Not that those three games didn't contain some fine individual performances, far from it. We witnessed the rebirth of Bernard as a batsman with a purpose, a breathtaking 78 against Shallow nearly won us the game, another michelle for Jules and a first Didcot michelle for Tim were all fine performances and on another day would have set up victories.
This run of games dragged us back towards a rather uncomfortable place in the division. We travelled to Banbury III on Saturday needing to get some serious points to avoid dropping below Thame. The mere thought of that sends a shiver right through me.
So, simple then. Win the toss, have a bat, make 200 plus and then bowl Banbury out. I lost the toss and then we lost the plot. Banbury were 98 for 0 after about 19 overs and the ball was pinging around the park. 250 looked highly likely. Arse.
To again prove that one wicket can change everything they lost their next 6 wickets for 40 runs and we were right back in it. They limped to 198 all out in the final over. Great spells from The Caretaker and The Judge felt just like '09. They ended with 4 each with a couple of run outs. Another fine performance from Jules and easily Jordan's best of the season.
After a spot of tiffin we set about the task of chasing down. The ennui that has blighted us over the last 3 weeks struck again as only Pritch got runs in the top 5. We were deep in trouble needing 120 to win at more than 5 an over.
Cometh the hour, cometh Bernard. A quick fire 30 odd put us back on track and Banbury on the back foot. Jordan was next up, a complicated set of instructions were communicated. See ball, hit ball. As hard as you can. Best not to give him to much to think about we felt.
It worked as he continued where Bernard had left off. His first 4 scoring shots were 1,2,3,4,6. He biffed a few more lusty blows out of the ground and we now only needed 4 an over with 9 overs left. Sadly we had our last pair at the crease so no room for error.
Luckily this last pair had a combined age of nearly 80. It is a long time since I have batted with a long off, long on, deep midwicket and deep backward square leg. Clearly they hadn't seen me or Jules bat before as the chance of either of us getting caught on the boundary were slim.
Hilariously I was dropped at deep backward square with 15 balls left. It proved a costly drop as we knocked off the runs with exactly no balls left.
Is there a better way to end the season that hitting the final ball for two to win by 1 wicket?
So we head off into the deep depression of winter with a victory and comfortably above Thame again.
