Chalgrove– Away – OCA League

We turned up at the allotted time, ready for a 1.30 start, which put us in a field of one, as only half of Chalgrove’s team turned up, and the second umpire also didn’t make it til the 4th over. He probably wished he hadn’t though, partly due to Ryan sledging him for calling two or three tight leg side wides, and partly due to the paucity of actual cricket which was served up by the Chalgrove batsmen. They only had 8 men and appeared to be playing for rain, but we managed to weasel out their last wicket in the 43rd over, after they had put on not particularly mammoth 73. Duncan bowled well, only taking one wicket, although he did upend the opener’s off stump and had a catch dropped off him (which fortunately led to a run-out anyway, didn’t it Nordic?). Barry got 3 wickets, and Chaz, Ryan and Steve Yates all bowled equally tight spells.

Nordic and NiB opened the batting and put on a quick 30 before we had to go off for the most memorable part of the day, which was chips for tea. These were crispy on the outside, golden and pretty delicious, and were without doubt the highlight of the day. When combined with a fine platter of assorted sandwiches, pork pies and cakes, it all added up to a solid 9/10 tea. So at least match fees weren’t totally in vain. Back in the game, wickets fell steadily at one end whilst NiB saw us through to about 70 before falling to a difficult shooter, and we won by 5 wickets. PoD, Barry and Ian all failed with the bat. So nothing new there.

Man of the Match went to Barry, which meant he got to keep Nessa, our latest mascot, a sheep in whore’s clothing. Colin will update the website with mascot rules I’m sure. Let’s hope Barry hasn’t punctured her by the end of the week.
Pigs ear I’m sure must have gone to Ryan for his altercation with the umpire though I can’t actually remember. Chaz’s 5 wides which gave them a batting point also deserved a mention.
I don’t think there was anything that deserved Champagne Moment, I certainly can’t remember what we voted for. It was either Barry or the chips.

Still, 28 points, so it could have been worse!

~Challand