With a string of successful results in recent weeks Enstone arrived at Great Tew full of confidence. In need of someone to record what was sure to be a momentous match, Captain Speke needed someone with objectivity, wit and literary skill. Nobody fitting this description being available, Freddie volunteered, hoping that his writing talents would be more highly regarded than his understanding of when to unleash an lbw appeal. Having given up on tossing, Captain Speke reached an amicable agreement with the opposition skipper that Enstone would bowl. Piers opened the bowling with characteristic accuracy beginning with a couple of maidens. Ed ‘Colin, not Robert’ Croft opened from the top end, bowling with good pace and an immediate edge uncharacteristically dropped by the keeper. Under pressure, the opening partnership only lasted until the fifth over, when Jon Watts took a difficult catch. The first change bowlers, Jon Watts and Captain Speke continued the accurate bowling for which Enstone is becoming feared throughout Oxfordshire. However again the curse of dropped catches became evident as several chances went down. Despite the missed chances Jon Watts took two further wickets including a sharp caught and bowled. This brought Great Tew’s overseas professional and allegedly a former under-21 player of the year in Perth (Western Australia, not Scotland) to the crease. He went after the Enstone bowling like Mike Gatting after a lorry filled with baked goods, but not to be deterred Enstone’s bowlers kept it tight, with Tom Peterson and Jordan Rouse joining the attack. Jordan was rewarded with several wickets to keep the pressure on Great Tew. After a quick fire 78, the Australian retired. Sportingly, Captain Speke told Jordan to bowl at a lower pace to the new short young batsmen who responded by thumping a four through mid-on. Normal service was resumed the next ball Jordan upping his pace, finding the edge and Porno taking a sharp chance behind the steps. After 6 drops (which must be a record for the season, and one memorably off the eye socket of Paul Curtis in the deep), the chances began to stick. The closing overs saw good catches from Sparky, Piers and then a brilliant reflex catch by Captain Speke at first slip which also damaged his finger nail. At the end of their 40 overs Great Tew had scored 198 for 9, Jordan Rouse the pick of the bowlers with 4 wickets. After tea, Captain Speke and Simon Parker opened the batting, putting together a solid foundation. Anything short was punished and there were scoring shots around the wicket. Unfortunately a delicately poised game was cut short by the elements after 16 overs with the score on 73, Captain Speke scoring 34 and Sparky 31. This was well ahead of the Duckworth Lewis par score of 50 so technically this can be put down as another sound victory for Enstone. It was men against boys.
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`We all arrived at the ground filled with excitement wondering what the skipper would do if we won the toss, surprisingly for us all he won the toss and decided to bowl first. I guess it must have been due to the overhead conditions and a very green pitch.
If the plan was for Ed to open the bowling with some tight line and length to frustrate our ‘League’ opponents, Ed being the maverick that he is decided that a mix of wides and long hops was the way to go and low and behold it worked as the opener who had apparently smashed 60 the day before slapped the ball into the grateful hands of John at point who showed all that hard work in fielding practice had paid dividends. What followed was mesmerizing to watch as Piers steamed in like an old Bob Willis at one end and the Skipper bounded in like a shaved chimp at the other. In fact it was so mesmerizing the skipper seemed to morph into Dan ‘fingers’ Stewart and spill a straight forward slip catch much to Piers’ dismay. The Enstone boys were not to be denied as Will and Piers continued to bowl tightly and the fielding was inspired with the return of the Ring of Steel. Despite the pressure the breakthrough did not come so the skipper turned to the old warhorse John Watts. A wise move as John found the edge and this time a fine catch by the skipper. Wickets continued to tumble (despite another drop from Will ‘safehands’ Speke) and a mixture of excellent bowling from John, Jordan and Tom and fantastic slip catching (including a memorable one from Ed) saw the Bampton innings come to a standstill. With the skipper being concerned about a potential large last wicket stand he turned to Budgie who produced a vicious spinning delivery to pick up a caught and bowled (to go along with an earlier catch at point). The innings was wrapped up for a score of just 117. After a hearty and classic Enstone tea, the openers Will and Budgie strode out to the crease full of purpose. Will playing a mixture of powerful cuts and classical drives and Budgie playing a mixture of inside edges and outside edges the openers brought up 50 before Will top edged a pull to be caught behind for a well-made 34. Freddie joined Budgie at the crease and the runs continued to flow before Budgie spooned up a caught and bowled for a patient 24 with the score on 73. This left Bussey and Freddie to finish the job in no time with a mixture of raw power from Bussey and some lovely elegant shots from Freddie with Freddie finishing not out 31 and Dave not out 19. A fantastic all-round team performance and now three wins on the spin for the mighty Enstone…although deep down we all know that Cricket was the real winner. On a warm but windy Sunday afternoon, 11 Men of Enstone (yes, 11, you read it correctly, the skipper actually managed to get a full side!) strode out to field first for a change. Buoyed by last weeks resounding victory over Wytham and with returning heroes Bussey, Sparky, Jizza and Jordan it was a strong looking line up ready to take on a very good Isis side. Unusually Skipper Speke decided that he would open the bowling from the Charlbury road end with Ed Page-Croft taking the new ball from the Old Bell End. Enstone got off to the perfect start when Will Speke took a wicket with the 5th ball of the first over, the batsman gloving through to Keeper Taylor for 0, Spekes metronomic action continued throughout his 8 over spell, beating the outside edge regularly and claiming his 2nd wicket when he bowled the other opener for 11, finishing with impressive figures of 8-7-1-2. Croft meanwhile bowled with pace and aggression in his first spell of 4 overs but unluckily not getting the wickets he deserved. Jordan Rouse then came on to bowl and although a little loose to start with quickly found his rhythm and started to trouble the Isis batsmen who were now feeling the pressure. Unfortunately, Croft dropped the best chance off Jordan that fizzed straight in and out of his hands at mid-on. But Jordan did eventually make the breakthrough with a sharp run out, Taylor whipping off the bails with the batsman well short of his ground. A. Speke (aka Jizza), was then thrown the ball to follow on from his little brother at the Charlbury road end and could have had a wicket early on in his spell when an edge behind was dropped by the keeper, who claimed that the bowler must have lost some pace over the years as the ball died on him. A deserved wicket came in the 5th over of the spell with Budgie casually pouching a 1 handed overhead catch at mid-off, Jizza finishing with figures of 8-1-17-1. The next bowler into the fray was TP from the Old Bell End, with his first over of mainly short, slow deliveries being punished for 9 runs, this was followed by a rare maiden. Then in the 4th over of his spell he managed to get an even rarer LBW call, the ball hitting the batsman's legs directly in front of leg stump, the cross wind helping keep the ball on line, and despite protests from the batsman that he'd hit the ball, he had to walk. Meanwhile Croft had been given a change of ends, this brilliant piece of captaincy paying immediate dividends as 2 wickets fell in 2 balls, first was Isis' most dangerous batsman who, having been previously dropped by Croft, gloved one on 53 to short third man with Freddie Forder taking a solid catch. There was debate as to whether the batsmen had crossed with the big hitting No 7, on 23, taking guard for the next delivery. He then proceeded to have a swing at one outside off stump and edged through to the safe hands of Taylor behind the stumps. 7 wickets down and only 122 on the board, things were looking good for Enstone. TP took the next wicket, tossing up a full delivery taking out leg stump, it was noted however that the stumps fell forwards and were not sent cartwheeling back, finishing with an effective if rather expensive 8-2-47-2 (this could have been better if the slip fielder could actually catch, I think it was a bloke who looked like Gareth Southgate). Croft then took a further wicket, bowling out the new man in style to finish with great figures of 8-1-33-3. Rouse returned to finish the innings Bowling the last man for 11 to finish with 7.4-0-45-1 and to leave a target of 146. After a decidedly average tea Simon Sparky Parker, returning from his epic cross continental journey and having spent the majority of the last week on the beer and Skipper Speke (opening the batting as well) strode confidently to the middle. They made a solid start with both scoring boundaries at regular intervals. Speke eventually perished, bowled by a very good delivery, for a very well made 33 (Although TP did signal a leg bye which Speke claims he hit, the scorer politely refused to amend the scorebook and was called a Twat). Freddie Forder then came to the crease and struck up a great parnership with Sparky and kept the scoring well ahead of the required rate. Sparky then 'cut loose' losing 2 balls with big sixes. He eventually fell to a slow looping delivery, bowled for a lusty 67 with the score on 123. With ony 23 more runs required the Enstone middle order decided to make the game more exciting, first to go was Budgie, contraversially given LBW by guest umpire Ned, for 4. Freddie followed next, caught for a solid 22. Dan ' Fingers' Stewart was then bowled for a duck, claiming that the ball came through quicker than expected, with this advice on board, TP expertley played late down the wrong line to the very next ball and was bowled for a golden duck. Bussey had already come to the crease and watched in dismay the dismissals of Fingers and TP, and with only 9 now needed he was joined by Jizza. Thankfully these two were able to see us through, Bussey playing some classic strokes including a boundary, Jizza finishing off in style by hitting the football posts in the outfield for 4. That makes 2 wins in 2 games, bring on Bampton next week........... All week expectation had been mounting. Several questions needed asking. Would we play our first game since 19th June? Would we have 8 players, or 9 or 10? Would everyone show up at the right time at the right ground? Were there any sore heads among the Anthonys? The answers as it turned out were a bit like confused calling on a quick single – yes, no, no yes, no, no and an emphatic yes.
Holidays, injuries and death had made selection policy difficult for the skipper, and rather than sharing the burden he kept it on a need-to-know basis from his lair in Suffolk - hence the surprise to most today that we did indeed have a near-quorate team. Somehow the skipper had lured Piers out of premature retirement – mainly by reassuring him that he wouldn’t have to bowl. Somehow the skipper had lured Pony into playing against Wytham – mainly by leaving the opponents name blank in the round-robin email. So as the sunny intervals scudded across the sky, 9 men of many places other than Enstone took to the sward, having elected to field for a change. Porno had arrived late at the Charlbury Road cauldron hot-foot from Wiltshire. Ben had arrived hot-foot at Queens College ground in Oxford, but didn’t arrive at the correct arena for 10 or so decisive overs. What he missed was a masterclass in opening bowling. Will Speke from the Charlbury Road end cunningly using the camber of the pitch to great effect to beat the bat consistently. Piers Myatt from the Bell End swinging the ball away from the batsmen to great effect inducing the young opener into a rash tickle of the new cherry which was gratefully-snaffled by the Porn behind the timbers. Such a delicate nick that the bowler in his follow-through wondered what the hell all the fuss was about and why the batsman had turned slump-shouldered away towards the Pavilion. Will was not to be outdone, and had one of our favourite opponents, the danger-man Hollis caught in the gully by Piers. He beautifully bowled another with a nip-backer of great quality. Suffice to say that the first 16 overs only cost 14 runs at the cost of 3 wickets, and Wytham were always going to be in difficulties from thereon. More wickets fell as Budgie bamboozled the Wytham batters by taking all pace off and induced one of their more barnacle-like batsmen into a rash heave at one that had come out of the clouds above the trees at the Charlbury Road end. It resulted in the complete and utter failure to get anything on the ball which passed-through to a gleeful glovesman who promptly removed his bails. In the meantime Budgie had appealed – for leg before. Enstone debutant Simon Clarkson – another teacher – was becoming a ball magnet, as the father of one of his daughter’s classmates dads (I think I have that right) kept tickling Budgie round the corner. Simon was swiftly-inducted into the Enstone Ring of Steel and fielded well all day – taking a good catch later on. Ben Gregory also displayed his big ball skills swapping goalkeeping for diving saves in the covers and was another worthy inductee into the Ring of Steel. Unusually catching was proving to be difficult for Enstone. Edges and uppish-drives were carefully-evading desperately-diving and swearing fielders. A stubborn 50+ from Simon’s daughter’s classmate’s dad was the backbone of their innings. Wickets fell regularly, with even Dan “Slippery” Stewart taking a nice catch, finishing with a career-best 9 for 2. It was noticed however that the catch was off his own bowling and that he wasn’t so keen on pouching chances from other bowlers. Desperation at a slow run rate caused erratic calling for runs by Wytham and led to one of those moments when cricket is the winner. A little tickle towards midwicket, seemingly passing the diving Ben Gregory leaving him like a flannel-clad salmon flapping in shallow water, induced an attempted single by the Wytham hopefuls. The striker set off only to see with dismay the salmon turn into Mr Tickle with an arm snaking out to stop the ball already past, it seemed. Brakes came on for the Wythameers, as Bens’ throw arced toward the bowler’s end. They turned for home and safety as the ball arrowed for the area about 7 yards (Brexit allows for the reintroduction of Imperial measurements) east of the target. The bowler, Dan “Fingers” Stewart covered the 7 yards in what seemed like an instant pausing only to cannon into the stumps and deftly-remove the bails while somehow still travelling towards the ball. Collecting the ball, he took aim, and let fly. The Wytham batsman regained his ground with a sigh of relief as the ball safely-passed the bail-less stumps. Dan hadn’t had time to rebuild the wicket, which he as an experienced umpire knows would have needed to be done before a successful run out appeal could be made. Oh and he would have had to have hit the stumps with the ball too. While all this was happening at the top end Pony was quietly-beavering away at the Bell End, taking 3 wickets in two spells, so that he now equals Ed in the overall wicket-taking competition. However he is going to be playing French cricket for the remainder of the season, and those wickets don’t count. Tom Peterson had also had a good spell at the Bell End bowling his 8 overs for under 5 an over, bagging a fine wicket. So in the end, Wytham were restricted to 122 all out, so it was off for a fine tea prepared by the Anthony ladies. It is suspected that the state of Budgie’s digestive system following Saturday night meant that he may not have played a big part in the preparations. So to the second half, and strode to the wicket the opening pair of Will Speke and Nick Halliwell. Will’s tenure in the middle lasted as long as a pawnbroker’s in that the third ball proved too much and he got a feather through to the keeper who woke Umpire Budgie with his appeal and the automatic reflex index finger borrowed from Dan Stewart meant that Will, obviously-reluctantly, had to go. This brought Piers and Nick together. Some fine stroke play and good running between the wickets steadily-knocked down the total still needed. Piers struck the ball in a more than usual subdued fashion, but added steadily to his score, and ably complimented the Atherton-esque Halliwell who strangely for one in an Enstone team looked to know what he was doing. He hit the only 6 of the match, and cut and smote his way to a fine 72 before he was caught off a skier to midwicket when the scores were level. Piers meanwhile had perished to a catch in the deep, but not before more umpiring controversy. He was struck on the big toe in front; to us mere mortals on the boundary there appeared to have been two noises. Wytham appeals as Piers hopped up and down a bit turned to petulance as he was given not out after confirming he had indeed got a bat on it before it hit his foot. Ben came out to replace Piers and pushed and prodded for a fine 6 not out, letting Nick farm the strike and knock most of the last 29 runs off before perishing. Budgie came in to finish the job with an unbeaten 1. A sweet victory by 7 wickets. |
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