Saturday

Wootton & Boars Hill (H) – OCA Div 4

The last match of the season was upon us and we had a new look team as many of our usual XI found other things to keep them busy on a Saturday. This meant first Saturday appearances of the season for Mikey Konschell and Ben Rendell as we struggled to ten players. Despite this we had one of our longer warm ups of the season, and learned that Colin, in his final appearance as skipper, had lost the toss (why change the habit of a lifetime?!) and we were asked to field.  …continue reading →

Charlbury (H) OCA Div 4

We turned up to the home of Wantage cricket in good spirits, and good weather and an excellent looking pitch greeted us. People entertained themselves in various ways; there was a game of tennis ball cricket going on by the pavilion, where PicNic wore a tennis ball directly on the head to the amusement of all. In a similar incident later, Will threw a ball at Chaz who was hit on the ankle to the great amusement of the team. It didn't seem to affect his ability to leap like a salmon to…continue reading →

Wootton & Boars Hill (A) – OCA Div 4

One look at the met office website and not a single person in our team was confident about playing a full match today. So it was a good day for Colin and Chief to head off for their civil partnership and make themselves unavailable for selection. We were, however, able to field a full XI, thanks to a Saturday debut for Ian Clark. We found ourselves to the ground, pleased to see they had some covers, made of corrugated iron; these at least may have given us a chance to finish the game…continue reading →

Chesterton (H) OCA Div 4

Excellent weather and a decimated team were the talk of the day as Chesterton came to town for our fifth game against them in two years. We had struggled to ten players, although Nordic kindly agreed to field for an hour despite being a busy man in the midst of organising a party. It was a crying shame that as a club we couldn't get eleven men out for our biggest match of the season; something which looks likely for the rest of the season as well. Colin won the toss, however (“it's…continue reading →

Charlbury II (A) – OCA Div 4

We rocked up to Charlbury to various surprising pieces of news. First up, Ryan had disappointingly dropped out of the team, leaving us a bowler short – although he had been replaced by Ben at the eleventh hour. Hopefully Ryan will be available again next week as our team is weaker without him. Better news was that we had Grant back in the team to bowl his swingers with the shiny new ball. Intriguingly, one of the opposition members was dressed up in a natty Bananaman suit in homage to his fancy dress…continue reading →

Letter from the OCA

This morning I received an email from David Burns who umpired for us against Charlbury yesterday, he is also the OCA vice chairman. Hello Colin, Thought I would drop you a note to say how much I enjoyed Wantage's approach to your match at Charlbury yesterday. Whilst you obviously wanted to win the game your teams attitude, sense of humour, spirit and respect to your opponents was absolutely first class. If this is typical of your approach then you clearly know how to win with good grace. Very entertaining all round and deserving…continue reading →

Eynsham (A) OCA Div 4

Greatly anticipating a match, after some weather last week cost us yet more points in our quest for promotion, we met up at the club ready for a match against Eynsham, who we'd smashed earlier in the season, with Colin notching up a hundred. This match was to be a different sort of affair. The weather was, as recorded in the scorebook, “A Watercolour Haze (but sweaty)” so it was in some respects a blessing that we did not have to field during the hottest part of the day as Colin lost the…continue reading →

Fringford (A) OCA Div 4

We travelled away, negotiating some stodgy A34 traffic, ready for what we hoped would be a high-octane clash with one of our rivals for second place. Colin lost the toss an we were asked to field, to begin with one man short as Steve Yates had yet to arrive. Progress for Fringford was steady at 3 an over but there was lots of encouragement for our bowlers as they went past the edge a lot, and indeed Will dropped a catch at gully off Duncan which he would have taken another day. Ryan…continue reading →

Deddington (A) – OCA Div 4

A nice opportunity to make amends after last weeks efforts in the semi-final-that-never-happened, we took the long trip to Deddington in confidence that for a change the weather would be good enough to play. The strip was pretty damp after a Friday shower, and there was obviously plenty to discuss for Colin and the Deddington captain with the umpires as they stood in the middle for a long time before actually doing the toss. If Tim had been there, he would have been sledging like one of Santa's elves. It made no difference…continue reading →

Witney Swifts (H) Telegraph Cup Quarter Final

Another attempt at going past the quarter final of a cup competition presented itself, and this time, being more clued up on the rules we made sure any ‘ringers’ were known to the league, so we wouldn’t be kicked out. The day started well when Ian and Colin went to move the sight-screen for the batsman’s benefit and succeeded in rolling over Tim’s helmet, crushing it into a shape not recognisable as a helmet. This amusement must have inspired Duncan and Grant, though, who both bowled probably their best spells of the season…continue reading →