Gold

Good afternoon sports fans. Yesterday was quite a day wasn't it? Six gold medals in one day, a supreme ton by Pietersen and Didcot finally gave Challow the thumping they deserved!

There has been a lot written about legacy from London 2012, at the moment the only legacy in the Gates household is 2 Olympic level hangovers as a consequence of a lot of wine and an ever greater amount of rum drunk whilst watching and celebrating until the wee small hours. Will we ever learn? I dearly hope not.

Anyway, yesterday belongs to Didcot. People will talk about where they were on Saturday 4th August 2012 in years to come. They will become misty eyed and nostalgic.

Not in Challow they won't, they will talk about the day they won the toss on an absolute belter of a track and decided to bat first and then limped to 97 all out in 49 overs. Perhaps they were hoping for a rain affected match, or a miracle. They got neither.

The first 15 overs was high quality stuff, Tigger and Northern Gravy steaming in against two quality bats determined to tough it out. It was an even contest, the odd chance went begging and some edges flew into gaps and some good shots were played as well.

41 dor 0 soon became 51 for 4 as first Tigger caught the edge for a straight forward catch behind and then The Caretaker ripped out the next three. Jordan bowled beautifully and was joined by Jules who promptly took the next 4 wickets to leave them 67 for 8.

For the first time this season we saw the old magic return with the spin twins both bowling well in tandem. They were back to their best. The overs flew by and the runs dried up. I haven't enjoyed myself so much in the field for a long time. I love the phase of the game when two slow bowlers are on top. Between them they bowled 25 overs, 13 maidens and took 7 for 27. Top quality boys.

The quicks came back to mop the tail up. Tigger turned from a cuddly cartoon tiger into a snarling beast of a man. He doesn't take kindly to lower order batsmen at the best of times, when they hit him for boundaries it really makes him mad. a short rain delay allowed his blood pressure to return to somewhere close to normal and his colour from purple to red. He took the two final wickets and Challow were all out without scoring a point. Marvellous. Nothing puts you in the mood for a tea like a sub 100 total.

The runs were knocked off without drama for the loss of just 2 wickets. 70 of them were scored by Tubes in another fine knock. He didn't give one chance and was supremely focused. The way he dispatched the short ball was especially pleasing, the fact that he was wearing red shoes can only have added to the humiliation. It only took 26 overs, and would have taken even less had we not had to endure Northern Gravy paying homage to Sir Geoffrey with an epic 14 off about 50 balls. He said that he had enjoyed it. Thats Yorkshire men for you. an odd breed.

Tubes took the Man of the Match, as the only batsman to pass 30 in the match it was well deserved. The battle of the Didcot openers is hotting up now. Lets hope they both get runs next week.

We are back at the Field Of Dreams next week as awe welcome Banbury 4. I cannot wait.