Cherwell League 10 July: The Holy Grail!

1st XI

On an overcast day, an important toss was won by Toby after Barkat and Brian were delayed. Minster reported this to be their 9th lost toss in a row and Wolves elected to bowl. Opening bowler Rahul was on song, inducing a nick from the opener in the first over before detonating the stumps of numbers 2, 8 and 9. Toby wheeled away from the other end taking 3 wickets, most notably a Courtney Walsh style slower yorker to clean bowl number 3 bat (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW0P4Jaki2U). Young legs in the field paid dividends for Wolvercote, a highlight being Toby’s raptor swoop from behind square propelling the ball into the gloves of Gus who demolished the stumps. Whilst the Minster number 7 had covered 23 yards, he was somehow adjudged out by the square leg umpire (who can only have assumed him to be levitating above the crease, like Yogi Bear after a picnic basket), perhaps an indication that the force was with us. Whilst the young lads batting in the Minster tail showed much more patience and grit than their elders and batted like crowbars (great leavers) the innings was eventually closed on 68 via a great backward running catch from Kunal and, finally, a skier taken by Harry Trowbridge off his own bowling as the barrel-chested Minster skipper bore down on him in an attempt to complete a single whilst the ball was in the air. Wolves were padding up just 2 hours after taking the field and, after a shaky start with Babbs and Mo both nicking off, the tempo was upped by Tohsif before the ship was steadied by Brian and Mark C.  They comfortably saw the Wolves home by 7 wickets without fuss. After pausing to drink in the beautiful Minster Lovell setting, and quick pint, the victorious Wolves decamped to support the 4th XI in their low scoring thriller at Kennington (see below).

Match Scorecard

2nd XI

The second XI played host to Charlbury, where Rich won the toss and elected to bowl first to make the most of the overcast and somewhat damp conditions. The wisdom of this decision was justified by fast bowlers Rizwaan and Mark Hinkling who mopped up all 10 wickets between them, Rizwaan finishing with remarkable figures of 6 for 26. All wickets were bowled or LBW except for a diving catch from Gareth at short midwicket. These spells reduced Charlbury to 50 all out in just 17.4 overs. Ben Madden did bulk of the work to dig in to accumulate his 21 but then Wolvercote made a game of it with 6 wickets falling before Rich and Divjot saw the 2’s home with 4 wickets and plenty of overs in hand. This means that at the half way stage the 2’s are top of their division.

Match Scorecard

3rd XI

Away to Deddington, the 3rd XI  also won the toss and inserted the opposition, justifying this by restricting them to just 105. All the bowlers bowled very economically (Murgatroyd sending down 5 overs for just one run!) and shared the wickets evenly. Fielding was tight from everyone, especially Ajay, Abeer, Sprigings and Coles. A nice opening partnership of 21 between Mark Lewis and Daniel was followed by 3 quick wickets, before a 62 run partnership between skipper Walsh and Ayyaz all but sealed the win and Ajay came in to finish the job. This was the last game to finish and sealing this victory allowed the Chairman to announce the holy grail of a quadruple Wolf win had been achieved!

Match Scorecard

4th XI

The 4s were at home in Kennington to a depleted Bampton 2nds side who made the surprising decision to bat under leaden skies, saving new skipper Philipp Lohan the need to make a decision. Exceptionally tight bowling restricted Bampton to 84 all out with all four bowlers picking up wickets. Highlights were some sharp catches in the slips (Ali Dent) and the covers (Conor O’Hickey), a truly electric run-out from Dom Sheehan, aiming at 1 stump from point, and a towering six off Simon Palmer that still failed to ruin his figures of 3-29.

In reply, our openers saw their openers off, only to fall in quick succession with the score in the 20s. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as we made the game a lot more exciting than it needed to be. The arrival of the victorious 1st team lifted the team over the finishing line even as Sam Cooper – broken finger and all – was padding up as 11th man.

Match Scorecard