I have spent the day locked in interviews with The Cherwell League executive, ICC representatives and The Police.
Apparently irregular betting patterns were detected involving yesterdays match against Great Tew. A Far Eastern bookmaker based in Leighton Buzzard took two bets on Friday. The princely sum of £4.82 was placed on an accumulator bet that a run out would occur in the 43rd over of the Didcot innings followed by the dropping of a dolly catch in the 2nd over of the Great Tew innings. I cannot make any official comment but want to strenuously deny that these events are in any way linked. A similar dropped catch at Shipton the week before is also under investigation.
Yesterdays match was remarkable in that nothing remarkable happened, at all. The pitch was wet. Almost wet enough to cancel the match before we started. It was imperative that I won the toss and we bowled first. I lost and we batted. I know, I know; I only have one job to do and I got that wrong.
Pritch and Vish got us off to a great start, again bringing up 50 without loss. The ball kept low and stopped and we couldn't cope with the nagging accuracy of the Tew attack. Only Pritch passed 30. We were all out for 128 with nothing of note happening with the exception of a surprise run out in the 43rd over.
A splendid tea was consumed, homemade chicken tikka being a particular feature along with pavlova and a scrumptious selection of cakes.
We knew that Tew had a fragile batting line up and that with early wickets and scoreboard pressure this was still a game we could win. The pitch now seemed more even paced although batting still wasn't easy. Nothing of note happened in the first few overs with the exception of a dropped dolly catch in the 2nd over.
The spin twins applied said scoreboard pressure and were then backed up with some smart catching from 'showboat' Bernard and The Judge. The wickets didn't come early enough for us ever to feel like we were really in the hunt and Tew won by 5 wickets with plenty of time to spare. Not really a day to remember.
Results elsewhere guarantee us 3rd spot in Division 5.
The tour continues despite calls for lifetime bans and slapped legs. We travel to the wastelands of Brackley next week knowing that the result may still influence who plays in Division 5 next season. Don't bet against it.
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