouse in Zoology. We slowed up a bit when they brought the opener back on since we only needed 81 from the last 5 overs. Stanton and Deb tried to keep the score ticking along, while Julian (replacing Rhodri who apparently injured his finger dancing!) and Nigel helped them see out the overs. 233 isn't a bad score.
Good numbers at the KA. No Emily, though.
AO