Blenheim Park Cricket Club

In honour of the opposition and our new kit sponsor, this week’s match report is in Welsh.

BPCC v North Hinksey Gentlemen

Nyw Cymru spwnswrs, a vys cwptn ddangoswyd stuck in traffic. Ond daw Cymru’n i Lee ddeall slog a fw then throw hws wkyt awy. Daffyd A-S ddadl hylfcwntury a’r safbwyntiau hwge six over mwdwyket.

Inni Hughes heddiw plumb in front aw dwck, yn cynnig casgliad uwmpr George ‘y blynd wynker’. Oedd yn awgrym chwerthinllyd Coxy ynd Daffyd A-S rwp un pwllage bwling tw all pwrts.

Fugwlatgar mewn Daffyd Dwbl-Bwrrl perthynas the final ovwr, Cwntury!
Ffug gwestiwn Coxy, hwf cwntry!
Scwr 228-5 ov 30 ovwrs.

Ni allaf ond twy bread of heaven am no bleddy smarties agwn!

Flwpnwn Shirley Bassey i â so chuffing hwt! Buwt nw excws chwrman bluw shwrts look you!

Cwcky bwrber opwn vrsws brythr, slog a fw then throw hws wkyt away, cwt bei brythr! Slwgs, drwp cthchs, skwpr dwnky drwps – stwmp bei hwf the pych, nwt owt! Shwts n gwggles, hwge fun, ran out easwy wynnrs.

Blenheim unable to control Juveniles

After near farcical “Rollergate” incident whereby President Shaw managed to stall the Roller in the middle of the wicket with 10 minutes before scheduled 1pm start. At least 11 suggestions as to how the issue may be resolved (including lets all push it!)

Eventually the posh Range Rover was despatched to get some jump leads – Roller was eventually restarted at 1.50pm – The games was thus reduced to 30 overs as the Juveniles needed to get to bed early. It was a tossup which bellowed out the most fumes the roller or chairman Shaw.

Things started really quite well . Will Cox with and awesome spell (6/0/4/13 ) aided and abetted by the dependable Nigel Walker(1/30) at 6/2 and 44/6 thoughts of early tea and a long session in the pub appeared a certainty .

Unfortunately with a limit of 6 overs per bowler meant an early change. Cue Stan the Man taking their main man (captain) first ball with a sucker half tracker holed out to Walker in the deep – After that things changed dramatically with Stan and David AS conceding 40 runs in their four overs It became apparent the cunning Juveniles had reversed the bl££dy batting order Captain Cox and Leekies were 4/5 th change Leekies seemed to think they couldn’t hit a half volley on the leg side …… they could ! Coxy prized one of them out and late call up JV-F came on for the last over to take a wicket with his second ball – How they they ended on an unlikely 143only the scorebook will reveal

Tea was taken – including excellent home made flapjack/brownies (Mike) and sponge cake(Mrs K) was well received by all Father and son Cox combination opened the innings and with a generous smattering of extras the Cox combo moved the score over 40 after 7 overs . A run out debacle saw both Cox’s at the same end Martin pulled rank (poss pocket money) and Will had to walk (shoulders slumped back to the pavilion. Leakies looked his normal belligerent self but was undone by the first change (Luke) left arm over and missed a full toss that went on to hit his leg stump Coxy was next to perish and suddenly at 50/3 things were beginning to wobble.David A-S (4) struggled and Johnny Vaughen–Fowler inspite of not having batted since last June managed to get bat on ball and scored a quick 13. BPCC were falling behind the rate Phil Humphries perished and Kerr lasted about as long as one of Mrs May’s manifesto pledges – Stan and the Professor Phil (16)(now with runner) put on a good partnership with Stan despatching the ball to the boundary twice in one over , the innings closed as Walker(2) and Engel (0) Unsurprisingly Kerr let no byes through and was exemplary behind the stumps.

It was a game we felt we should have won but we came second, all played in a good spirit and so retired to the pub earlier than usual to discuss what might have been .

Spelling, grammar and factual errors courtesy of Rob Kerr.

A great tie with the Tew’s! @GLTCC

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Courtesy of Allan Engel

With the Palace playing host to the country-folk of Countryfile, the Club headed west to the bucolic surroundings of Great Tew to take on a youthful opposition more Little than Great.

Batting first, the opposition openers weathered the opening spell from Nigel and George, with the help of the odd let-off behind the stumps, before Nigel swung a yorker through the gate. Runs accrued slowly but steadily, Phil held a steepling caught-and-bowled, Stan finally held on to one for a rare Gokani wicket, more catches were dropped, perhaps the youngest (and certainly the smallest) BPCC  player took the field as eleventh man in the shape of Finn Spearman; his fielding put his elders and tallers to shame. The opposition finally totalled 187 from their 40 overs. Curiously, all but one of the opposition batsmen were left-handed; either there is something odd in the water round there, or it’s just standard Oxfordshire inbreeding.

A depleted batting lineup meant that regular opener Stan was paired with makeshift filler-in Malcolm. Stan didn’t stay long enough (at the crease or the ground) and Malcolm padded up to a straight one – plumb LBW. James (45) was then joined by Jayden (54) and the two of them batted with fine timing and placement, looking comfortable against the relatively unthreatening bowling. The inevitable Blenheim clatter of wickets returned the initiative to Tew, Raj misguidedly attempted to turn a rare Gokani run into an impossible two, and it was left to George (27*) to try and shepherd the tail home. Eight runs were needed off the last three balls when George launched one over the bowler’s head for what neutral umpire James confidently signalled a six, the next ball was a dot, and a scrambled single off the last ensured a tie.

From Country House to Palace but Cricketers Club lose by 134 runs

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Courtesy of Rob Kerr

Things didn’t look great at the outset, we were easily outgunned on the sartorial stakes  as “Cricketers Club” turned up in fancy  striped jackets and matching caps. Hardly a match for stand in captain George Talbot in shorts and flowery shirt as they went to the wicket for the Toss..

 Blenheim elected to bat and Sameer and Leakies opened – It wasn’t long before Sameer fell to an excellent slip catch for  single figure score.(3) Leakies swung the bat in his usual belligerent self and  was second to fall (26) with the score on 45 after 8overs. This brought together our two ‘replacements’ . Ross Morgan and Dom Baker.

Dom looked out of sorts to start with and played and missed several times Ross was soon into his stride and midway through his innings struck three consecutive fours taking 15 off the over.

Dom encouraged by this was soon employing his favourite cut shot that reaped several boundaries.

Ross went passed 50 with an on drive for  four, and three overs later Dom raised his bat to the small but enthusiastic crowd.

The opposition used 7 different bowlers to try and break the partnership, which finally happened with the score on 168 when Ross was caught (65) and a handful of overs remaining. Gokani (R) doubled his length of time at the crease from last week, was  caught second ball ! Dom was run out(62) and R Hambledon (5) was soon back in the pavilion.

Jayden (Oz) produced a cameo knock 19 (n.o) and G Talbot swished and missed a few

Tea was taken 219/6 – a decent score on the board.

Haircut Sir !!

 G Talbot coming off his curling run saw his first ball clattered to the boundary for 4, after that,redemption he took two wickets in his second over and another two in his fourth taking himself off with opposition wondering what had happened (4 overs 4wkts for 5 runs) – To be fair Gokani was playing the generous host  bowling some juicy full tosses that their opener J Tozer helped himself to he finished his allotted(7) overs and was replaced by J Kennedy

At the other end Leakies was introduced to try and even the game up a little , he gave the ball plenty of air (in fact some would say he is good Tosser !) –his first over was a maiden and his third contained three full tosses and a long hop all missed by the batsmen who duely let the next ball through to be clean bowled- wicket maiden unbelievable!

His third wicket was a superb juggling catch from Jay Gokani in the deep , so just as on Wednesday when the as yet unheard cry went up “well caught Spearman” again it was  a first on the South lawn with a  “well caught Gokani”  – Jay was rewarded with this good work replacing Leakies who had gone off for the inevitable Embassy to celebrate his good fortune.  Then a farcical run out the ball went straight to square leg the opener called their captain for a single then realised there was fielder as well as the umpire at square leg and sent him back – he was stranded half way down the wicket –pretty much summing up their day

Jayden snapped a wicket at the far end and it was left for Jay to claim the last victim (to get the first Gokani wicket in the scorebook) The Cricketers Club were  bowled out for a disappointing 74 .(their worst score of the season)

Some excellent fielding  (Morgan 3 catches behind the stumps) Joe West running faster and further in one game than his dad has all season  coupled with  some pretty average batting made for a handsome victory in spite of some regulars sunning themselves around the globe.

Away at Great Tew next week look out for Allans’ email (He was playing in above match but DNB and wasn’t offered a bowl- none the less his athletic dive for that catch was worth the entrance money (free) )  

Courtesy of Rob Kerr

Blenheim Sweep Aside Islip

BPCC bounced back from last week’s defeat to winning ways after an emphatic victory over local rivals Islip.

Islip won the toss and elected to bat, their No2 batsmen could not cope with a useful inswinger from Will Cox and went for a golden duck and it wasn’t long before the No 3 swung at a straight one from Spearman (who later claimed ‘it did a bit’) and was bowled. This brought their Inzamanesk   No4 to the wicket who made his intentions clear, his first four scoring shots 4,4,4,4 and soon the opposition were on 64/2 off 10 overs. Once the bowlers realised that full tosses and leg side bowling were his forte his scoring rate dropped dramatically with Will eventually removing him for 38-

A change of bowling saw Canham open with two maidens and James Talbot bowling their No6 for a (Golden) duck. Then Canham took three wickets in the next over reducing the score to 80/7. Eventually all out (96) with Canham mopping up the tail with impressive figures 5/8. Notable in the field was Malcolm attempting to stop a four and tripping over the rope twisting his ankle and then feinting and so had to leave the field of play, James Talbot turning a one into a four by kicking the ball over the rope and L Keyes missing a clear chance, debutant Jayden was reluctant to talk about International sports such as Rugby/Ashes/Tennis but performed well enough behind the stumps (Kerresque?)

  96 runs was never seemingly enough runs to defend and so confident was skipper MC that he  ‘ reversed’ the batting order- well Stan opened !!!  Unlike Compton, Angol took his chance to shine and with a V Richards type stroke play soon was on 4. Nick Talbot protected him from their opener fending off three maidens on the bounce. Stan was soon stroking another boundary through the covers and an exquisite cover drive brought him a single and into double figures, the 10^th over was his undoing but he had done his job. Raj Gokani who had only touched the ball three times in the field (twice from the far side of the rope) failed to get anything on his first ball and his walk back to the pavilion was the opposite gait to that of Angol’s jaunty stride.

Where was Allan Engel to finish the job off ?– surely a missed opportunity from the Londoner. Keyes like a coiled spring hit his first ball for 4 but picked out their 6’6’’ opening bowler positioned at deep mid on who plucked the ball out of the air he was soon back on the benches dragging on  another Embassy and contining his barracking of any one in earshot (PS –Anyone seen his jumper ?)

N Talbot finally dismissed for a dogged 8 and so Spearman joined Cox senior who with his eye on his diary (away three weeks) never looked in trouble and was turning certain two’s in to easy one’s- The over’s ticked by and after 25 we crept passed 70, with Spearman gone Talbot J went to the crease  grabbed a single to keep  the strike smash 4, smash 4, miss out! Our Aussie Jayden debutant finished off the game with two fours leaving Coxy undefeated and Canham padded up waiting to go in at No 9!

We all retired to the pub where Canham bought a jug, Stan sat in reflected glory Lee dropped a glass (to go with his drop in the field) and Mike from where I sat looked Poles apart!