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 First up, Ryan had disappointingly dropped out of the team, leaving us a bowler short – although he had been replaced by Ben at the eleventh hour.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 →

Deddington (H) OCA Div 4

The day started well, with promising sunshine and happy Wantage players, the only sour note being Ian mistakenly giving Tim's brother the finger, believing it was TPL himself. That aside spirits were good as Colin again lost the toss and we were sent out to field first. Mabbs had unfortunately forgotten the correct pair of pants, and was forced to wear some genuine budgie smugglers which by all accounts cut most of the blood supply to his nether regions and made him exceedingly uncomfortable. However no such problems were facing Grant and Duncan…continue reading →

Chesterton (A) OCA Div 4

A return to the scene of our great failure of last season, and we were hoping lightning wouldn't strike twice. Lightning of another sort, however, did seem likely with rain predicted for later in the day, so Colin won the toss and got us bowling first, partly with a view to capturing some early wickets before the rain, and so getting some points, and partly so if we had to play later our bowlers wouldn't have to struggle with the wet ball. As it was we took to the field in swirling winds.…continue reading →

Eynsham (H) – OCA Div 4

Finally the opportunity to play some cricket after some weather that could only be described as atrocious, and Colin lost the toss again. So we were put into bat on a very damp pitch under conditions that, as the scorebooks made clear, were sunny for a change. In the absence of Ben, Colin opened the batting with Nibbler, and this proved to be a masterstroke as the two of them batted and batted and batted for the first 35 overs of the game. They accumulated slowly at first, but that didn't look to…continue reading →