Up all Night

As is normal for a man of my age I awoke early on Saturday morning, it strikes me as particularly unreasonable that as you enter a time in your life when sleep is ever more precious that for some inexplicable reason it becomes impossible to sleep beyond 6 something in the morning. Gone for ever is the teenage ability to lie in.  

One reason for this is that as we age, the weight of responsibility weighs ever heavier and we rise early to confront the challenges and tribulations that life places in front of us. Another potentially plausible explanation is that we are increasingly aware of our mortality and we want to embrace every single daylight hour, give it a bear hug and wring the limitless, beautiful opportunity form it. 

Alternatively it may be because we need to pee. You decide.

We have in our midst a young man who laughs in the face of sleep deprivation, cocks a snook at dozing and only gets home from work at half past five every Saturday morning. The fact that he turns up at the field of Dreams before midday is a significant achievement. What Tee Kay achieved in the space of a couple of hours in the afternoon yesterday was a bit tasty.

For the first time this season we batted first, it felt a bit odd. Vishane and Matt got us off to a solid start, then we wobbled from 57 for 0 to 77 for 4 from 22 overs. The next 28 overs saw us score another 233 runs to end on 310 declared, passing the record highest team score set only a few weeks ago on the way. 

The men responsible for this feat: Pritch and the sleep deprived Teeks. Pritch scored 89  from only 59 balls and on any other day would have  stolen the headlines. Fresh from a career high 152 earlier in the week whilst guesting as the only sighted player in the Ray Charles all star XI, he was in great nick.  A flat, pulled six straight through a window in the power station was one of six balls lost in various parts of their property. 

Teeks smashed 147 not out from only 97 balls, passing the club record individual league score on the way. His straight driving was awesome and included an effortless check driven six that went straight into the field over the trees. The innings included 9 fours and 10 sixes in total. Stunning stuff.

The 210 run partnership is now the current highest for the first XI, beating the record set earlier this season by Pritch and Cookie.

What followed was an advert for everything that is great about this wonderful game of our. It passed all our expectations and set the standard for the rest of the season.

My favourite moment was the scones with strawberries and cream, although the pork pies were damn fine as well.

Anyway, back to the cricket. The stage was set. Wolverton wanted to win and set about chasing. At 200 for 2 they were right in it and we needed wickets. Opener Chammings had scored 134 and would need to get a few more to maintain the momentum. Up hobbled Crab Hands, finding it difficult to walk, his glass ankle had one decent over left in it. It worked, and at 200 for 3 we were getting back into the game. Wolverton didn't give up and continued to score briskly. We balanced the need for wickets with the need to keep the run rate manageable. It worked and we took wickets regularly.

 It was simmering along nicely and still in the balance at 251 for 7  with 7 overs left. Pritch clean bowled Wolverton No. 4, Wade and we were back on top and chasing the last 3 wickets. We nearly got there, Wolverton ending on 279 for 9. We had our chances along the way and could have won, however the draw seemed like the fair result. Pritch took 3 for 30 with Vishane picking up 3 catches along the way. 

A great way to pick up 17 points and extend our lead at the top at the halfway point in the season. The second half of the season will be tougher for us,  we will have to raise our performance levels higher still to keep our hold on top  spot. 

Didcot II v Aston Rowant III

Aston Rowant won the toss and invited Didcot to bat first. Accurate bowling restricted Didcot to 200-4 in their 47 overs. Viraj Perera top scoring with 69, Connor Morrison not out 35, Dave Allen 37 and Dan Alderson contributing at the end with a quick 20 not out.

Didcot took to the field with Morrison suffering from sun stroke! Followed by Alderson suffering from side strain after bowling 4 overs, then followed by Hancock going off the field with a headache. Didcot bowlers didn’t trouble the home team, runs coming freely (6/7 per over) when Peter Sykes was introduced to the attack and he took two wickets. Hancock was back in the field after a while and it was Peter’s turn to go off the field with calf strain. We were dropping off like flies while Aston Rowant was cruising to their target. A run out and a couple wickets from Green at the end earned Didcot some bonus points and Aston Rowant reached 200 for the loss of 5 wickets in the 42^nd over.

Didcot were 20/30 runs short as well as weren’t as accurate in their bowling as Aston Rowant.

The thirds and fourths lost I'm afraid. No details have been set through to me. Come on chaps, if you want to feature in this blog I need details................