Wantage won by 2 wickets Wantage improved again this week, after last weeks win against Uffington. Superb performances from all kept the hosts down to 129-7 from 43 overs. All the bowlers contributed with the ball, suported by brilliant fielding. Steve gave an object lesson in what parts of the body could be and should be used to stop the ball. Praise must also be given to 'Mungo' for the way he kept wicket. Dave showed us how to stop the ball with a spectacular dive, but missed the ball completely, which has…continue reading →

Sorry about there not being a match report for the Crowmarsh game, but they didn't fill our book in, even though we did theirs. They said that they'd email the figures through to me, but I still haven't received them. I do remember that we lost heavily, by ten wickets! Anyway... enough about that game... Last weekend, Swindon Nalgo didn't have enough players to give us a game so it was cancelled. Fortunately, Mongo called me on Sunday morning to say that Uffington had also been let down, and would we fancy a…continue reading →

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At last we've had our first victory of the season. We played East & West Hendred yesterday and were warned at the start that they didn't have a very strong team. However, this should not detract from the fact that we fielded and bowled well. Hendred batted first and lost their first wicket in the second over to Andrew "Biggles" Barrett. Then they dug in for a bit and defended until the eighth over when Biggles struck again. Both of the openers were bowled for 15 runs, none of which had come from…continue reading →

Yesterdays game eventually started at about 3.15pm after both teams waited for the opposition to turn up at their home grounds. Eventually, after a couple of phone calls I managed to persuade Cold Ash to come to our ground and play. With the threat of bad weather on the way, and the late start, we tried to get as much cricket in as possible by playing a 20 over game but having 8 ball overs so as to have less of a delay in play. Cold Ash won the toss and decided to…continue reading →

Well, that was an exciting start to the cricket season! Wantage & Grove batted first in a 35 over against Minster Lovell yesterday and after a slow but solid start by Alan "Raffles" Mercer and Olly "Lovejoy" Haine, scored 144 runs for 7 wickets. Top scorers: me with 36, Gorgeous with 26, Peachy with 15 and Tweekey with 14. Also worth noting was our newcomer, Andrew Barrett, who scored 11 not out and Muppet who managed to get run out by Gorgeous. The pigs ear moment was voted for at the end of…continue reading →

A disgruntled six of our eleven players had spend the previous day sitting in the rain at Edgebaston waiting for some play between England and Sri Lanka. This was no way to warm up for Sunday's game against Harwell International. Too much time spent at the bar waiting for England to bowl, caused dehydration and frustration. These is only one of the many excuses that could be put forward for our poor batting on Sunday. After losing the toss (again), Wantage & Grove were asked to field in a time game against Harwell.…continue reading →

(Here's how I remember it... although some of the details are a bit blurry) It was a cloudy, but warmish afternoon that set the scene for a load of mostly hungover Wantage & Grove cricketers to face Steventon, at their ground, on a poor wicket and bumpy outfield. I had to ask Gorgeous to Captain. I was going to do it for this game, but I was not able to focus my thoughts as I could only concentrate on not being ill and trying to stop shaking. It seemed that Steventon had the…continue reading →

We always enjoy the Letcombe game (except our double thrashing in a single afternoon last year), and yesterday's game was no exception. Letcombe were allegedly slightly weakened by having a cup game on the same day, but this didn't seem to matter, as they beat us anyway. It was a close game. I failed to win the toss and therefore, much to the team's dismay, we fielded first in the blazing heat. We played a 35 over game. Letcombe's Lawrence Gardiner opened the batting and managed to bat all the way through the…continue reading →

A scorching Sunday afternoon gave us the perfect setting for a nice game of cricket against Eynsham yesterday. We played a 35 over game. Wantage batted first achieved a good total of 189 for 5. POD faced the first ball of the innings and started playing some nice shots through the gaps in the fielding side. It was a couple of overs before Long Dog faced a ball, and one ball was all that he faced. The ball hit the pads and Olly, who was umpiring, fingered him without hesitation. I came in…continue reading →