Whitchurch Cricket Club Tour

Les Ormes, Brittany, July 2007

The touring party started assembling on Friday night (in time for the pizza takeaway-only outside in the rain event) and all were present by the time we were two wickets down on Saturday afternoon.

Last to arrive were Cormac, Duncan, Tania and Catherine, who had travelled in style down from Paris in Cormac's Renault Kangoo.

Pictured are the pride of Whitchurch CC pose in front of the Chateau des Ormes. From left to right: Lyn Williams, Jim Power, Harry Williams, Chris Russell, Geraint Jones, Mike Butt, Ronnie Khan, Scooby Williams, Cormac Neeson, Chris Grogan, Robbie Cotgreave, Steve Willis, Duncan Seward.

Saturday

Whitchurch made a slow start, during which skipper Grogan must have wondered about the wisdom of his unorthodox "this'll fool 'em" opening partnership selection.

After the first 10 overs, we accelerated the scoring thanks largely to Chris Russell's 100*, G's 40 and Duncan's 33*. Duncan rode his luck when he was dropped 3 times off the same ball, helping us to finish on 233 for 4 in our 40 overs.

After a delightful tea, we took the field in glorious sunshine. Thanks to some aggressive opening bowling, Les Ormes made a slow start, but accelerated alarmingly with an innings built around Mike Scanlon's 114. Once he was gone, we managed to slow the scoring rate and take wickets. Les Ormes finished on 214 for 6, giving Whitchurch victory by 19 runs. Duncs had the best bowling figures with 3 for 20.

Saturday Evening Training

A quick beer or two, a shower, and it was time to return for the barbecue.

Some comedy fielding during the day kept the fine-master (see his report below) busy distributing "wine" at the barbecue, where Scooby ate his own weight in Merguez sausages. Having emptied the coolboxes, we moved on to a bout of over-refreshment at the bar.

Due to the outrageous number of catches dropped during the day, the Whitchurch Fitness and Conditioning Coach, pictured demonstrating a balancing drill, insisted on extra training on Saturday evening.

First up was a Neeson-organised Kronenbourg and Pastis marathon. Sadly, that was as far as the training session got, leading to the cancellation of the Midnight Andrew Flintoff Pedalo Challenge and a poor turnout for the school disco, probably to the relief of the other patrons.

Sunday

As expected, a slightly dishevelled Whitchurch dragged themselves up for breakfast, golf, and even the cricket.

Despite quite heavy rain, the artificial pitch meant that the game started, despite the ball causing small waves as it bounced on the pitch.

Slow scoring, a steady fall of wickets and long interruptions for the really-heavy rain made for slow progress. Skipper Lyn urged us all to "Think blue thoughts!" before reconsidering to "No! I mean think blue sky thoughts!" but that didn't work. As the picture shows, Ronnie resorted to batting in his waterproofs, though it didn't help much.

At about 19 overs (ie after about 3 hours), the game was reduced to 30 a side and Whitchurch pressed on to the disappointing total of 96 all out.

With a low total to defend and improving conditions for the Les Ormes batsmen, we knew we were up against it. We bowled well but without taking wickets and Les Ormes pressed on. Ronnie made a breakthrough with the ball after swapping keeping duties with Grogie, but Les Ormes made the runs with 8 wickets and overs to spare.

Fine-Master's Report

The Tour proved yet again a very productive event for the finemaster. Not least for himself for turning up late for the game and then going to the wrong pub afterwards. Very expensive!

Other than that there appeared to be a bad outbreak of The Dropsey on the Saturday in particular. For this the finemaster had initially prescribed a course of leeches, but in the absence of any the offenders had to make do with drinking fines. There was a very poor display of tour bandanas from last year which proved very expensive for the offenders and hopefully this shameful situation won't happen again as fines will be carried over to following years.

Finally two tourists, who shall remain un-named, were fined for having sex before tour. And if we could be sure of the prospective fathers they would have been fined as well.

Finally the finemaster (and the opposition!) noted the poor state of drinking on tour generally this year, with only 3 people making it to the Disco de Teenagers.

News

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Read our agreement that protects cricket in Whitchurch and improves village facilities.

Valiant Rearguard Action

Whitchurch draw vs Stonor

Captain's Report: Drowning men found close to Thames
Whitchurch clung on like a drowning man to a straw as they scraped a draw on Saturday. Stonor posted 253, with one of the openers scoring 120+, despite being dropped on 20 (Don't worry Lewis, Brian Lara scored 500 after he was dropped once). However a strong rearguard action from Craig Hampton and Dominic Motha saw us home.

Catches Win Matches

Whitchurch win away against United Oxford Hospitals CC

Captain's Report: 3 good catches from Mark, Lewis and Jon for Whitchurch wasn't matched by United Oxford Hospitals who proceeded to drop the Whitchurch skipper at regular intervals, allowing him to score 58. 3 wickets each for Mark and Nick, and an excellent spell of bowling by Andrew bowled UOH out for 162. Runs for Jack, Nick, Lewis and 'the lucky one' ensured that Whitchurch eventually ran out the victors by 4 wickets.

Boat Race Glory

Captain's Report: Williams L, Mutepfa, Charlton, Crist, Haggerty, Kilford A, and Steward Win Back Boat Race Title.
If only they could play cricket with the same aplomb that they can drink!! A 30-over game straddling the football saw Whitchurch run up 162 for 9 with Jack G back from his exams and back in the runs, and Hicksey brilliantly protecting his average. In reply Jack Frost recovered well from 85 for 5 to eventually win by 2 wickets with 3 overs in hand. And another catch for the boy wonder: that's 2 for the season and counting.

Sunday Best?

A victorious Whitchurch side.
(links to Henley Standard website).

Captain's Report: Everybody remembers their first !!
Whitchurch were led to victory at Checkendon on Sunday by Matt Kilford taking his first catch for the Club at the tender age of 11. Notable contributions from Andy, Lyn and Alan (proud father) with the ball ensured that Checkendon were bowled out for 139 at tea. After tea Robbie, Andrew and Nick made sure that the score kept ticking over despite the loss of a few wickets; Whitchurch eventually winning by 4 wickets with 8 overs in hand.

Headcase Skipper

Nepotists win

Captain's Report: A&E waiting times improving in Reading. Whitchurch bowled and fielded brilliantly before tea to restrict Nepotists to 160 for 8. How well we did, or didn't, bat after tea in being bowled out for 84 is a complete blank: having my head stitched back together by Zia (the very nice nurse) in A&E at the time. If Whitchurch could have batted for the same length of time I was in A&E – 3hrs 2mins – we would have won easily.

Pea Shelling

Whitchurch lose to Star 2009

Captain's Report: New Pea-Shelling Plant Opens in Whitchurch.
The Whitchurch team put their recent intensive training in pea-shelling to good use on Saturday by dropping 7 catches, which allowed Star to amass 231 runs in their innings.
Whitchurch made a good fist of a response with Closey and Duncan in particular putting in fine batting performances. However the run rate proved to much for the lower order and we were all out for 180.

10 Significant Figures

Whitchurch beat Goring

Captain's Report: Caught and bowled surprise – one very sharp and one relatively easy caught and bowled chance by Andy and Alan respectively – they never do that off my bowling!! - restricted Goring to 169 for 6. After tea, and without the usual alarms, Whitchurch chased the score down for the loss of only four wickets and with 8 overs to spare. More runs for Andrew, who says his average is now 134.3426759 – not that he's counting.

Bright Future

Whitchurch beat Hetaroi

Captain's Report: Congratulations to Lewis Crawleygay on scoring a 50 in his first game of cricket ever! Put Whitchurch on track for a good win against Hetaroi, who scored 180 in their innings, and Whitchurch even managed a customary mini collapse to make things a bit more interesting. Congrats also to Duncan on 5 for 31 off 11 overs. A fine spell of dibbley-dobbley bowling.