Sun Jul 20th Grannies 271-8 dec; DJs 218-7; match drawn
Match report
A new look Grannies team this year. In fact more a "Hartley Wintney Cricket Club on tour team" with six club members turning out for the Grannies ranging in age from 9 to 49(ish). This was a reflection of a quite tortuous selection process with no fewer than 6 people originally saying yes and then no, and 2 dropouts the day before. The travails of a match manager!
Grannies lost the toss and were inserted on a pitch which had been used the day before and had also been subjected to a nasty deluge on the Saturday evening resulting in what were described as, without hyperbole, "lakes on the square". While it had dried out amazingly well, the first few overs proved to be quite difficult as bat and ball appeared to be in different time zones.
Grannies slumped somewhat to 22-2 as a result but there then followed one of those sublime periods, always enjoyed by the batting captain, where our no 4, the improbably named Ari Karvelas, brutalised the DJs attack for 136 in roughly 50 balls. Those Grannies who had been on the wrong end of a similar pasting the year before at the hands of a current Oxford Blue, watched with smug satisfaction as the HWCC overseas player peppered every part of the ground. One mighty 6 into the tennis courts at the pavilion end had to be "sent up" for review to determine whether it had bounced in the service box or not.
At the other end Stephen Hornsby, who was all dash in cream coloured "whites" and floppy hat, flayed anything loose to the boundary and within a blink of an eye we were 130ish-3 and then 160ish-4 in little more than 15 overs.
Happily Simon Hodgson continued his form from 2 years ago and the tone set by Ari and Stephen, scoring beautifully all round the wicket to reach an unbeaten 50, supported at various points by little cameos from Jonty Rowe and Peter Schutzer-Weissman. The problem for the skipper became whether we would get too many runs before half time, leading to a long session in the field. Gnarled old pros with an eye on the delights of tea slowed the rate suitably to ensure that food and the declaration were concurrent, with Grannies on 271-8 in 33 overs and a nervous 9 year old number 11 hopping from foot to foot in a mixture of agitation and excitement.
With the age old question settled of whether scones were best with jam first and then cream or vice versa (always jam first), Tim Soper opened the bowling from the Woodstock End and promptly had the DJs opener dropped at mid off by the skipper who, having made a 5 ball duck with the bat, was starting to wonder whether it was all worthwhile. However a few overs later Tristan Gregory spared the skippers blushes with a smart jumping catch at point off Hodgson and the DJs innings rather meandered from then on with the occasional batter bashing boundaries before succumbing to the guile of our bowlers. As the DJs looked less and less likely to make the runs we experimented with fielding positions and set plans for each batsman before failing to follow them � the English disease.
Hal Ward-Roper and Martin Williams, both on debut, performed heroics at square leg and wicket keeper respectively. Williams in particular, in his first ever stint with the gauntlets, deserves great credit for bouncing around like a gazelle to all bowlers and making some stunning takes down the leg side. I do worry about the drive to Milton Keynes on Monday morning though.
Meanwhile, commuting from fine leg to fine leg at the end of each over, 9 year old Edward Philpott put in some miles, further augmented by being regularly called upon to field the ball. One sliding stop at 3rd Man was not at all reminiscent of father. Never tiring, despite never having fielded for more than 20 overs before, he entered the attack with about 15 overs to go and immediately found both line and length, properly suckering the DJs batsman with his 2nd ball which narrowly missed off stump. The batsman decided attack was the best form of defence and so Philpott ("the good one") opened his wickets account in all forms of senior cricket with c Schutzer-Weissman, b Philpott (an excellent catch by the way) to great delight all round. He has already indicated his availability for next year!
The game rather petered out from there as Grannies couldn't quite get a break through to expose 10 and 11, despite some prodigious turn from Karvelas from the Woodstock End, and DJs shut up shop with a win out of sight. For The Grannies the last 4 overs were an exercise in good natured sledging of each other before the pub beckoned and Jack Philpott entertained with his Bambi impressions on the sticky wicket that was the pub's beer garden.
Match info
A relaxing day out on the beautiful St John's College ground in Oxford. A batsman's paradise. A slight downer is starting after lunch as this used to be exceptional but tea is still worth the trip. Results are pretty even either way over time and a fulltime groundman means we always get a game unless it's pouring on teh day.
Location
St John's College Sports aground,
Woodstock Road,
Oxford,
OX2 7AD
How to get there
Travelling north on the Woodstock Rd in Oxford the turning is on the left after Frenchay Road but before Lathbury Road on the right. It is difficult to spot as it runs between two new (as of 2014) pillars and there is no sign.