| Ewelme vs Cholsey | 28th Apr 2013 |
Yesterday ten of Ewelme's finest played a typically exciting but low-scoring April fixture against ten and a half (the half will become clear) similarly matched "elite" cricketers from Cholsey.
After winning the toss I had the greatest of pleasure in opening the innings with that classically modelled disciple of the MCC batting manual, Mr. Jackson "Killer" Youens, making his final appearance in our colours. Our Chairman started his ECC career away at Cholsey a couple of years ago and earned his nickname in that game so they were fitting opponents for his send off. But enough of the trite pleasantries - Jacko started as a disciple of the ECC batting manual by slicing the first ball of the innings through third man for four. Luckily Cholsey had just 9 fielders at the time.
The opening partnership developed well amidst some interesting seam movement and prodigious bounce. Multiple balls started with a stump threatening line only to move too much to miss bat, pad, stumps and frequently the Cholsey keeper (sorry Chappers). Getting balls alternatively bouncing over our heads and past our ankles led to some even more interesting shot selection - or in Jacko's case variations on the hoick over cow corner. Inevitably one eventually kept low for Jacko and he departed. 25-1. Ross was judicious as ever and when Chris replaced me (30-2) things looked to be progressing OK towards a competitive 120 or so 12 overs in.
Alas young Williams (a mere 54) from Cholsey was a tad more inspired than the Ewelme middle and lower order as he ripped through us with his 19 mile an hour snorters - he took 5 for 13 from 6 overs. It took that other great scholar of the MCC batting manual (Sir Reg) to lift us from the depths of 60-7 to the riches of 82 all out from 29.4 overs - 11no for Reg being the highest score of the innings. En route to that total the "half" of Cholsey - Jack Chapman, aged 10, only playing 'cos his dad is the Cholsey skipper and wearing jeans and a Hollister top - took his first wicket in senior cricket. I didn't see it myself but I'm sure Tim will be proudly telling his grandchildren one day about how he valliantly but ultimately vainly battled against the unplayable brilliance of Jack Chapman, who will doubtless by then be a world renowned bowling prodigy (if one defines the world as the drivers seat of a silver Alfa Romeo).
After a Marmite flavoured tea Cholsey began their reply under greyer and chillier skies. Reg and Jacko bowled very well enjoying the helpful conditions and the caution of the openers in chasing the small total. 14 overs yielded just 28 runs for a wicket a piece for the bowlers. Jacko's roaring delight at taking a wicket with his penultimate delivery for Ewelme was probably heard in the hills of Invergarry - something the local Invergarry ruminants might have to get used to.
A bowling change at the Grundon end led to Reg being replaced by someone a bit younger than him. Not that unusual some keen observers of Reg's plastic surgery might note but when was the last time he was replaced by someone less than a quarter of his age? Stand up the man-boy Tom Bowden. Bowling in tandem with Ross (no longer our best young player but perhaps Chairman-elect?), he gave us an exciting glimpse into Ewelme's future. Responding well to a bit of tap in his second over Tom took 2 wickets to fully justify his place. Ross immediately picked up where he left off in 2012 with a wicket maiden to start before another 2 wickets had Cholsey wobbling precariously at 69-7.
Alas, our common failure to even bat through our overs cost us in the end leaving using 20-30 runs short and Cholsey reached their target without further loss. But it was an exciting, well contested game against a good bunch of lads - as the post match debrief in the Hut was to confirm. |
| Ibstone vs Ewelme | 2nd Sep 2012 |
Having managed to get 10 together for this match it was very disappointing to only have 7 turn up on the day. However, Ibstone were very sporting and let a few of us bat again and we reached 160 in our 40 overs. They were never behind the run rate and with lots of gaps in the field they reached their total with a few overs to left and 3 wickets remaining.
It was then all back to the Royal Oak in Stokenchurch and onto the Hut for Tim's birthday drinkies. Unfortunately Tim didn't really enjoy himself as he had broken his finger during the match (but he did hold the catch!) so it was left to a few of us to drink until the early hours for him. |
| Ewelme vs Fugro | 29th Aug 2012 |
Part 2, the first part having been rained off, and to be honest it looked like this one would as well! However, the rain stopped just before the match was due to start and we got a full match in this time.
This turned out to be the first day-night match played at Ewelme. However, we can't afford the floodlights yet and played the last few overs in the light of the full moon.
Ewelme batted first and scored 123, thanks to 35 from Ross and 34 from Ben, who between them put on 67 for the 6th wicket.
Fugro has the worst of the light to bat in, but sportingly played on to the end and finished on 111 (according to the scorebook!). Special mention should go to Ed who opened and got 41, Rob who scored 37 not out in the middle order and Dave Kilcoyne who had driven all the way from Grimsby to play in this match, only to get out first ball. |
| Ewelme vs Haddenham | 19th Aug 2012 |
| Cancelled. Seems everyone has given up and left the country. |
| Hambleden vs Ewelme | 12th Aug 2012 |
| Cancelled. Whilst officially Hambleden called this one off due to a lack of players, they only just pipped us to the post since I don't think we had that many either. |
| Britwell Salome vs Ewelme | 8th Aug 2012 |
| Cancelled, due to lack of players. Ross was on holiday and Woody was buying a new hair dryer. Tim is also on holiday and rumour has it he'll be buying new hair straightners in duty free on the way home, which will probably annoy Woody because he'll be paying full price on the High Street. |
| Ewelme vs Richard Denners XI | 5th Aug 2012 |
A good all around performance today, but ultimately another defeat. We were lucky to be playing this match, the wicket was flooded at midday due to a very large thunderstorm. However, the wicket drains very well, and the sun came out and it was playable at 2pm!!
Woody won the toss and decided to bowl first in this timed match. We kept taking wickets at regular intervals and bowled them out for 125, Ross with the best bowling figures of 3-16, Jacko and Bumpy took two each.
Clearly the opposition didn't have many bowlers (hence their suggestion for a timed match) and their opening quick bowler stayed on for the entire innings, taking 5-25. Ultimately we finished an agonising 6 runs short, Ross and Bumpy both finishing as the highest scorer with 29. We probably required one batsman to hang around for longer than anyone actually did. We were also missing one batsman, Tom Fitzgerald was recorded in the book as "missing, due to being an idiot and forgetting his mum's birthday", he has to leave early having been phoned to remind him! |
| Ewelme vs Goring | 1st Aug 2012 |
| Another defeat, 9 wickets this time. Goring were only chasing 82 to win and got them for the loss of only one wicket, Barry spinning out one of the openers. Our batting let us down yet again, only a 46 partnership for the 8th wicket between Jacko and Steve gave us a semi respectable score. |
| Ewelme vs Highmoor | 29th Jul 2012 |
| Cancelled. Not rain this time but not enough players. It is always disappointing to cancel a match for this reason, but we are in the first week of the school holidays. It's that or everyone has heatstroke from a week of sunshine. |
| Tetsworth vs Ewelme | 25th Jul 2012 |
| Having kept Tetsworth down to only 112 from their 20 overs we thought we had a good chance in this one. However, we were completely blown away by the Tetsworth bowlers Huish and Esky who both took 4 wickets. We were eventually out for just 22! The only positive that can be taken out of this match is that Adam played for the first time this season, back from his shoulder injury. |
| Harwell vs Ewelme | 22nd Jul 2012 |
It was a very hot sunny day, which confused everyone. Harwell's pitch is known to be on the big side, and this pitch was no exception. Most of the pitch was in Oxfordshire, but there were unproven rumours that the furthest unexplored corner was in Wiltshire.
Harwell won the toss and batted first. From their 40 overs they scored 196, the backbone of which was the 98 scored by opener Tanner. On the bowling side everyone struggled with the heat. However Harry Turner had a very promising start, taking two wickets on his debut and on top of this was a catch behind off his first ball that wasn't given along with a very close stumping decision that went the batsmans way!
Our batting was abysmal, only one batsman made double figures, Bumpy scoring 16. In the end we finished all out for 43 and all retired to the Hut to discuss life, the universe and everything. |
| Ewelme vs Warborough | 18th Jul 2012 |
| Cancelled. Rain. End of story. |
| Ewelme vs Swyncombe | 15th Jul 2012 |
| Another defeat, and the usual story. The batting let us down after the bowlers had done a good job. |
| Chalgrove vs Ewelme | 11th Jul 2012 |
| Cancelled. More rain, and their pitch is understandably too wet to play. Has anyone ever known a summer like this before?? |
| Ewelme vs Sydenham | 8th Jul 2012 |
| Cancelled. The rain over the previous days has made the wicket too soft to play. |
| Ewelme vs Fugro | 4th Jul 2012 |
| A new fixture, and one that was only arranged last week! We were put into bat and scored 132 in our 20 overs. Glas was top scorer with 46 not out and Climps scored 28. The weather was pretty bad and we did well to get through our 20 overs. 3 balls into the Fugro innings and the heavens opened. This was the second rain break we'd have and the wicket was too soft to continue, so it was off down to the pub. |
| Nettlebed vs Ewelme | 1st Jul 2012 |
| Another defeat, and a fairly heavy one this week. Nettlebed batted first and scored 165. Had any of our batsman stuck around we might have been able to chase this total. Unfortunately we had a fairly scratch team out today and got skittled out for just 52. |
| RAF Benson vs Ewelme | 27th Jun 2012 |
| We scored a reasonable 110 from our 20 overs having been put into bat, Barry and Ben scoring highly again. Only one RAF batsman got going, but he scored 67 not out and won the game for them with 2 balls remaining. Barry was the pick of the bowlers with 3-14 |
| Brightwell-cum-Sotwell vs Ewelme | 24th Jun 2012 |
| Probably should have won this match, but yet again the batting let us down. Bowling first we kept B-c-S down to 111, Ross taking a seasons best 4-10. When it came round to us batting we slumped from 34-0 (of which Ben scored 31!) to 71 all out to lose by 40 runs. |
| Ewelme vs Crowmarsh | 20th Jun 2012 |
| We lost this one, and were given a lesson in how to play T20, but I think we gave them a lesson in how to play in the right spirit, it is after all a "Friendly League". |
| Chairmans XI vs Presidents XI | 17th Jun 2012 |
For some reason this match was played with very qualified umpires and yet LBW's didn't count. Nor did snicks to the keeper apparently. We won the toss and batted first and got off to a very shaky start, being 11 for 4 at one point! However, 49 runs from John plus runs from Ross and a last wicket partnership of 69 between Jacko and Ben saw us reach a total of 171 off 35 overs.
The Presidents XI innings was steady, and they were never behind the run rate. At 48 for 3 we were still in the game but a partnership of 72 between Adam and Giles saw them get close to the winning total, the winning runs eventually coming in the 34th other, with a huge six! |
| Ewelme vs Cholsey | 13th Jun 2012 |
| A topsy-turvy match that ended up in our first win in the Wednesday League. Batting first we recovered from 59 for 6 to 121 all out, mainly thanks to Rob Hudson and Barry who scored decent runs in the lower order. Cholseys innings started slowly, their top 5 batsman totalled only 11 runs. However, a magnificent partnership between Chapman (34) and Massey (43) almost took them over the line. However, they fell just short and Ewelme won by just 2 runs. |
| Sonning Common vs Ewelme | 10th Jun 2012 |
| Match cancelled. Match would have been played at Highmoor, but they haven't been able to prepare a pitch due to the weather. |
| Ewelme vs Dorchester | 6th Jun 2012 |
| Match cancelled due to bad weather. That is 4 consecutive matches that have been cancelled, anyone fed up yet? |
| Sydenham vs Ewelme | 3rd Jun 2012 |
| Match cancelled by Sydenham - unable to raise a team because it is Bank Holiday weekend. Weather forecast isn't great either though! |
| Tetsworth vs Ewelme | 30th May 2012 |
| Match cancelled due to lack of players by Ewelme again. Is everyone on holiday together?? |
| Longwick vs Ewelme | 27th May 2012 |
| Match cancelled due to lack of players by Ewelme. Despite Woody's best efforts we only have about 7 available, so match cancelled. |
| Clifton Hampden vs Ewelme | 23rd May 2012 |
| Another defeat for Ewelme, this time by 42 runs. Ben was once again the highest scorer for Ewelme, surely heading towards the batsman of the year award, especially since nobody else is scoring anything at all??!! |
| Ewelme vs Greys Green | 20th May 2012 |
A poor game for Ewelme, completely outplayed by Greys Green. Ewelme won the toss and put Greys Green into bat and they went on to score 196 in their 35 overs. Tea was a marvellous spread, made by Simon's own fair hands, although I'm sure his wife would have been drafted in at some point!
Unfortunately this was the high point of the day, Ewelme's innings fizzled out quickly and only three players reached double figures (John, Ben and Andy Carter) as we were all out for just 89. |
| Britwell Salome vs Ewelme | 16th May 2012 |
| Game cancelled as the pitch is unplayable due to yesterday's rain |
| Ewelme vs Great Milton (or Jackson the superhero!) | 13th May 2012 |
A new fixture for 2012, and what a match! Ewelme bowled first and bowled the opposition out 108 runs, the bowlers all performing well (Jacko took 3, Reg and Andy took 2 each) and the fielders taking their catches. We really should have knocked off the runs, but the batsmen just couldn't get going. Bumpy weighed in with 18 not out and Ross scored 20. However, with one ball to go, we still needed 2 runs to win, and Jackson (number 11!) was out there facing it. Everyone was worried at this point, including Jacko, but he somehow managed to club the ball to cow corner for 4 meaning we had won by one wicket!.
Of course this meant that he was able to tell everyone in the pub about his match winning exploits, and after a few pints of Fosters he was heard to descibe the shot as "a glorious cover drive that Ricky Ponting in his prime wouldn't have been able to play, off a ball that was swinging both ways and turned a right angles after it had landed".
But he was the hero, so we'll let him off this time!! |
| Ewelme vs Goring | 9th May 2012 |
| Match cancelled - more rain. |
| Swyncombe vs Ewelme | 6th May 2012 |
| Match cancelled - Swyncombe pitch is waterlogged. |
| Ewelme vs Moreton | 2nd May 2012 |
| The first T20 Wednesday league game managed to go ahead, despite the wicket being under water on Tuesday morning! Ross won the toss and bowled first, Morton scored 150 off their 20 overs. If we'd have taken our chances it probably would have been less, a lesson for us all! Ewelme's innings started brightly, Tim opened the batting and scored 18 including his first 2 sixes for the club. Ben Denton scored 20, Ben Strudley scored 52 (again) but ultimately we fell short by 16 runs. However everyone thoughly enjoyed the match, roll on next week! |
| Ewelme vs Cholsey | 29th Apr 2012 |
| Match cancelled - rain. |
| Double Wicket trophy found | 25th Apr 2012 |
| The Double Wicket trophy has been found by the Chairman following a brief search through his extensive cricketing trophy cabinet. |
| Double Wicket | 22nd Apr 2012 |
| The usual number arrived for the Double Wicket, the rain held off, good food and cricket all round. The competition was won by Ben Strudley and Andy Carter, who were presented with a makeshift trophy because the real one has gone missing somewhere. |
| The start of the 2012 season | 19th Apr 2012 |
| The hosepipe ban has started - cue the torrential rain, obviously - so it must be the beginning of the new Cricket Season. This Sunday is the hotly anticipated Double Wicket opener to the 2012 Season. For the curtain-up we will revert to the normal Double Wicket format. Turn up with a partner or be prepared to go into the draw...you might get lucky. BBQ will be served at lunchtime and there may just possibly be a few fruit and hop juices during the day. |
