Saturday

A grey day came to an early end on the outskirts of Abingdon on the 19th June to the tune of Gala’s Freed From Desire: the World Test Championship final may have being played in the Southampton gloom; Germany may well have been taking Portugal apart at the Euros; but there was a little slice of Wantage’s own history being made in Marcham as they bullied the opposition into a considerable defeat, among good performances from a number of batsmen and some stellar opening bowling, backed up by a near-faultless fielding performance. Early…continue reading →

In runs Harvey, to bowl what would be the last ball of the game, he delivers, the batsman pushes forward, it’s edged and… more on that later. 7 hours earlier With the weather set fair and the strip looking newer than a test match pitch in Bristol we were all set to take on West Ilsley in what would be the first win-lose-draw game for Wantage CC. The straw coloured wicket, and the sun blaring, made us all think it was a no-brainer to bat first. Not something our skipper had to worry…continue reading →

After having the previous week’s fixture abandoned after the home of cricket had seen a considerable amount of rain, we arrived to play Clifton Hampden on what was a glorious day and with a fine pitch, which appeared to have a little bit of something for everyone. We’ve had plenty of games against Clifton in recent years, some good performances and some very bad, but often entertaining. This was to be no exception.  Bat or bowl first, it was a big call. Thankfully skip was spared making the (inevitable) wrong choice by losing toss, and Clifton…continue reading →

After a first week wash-out, Saturday finally saw a return to league (Covid) cricket, with some now familiar requirements, including changing outside, ‘washy-washy’ on a recurring 6 over basis, and the strict absence of traditional handshakes. Some changes, though, with our first away fixture in our new, ‘localised’ Cherwell division and a visit to a new ground (for most of us) in Stokenchurch. Early weather forecasts saw confident predictions of a 45 minute drive to look at some rain for 4 hours, so perhaps it wasn’t surprising that every single team member took…continue reading →

29th August 2020 With the weather putting pay to our trip to Sunningwell and last weeks defeat at the hands of Dorch, a win was very much at the front of all minds. Having been witness to weather that would normally have resulted in a number of mammals boarding an ark earlier in the week, there was much groundwork required in preparation for the game. Fortunately the collective ground staff were on point and with the support of a number of the other team members had everything readied in time for the 1pm…continue reading →

8th August 2020 We continued our run of matches at home, this the fifth on the bounce including our two pre-season friendlies. In the build up to the game the weather was sunny and in the 30's with the forecast indicating it would be another scorcher on game day. After winning the toss skip elected to bat with a strong batting lineup and thoughts on putting some serious runs on the board. Summs and Robbo led the way, with two Marcham youngsters opening the bowling. Having been left covered too long, the wicket…continue reading →

1st August 2020 After playing underwater cricket last week, the prospect of a more typical cricket weather had both teams relieved. Wantage won the toss and opted to bowl first, a matter of seconds later it started to rain, so the covers were brought on. Fortunately it was short lived and the covers came off so the game commenced on time. The home side started well with good opening spells from Leedog and Harvester (4-30) leaving the visitors at 24-3 at 10 overs; Liam castling Ewings and Warhorse doing for the both Hamp…continue reading →

25th July 2020 On a day where any cricket being played was ambitious, the captains and umpires agreed to reduce to 30 overs a side from the outset. The visitors won the toss and chose to bowl, looking to take advantage of good bowling conditions and accrue some bonus points through early wickets. Wantage started steady, but at the first sanitiser break lost the first wicket, and shortly after all players had to leave the field for the first rain break. The match started again with no time lost and Tetsworth took advantage…continue reading →

One of our longest trips of the season, to just South of Banbury, meant an early start to the day for the team – although rarely can there have been as few as four people meeting up the club for car pooling. In any case, after a journey up the M40 the majority of the team rocked up to the ground in good spirits, noting the grassy wicket. Ryan, whose own journey was somewhat shorter, mused that his 'audition' for his most local team might see him get a bit out of the…continue reading →