2011 Season

OPCC 1st Xi Lost to Ripley

A bit of a damp squib before the big day. With nothing riding on the game, Ripley chose to bat on a beautiful day. The first over from Henry Dodd was a bit loose and got the treatment - bad omen. However, from there Tim Quayle and Henry bowled much better and got control back. Henry removed both openers clean bowled - the second was a superb slower ball which completely deceived the batsman and flicked off the off bail. He trapped number 3 in front, and Tim nipped one back to claim his first victim. All of a sudden a rapid start had been hauled right back in and we had them 43-4. From there, though, Ripley batted well; sensibly but aggressively where possible. Number 5 made 49 before Dave tempted him down and Joe Harris gleefully whipped off the bails. Number 6 did make his 50, before chipping a full toss to skipper at mid off fromthe bowling of Mike O'Reilly. He didn't like the adjudication that the ball was not over waist height, but he had to go. Henry returned, cleaned up another, and set about his five-fer. He got it, finally finding the full and straight one to castle number 11, ending the innings on 172. 5-38 was an excellent return on a good deck against a decnt batting line up - and all of them bowled or LBW.

We started badly, skipper LBW to an Aussie chinaman. Dave and Podge put together a little partnership, but Dave went for 24. It was becoming clear that the chinamen were more than useful. Podge played some absolute purlers very watchfully, but the spinner accounted for Joe, and then Kieran - not bowling this time but with a stunning one handed catch in the gully. Podge desperately needed support, but it didn't come. He was 9th out for 52. We just made it to 100.

We finished 10th in the League, which considering our appaling start wasn't bad. Our points total was higher than last year, but not by much. We proved that when we have our best team out consistently, we can go on championship winning runs - 6 wins out of 6 in mid season - but it didn't happen often enough (in the League anyway).

2nd XI lost to Maori Oxshott
 
MOCC are runaway champions of the second division, and with OPCC having had their relegation confirmed last week we weren't in a position like last year where we could play all of the fringe 1s/2s players in the final fixture. So a weakened team took on the fearsome MO batting lineup, and the results were rather predictable. Disappointingly we became a bit ragged in the field and ended up conceding a mammoth 293, which would have taken a miracle to chase. Wickets were taken by Christian (1), Chetan (1), Theo Parker (1), Tom Speller (1), and Holland (2) while Gardner and Patel were unlucky not to pick any up.
 
The miracle didn't happen, the early wicket of Paddy Edrich got us off to a bad start and after a good partnership between Grant (15) and Patel (34) the wheels fell off and we lost regular wickets, eventually all out for just 110, with Dan Calvert (14) and Tom Speller (21) the only other batsmen to post double figures. This result didn't really matter and we look forward to finding more regular players in our bid to succeed in our first season alongside the 1sts and 3rds in the Fullers League next year.

CUP FINAL:

The day dawned expectant and stormy. Twitter feeds kept OPs as far away as Jordan and Brisbane apprised of events. The wires were as abuzz as some nerves amongst the 11 selected for duty. So it was somewhat of a disappointment that as we eventually crossed the white line, we turned round and came back again. The rain fell persistently, eventually reducing the game to 25 overs per side. The shorter match perhaps gave Division 2 underdogs Putney an advantage, but we were determined, league form having improved such that we weren't doing a Birmingham City, not to do an Arsenal either. Skipper and Dave Newsome put on 102 for the first wicket, Dave unluckily falling for 49. Tom Peters kept the momentum going but was stumped. We had a good platform, and just needed an injection of impetus to finish strongly. Sam Cato provided it – having faced just 3 deliveries, he took 22 off a single over, including 2 mighty sixes over the helpless bowler’s head. Skipper heard him in deperation seek the wisdom of his captain; "What do you want me to do now?" Whatever the hastily agreed plan was, it didn't work. Sam’s 40 off only 18 balls was just what we needed – Alex was out to the penultimate ball for 76, and Tom Rigby hit the final ball for 4 to give us a boost going into the break. We made 189 from our 25 overs - an imposing score.

Putney obviously decided they weren’t going to die wondering. They came out all guns blazing and were well ahead of the rate for the first few overs. A couple of tough catches went down, a couple of players went down to injuries, and all of a sudden we were sweating and a little ragged. Jehan bowled a very controlled spell and took a vital wicket, caught by Sam Cato, to drag us back into it, but spin changed the game completely. Dave Newsome took a wicket, again caught by the unflappable Sam, and then David Methuen took 4 for only 9 runs, ruthlessly targeting the stumps with his slider. Adrian wrapped up Putney’s innings for only 90, and we celebrated in some style.

In addition to the Cup itself, the Club wins £500 to put towards equipment, so we will be able to further improve the excellent facilities at TD.
Let’s hope that the win will be a spur to bigger and better things next year. It was certainly an extremely enjoyable campaign to be involved in. Here’s to a successful defence of the title…