As England sought to build on their one nil lead in the Ashes series at Birmingham, the 2009 OHJ Cricket Week got underway. Both contests were weather affected, though in our case not too seriously.
The first game against the Eton Ramblers saw the OJs in a good position having reduced Eton to 136 for 7. However rain caused an early tea and then an abandonment. Sunday dawned brighter and a prompt start was made. The Romany were bowled out for 136 by Patrick McGahan and Mike Harrison, but we made heavy weather of what should have been an easy victory by losing eight wickets chasing a very modest total. Vital contributions by Greg Haines and Matt Lowndes saw the OJs home.
On Monday the South Wales Hunts amassed what was to be, by some distance, the highest score of the week – 245, despite good bowling by Max McGahan (the first sign of how conducive the wickets would be to spin), Mike Harrison and Roger Hickman. Mike Harrison led the response with a good 70 but unfortunately his dismissal and Mark Semmence’s demise on 49 left us with too much to do and we could only draw. Unfortunately we were without Mark’s services for the remainder of the week due to an injury picked up in this game. He must work on his fitness!
On Tuesday spin bowling was to the fore again, with Stuart Hall taking 4 wickets in the Old Rossallians’ collapse to 159 all out. However, any celebrations proved premature as we could only muster 146, despite Mike Harrison’s 58 and 21* from Will Stock.
The Cryptics strong batting line-up failed to fire on Wednesday as again spin bowling accounted for 9 of the wickets to fall in a total of 173, Max McGahan recording his second 5 wicket haul in 3 days. The OJs made fairly easy work of their reply with telling contributions from Nick Creed and Matt Isepp.
On Thursday the Stoics reached 214 despite Nick Creed and David Gibson having combined figures of 7 for 93. In reply the OJs reached 80 for 6 before rain caused abandonment. The scores would suggest that a Stoics victory would have been likely but with Mike Harrison and Nick Creed at the crease it could have been interesting.
Click on the photo to view the Cricket Week 2009 Picture Gallery 2009
Without a doubt, Friday’s highlight was the dismissal of Derek Semmence for a duck. Although Derek was made an honorary member of the Duck Club when he retired, it remained our ambition to make him a full member. When the moment arrived after more than 30 years of trying, no-one could quite believe it. It was a good all round OJ performance as we won the game by 77runs.
By the time we reached Saturday, the weather was more settled but England’s performance was far from being so-described. We were rapidly throwing away our advantage in the series with a wretched performance at Leeds. Not so the OJs, who ended the week with a thumping victory over the Buccaneers. We bowled our opponents out for 106 with Stuart Hall returning the remarkable bowling figures of 8 – 8 – 4 – 0. I wonder if better figures have ever been recorded? Bill Baxter’s aggressive 36* helped to bring victory by 6 wickets.
We are indebted to a number of people for their help during the Week: John Maher, Hugh Thomas, Chris Stock and Ken Rossfor umpiring; Roger Moulton, Peter Stock, Ken Ross, Derek Semmence and Matt Lowndes for scoring; Jenny Honeywood and her team for the excellent lunches (and breakfasts for the lazy campers); my wife and many other ladies who helped with the teas; a number of people who contributed delicious cakes; Dick and Fiona Smart who cleaned the pavilion every day, no to mention their stirling work with the portaloos; Neil Sayers and his staff for preparing the pitches; the College’s bursarial department and the Headmaster for allowing us to use the College.
The following played during the Week:
Mike Bailey, Bill Baxter, Dan Burstow, Tudor Carr, James Catterall, Tim Claringbull, Nick Creed, Mark Ellis, David Gibson, Greg Haines, Stuart Hall, Mike Harrison, Roger Hickman, Rikki Hill, Matt Isepp,Tim Leeper, Matthew Lowndes, Rob Lunn, Simon May, Harry McGahan, Max McGahan, Patrick McGahan, Jeremy Rawlins, Jack Riddy, Peter Riddy, Dom Rodbourne, Ben Searls, Derek Semmence, Mark Semmence, James Stock, Peter Stock, Will Stock, Peter Stokes, Simon Warrender, Will Wild, Joe Woods
Cricket Week 2010 will be from Saturday 31stJuly to Saturday 7th August.
Tom Moulton
PHOTO GALLERY 2009