Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself. The major responsbility for ensuring the spirit of fair play rests with the captains.

1. There are two Laws which place responsibility for the team’s conduct firmly on the captain.

Responsibility of captains

The captains are responsible at all times for ensuring that play is conducted within the Spirit of the Game as well as within the Laws.

Player’s conduct

In the event of a player failing to comply with instructions by an umpire, or criticising by word or action the decision of an umpire, or showing dissent, or generally behaving in a manner which might bring the game into disrepute, the umpire concerned shall in the first place report the matter to the other umpire and to the player’s captain, and instruct the latter to take action.

2. Fair and unfair play

According to the Laws the umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play.

The umpires may intervene at any time and it is the responsibility of the captain to take action where required.

3. The umpires are authorised to intervene in cases of:

• Time wasting
• Damaging the pitch
• Dangerous or unfair bowling
• Tampering with the ball
• Any other action that they consider to be unfair

4. The Spirit of the Game involves RESPECT for:

• Your opponents
• Your own captain
• The roles of the umpires
• The game’s traditional values

5. It is against the Spirit of the Game:

• To dispute an umpire’s decision by word, action or gesture
• To direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire
• To indulge in cheating or any sharp practice, for instance:
  (a) to appeal knowing that the batsman is not out
  (b) to advance towards an umpire in an aggressive manner when appealing
  (c) to seek to distract an opponent either verbally or by harassment with persistent clapping or unnecessary noise under the guise of enthusiasm and motivation of one’s own side

6. Violence

There is no place for any act of violence on the field of play.

7. Players

Captains and umpires together set the tone for the conduct of a cricket match. Every player is expected to make an important contribution towards this.

© Marylebone Cricket Club

1. Wolvercote loot the Steve Dixon Memorial Trophy from under the noses of West Witney,
2. West Witney let the Steve Dixon Cup slip through their fingers (makes a change from us dropping stuff), or
3. To quote Churchill (not the nodding dog), “Never was so much owed by so many to so few our bowlers”.

The weekend before last was a big one for the first team, having a top of the table clash on Saturday and the first chance of some silverware in recent memory on Sunday. It was strange that the Saturday game appeared to be (on paper at least) the harder of the two, playing away to a team riding high rather than a final against a team that had only won a handful of games all season, albeit it in the league above. So after achieving the much-needed win on Saturday, we turned up at Westbury on Sunday full of confidence.

Early signs were positive:  according to Tim the pitch looked full of runs (when don’t they Tim?!), the weather looked good , all the players made it (despite Ben and Quinny’s best efforts to have the game played on the Westbury chairman’s front lawn by supplying yet another dodgy postcode) and, in the least shocking event of the day, Burnsy not leaving until after he was supposed to arrive.

There were only two concerns at this point. First was that Ben had failed in the simple task of winning the toss (I blame Campo’s presence) and we were put in, although funnily, having a batsman for a captain we wanted to bat first anyway. The second was Brian, inexplicably, having topped off his usual giant headphone and sunglasses ensemble with what can only be described as a giant space invader crafted out of Lego dangling round his neck. Maybe after hearing about Stuart’s new day-glow cricket green shoes he felt it was the only way to “out bling him”. At this point we really should have realised the day was going to turn out to be memorable!

As with most games this season, we resorted to the tried and tested opening partnership of Tim and Tofts. We started well; after one ball we had five (thanks to a wide and a meaty four from Tim) and then Ben confidently informed me that we were on for a respectable 1,350. Things looked even better a ball later, with Tim having snicked one behind only for it to drop short. I think it would be fair to say there were some nerves as both openers played and missed more often than usual.

It’s fairly accepted that there are no two more contrasting players in the team than Tim & Tofts:  one tall, free scoring and all about flashing drives, cuts and flicks off the legs, and the other Stuart being watchful, patient and happy to bat through. But continuing the odd occurrences of the day, they had decided to reverse roles. Tofts, playing with abandon, seemed to be intent on throwing the bat and by the time the score hit 25, he had raced to 18. One wonders what his score would have been if he had decided to use the face of the bat rather than just its edges! But with one shot too many, his luck ran out and he was caught, bringing to the crease the second of our Saffers, Gus 2.

The usual array of attacking shots followed, including a particularly brutal pull to cow for four, and the score progressed to a respectable 52 before the man with the longest name in village cricket became the first of five to fall to Walker for 11.

With the score at 52-2, out strode Jamie, a man who averaged 30-odd for the club last season, but who apparently had never scored a run at Westbury in two previous innings. It was all aboutthird time lucky, which is exactly how it turned out. Sadly it was for the bowler and not Jamie, as he was bowled third ball for naught. To compound his batting horrors, upon leaving the pitch he went to take his frustration out on a stationary ball, and promptly missed that too!

What followed was a precession of 90s England proportions, with a number of batsmen making it into double figures but not much further as Walker completed his five for. Ben (bowled – 11), Tim getting one that popped (caught & bowled – 24), me (LBW – 10), Brian (caught – 13) and Rich (caught – 0) all contrived to get ourselves out each time we looked like we may be steadying the heavily listing ship which was our innings. The only light relief provided was more comical than cricketing, but ultimately costly for West Witney.

Having pushed a quick single to midwicket, relying mainly on Brian’s fleet of foot, the wicket keeper was not able to take the sharp return and the ball quickly raced down towards the boundary, fielder in pursuit. For the second time this season, I had assumed “Bellesq” that the ball had gone and was engaged in idle chat in the middle of the pitch, only to realise belatedly that it hadn’t, and that the ball was on its way back to the waiting keeper. Luckily, I realised just in time and was able to scamper to my ground. What followed was ultimately game changing, as some of the boundary spectators (possibly Gilly Snr) signalled it had gone and, much the fielder’s  annoyance, the boundary was given.

With the team teetering on 90 for 8, a partnership rarely seen outside the pubs and clubs of Oxford came together:  Messers Gillham and Burns. They promptly set about a masterclass in attacking stroke play and kamikaze running as they put on a quick-fire 32 and in the process took us past the hundred (twice if you believed Brian’s maths/misinformation). With the score a marginally more respectable 122, Gilly seemingly hit “the wall” halfway through a second run, which was probably never there, and was run out for 7 (although it felt like he scored more). All that remained was for Burns to clear the front leg and club another mighty 6 before being bowled for 31 trying to repeat the trick. All of which left us 128 all out, a score half as much as we wanted at the beginning of the day, but one we definitely would have taken at 90-8.

So after a great tea and some dubious-looking stretching, we took to the pitch looking to achieve what Stanton Harcourt had failed to do the day before, and defend a meagre 128 runs. Strangely, there was an air of confidence from all the Wolvercote fielders.

West Witney made a solid start, progressing to 30 for 0 after 7 despite the best efforts and great bowling of Burns & Chystal. However, what followed blew the game wide open. In the eighth over Wolvercote upped the hostility of the bowling and got the breakthrough, with Burnsy first bowling the opener for 13, and then two balls later getting another when the WW number three was out for a duck, again bowled. Burnsy’s figures went from 0-17 off three, to 2-17 off seven.

In the 11^th over, the B-man also entered the fray and almost immediately got amongst the wickets, trapping WW number four LBW for zero in his second over. It really was a bad day for number fours! West Witney had gone from 30-0 to 41-3 in 19 minutes.

The game was still firmly West Witney to lose, but Wolvercote fielders were swarming all over the batsmen, building the pressure with some fine ground fielding, including some full length superman dives (some more successful than others, Richie!).

Burnsy, obviously trying to impress the lovely young lady who accompanied him, then a cranked the pressure right up, with a three over spell of some note. First he had the WW opener, who was playing a solid innings, caught behind for 34. He then followed that up four minutes later with the WW number six (caught behind again) and then demolished the stumps for a third time in the innings to remove number five for 13. After completing his final over, he finished with figures of 5-29 and WW were 75-6, requiring another 54 to win.

So with one bowler bowled out, the weight of expectation switched to the rest of the Wolvercote bowling attack. And needless to say they stepped up.

After his unfortunate display with the bat, Jamie obviously wanted to set the record straight with the ball and immediately looked dangerous (despite carrying an ankle injury), which was a good job as WW had progressed to 98. With things seemingly swinging back in WW favour, Jamie proved that anything Burns can do he can do too, picking up two wickets in three balls. Having worked out the perfect length, Jamie bowled both. Game on!

After being supported by some tight bowling from Richie, Jamie was joined in the attack by Chrystal. The captain was looking for some experience and the kind of aggression that only John can provide. The change provided nearly immediate results, with JC picking up a wicket in his second over, Gus proving 100% reliable behind the stumps and pouching his third catch of the match. This all left the match on a knife edge, WW needing 10 runs with one wicket in hand.

It would be fair to say what followed was a bit of a rollercoaster… Firstly the umpire gave a mystery no ball for too many outside the ring (although he couldn’t tell us who), then the WW number 11 pulling outa heave to cow for four apparently out of nowhere, all before Wolvercote believing they had won when the WW 11 seemingly edged to the safe hands of Gus, only for the umpire to disappoint the celebrating players by not giving it. Was this the last chance?!

Entering into what would either way be the final over of the match, it would be fair to say that hopes of a Wolvercote victory looked slim. After failing to dislodge the WW number 11 in the previous over and requiring only 2, it brought the in form WW wicketkeeper on strike, who by this point was top scoring on 36. The only time he looked as though he was going to get out was with some suicidal running earlier in the innings, and he was only saved by Ben missing the stumps by inches (50p for that skip).

And there it was JVS vs. Elliot for the cup…

What followed was Roy of the Rovers stuff or the cricket equivalent at least. Fourth ball of the over and Elliot’s eyes lit up and he tried to smash it out of the ground… only to see the ball beat the swishing blade that up to that point had looked so resolute, and destroy the stumps for the sixth time in the innings. Jamie, following the ball down, almost cleared Gus with his celebratory leap into the safe hands of the Saffer stumper.

Cue scenes of wild celebrations from the Wolvercote team and amassed onlookers, in stark contrast to the dejected WW team. With the game having been played in a great spirit, and as a testament to the character of the team, a number of the Wolvercote players consoled the unfortunate and understandably upset WW batsman before joining in the celebration.

All that was left to do was for Captain Ben to collect the long overdue silverware from the confused OCA presenter who decided WW had won, for Burnsy to pick up his MOTM trophy and for the ever generous Tofts to supply the celebratory champers.

While the 11 men on the field in the final will understandably get the plaudits, it’s important to remember that a number of other players made huge contributions to get us there. There were particularly fine bowling performances in the quarter final away to Dorchester from Quinny, Pog, Kurt and Campo (who could have ended up with a bucket load of wickets if we could catch). It was also good to see such a good turnout from Wolvercote at the final, with our fans vastly outnumbering WW. So all in all it was a real club effort.

Full(ish) Score Card

Bowling

Braving a gentle force nine gale, and a ground so vertiginous fielders had to abseil to cow corner, Wolvercote Is won the toss and elected to bat. McIntyre (70) and Tofts (45) got us off to an almost perfect start, with the latter outscoring the big Saffa (a fine, surely?) as Wolvercote put on 70 odd runs for the first wicket. This feat was particularly impressive as a knackered Tofts had hit 93 the day before, and McIntyre, in order to avoid being blown over in the wind, had taken the precaution of adding a pair of anvils to his lead Wellingtons. With the loss of Tofts, Proctor strode to the crease with the sole intention of scoring more runs in a weekend that his former Gibbon team-mate. The mission was accomplished some 67 runs later, with the younger man beating the older by two on the weekend, but with the pair level-pegging on 203 in the season.

History does not record whether or not Matt Taylor actually took his pads off over night but, having sat for 45 overs on Saturday, it was not until the 30^th over of Sunday’s game that he got the chance to beat out his frustrations on a piece of red leather. A brutal, if somewhat agricultural, 44 runs followed, supported by cameo performances from Asif (18 no) and Burns (13). The latter’s innings including a pair of towering sixes biffed down the cliff at cow, and followed what has to be the longest “comfort” break since Cyril the Constipated ate 4 dozen hard-boiled eggs whilst reading the Doomsday book on a dunny in Bungay in 1087. This took the Wolvercote total to a (surely insurmountable?) 270.

Now comes the less impressive part. Having watched a modest Garsington attack concede runs by bowling short and wide, the Wolvercote bowlers elected to follow suit and, as a consequence, failed to break through the Garsington top order. There cannot be many cricket matches where the number of lost balls exceeds the number of wickets, but, with at least 5 Wolvercote cherries AWOL in the cornfield, and only one wicket each to Burns (12-1-46) and Oliver (12-1-57), the away side’s total started to look vulnerable. Credit is due to the Garsington batsmen with Day (87no), Bound (48), and Wharton (75) playing their way to within 20 or so of Wolvercote’s mountain of runs. However, the undefeated Day slowed down as the innings wore on and, mindful that, if removed, he may be replaced by a slogger with more swagger, Proctor wisely chose to put down a simple catch on the boundary and Gilly, following Ben’s lead, was almost casual in what must surely have been a deliberate drop at mid-on? Thus victory was assured, with Quinn the pick of the bowlers with a stabilizing “taking-the-pace-off-the-ball” mid-innings 54 for 0 off 12.

Whilst Quinn was putting it on a sixpence from one end, Luke ‘the Murgatron’ Murgatroyd took some punishment from his fellow African at the other. Slower balls and bouncers were smote with equal measure. Observers wondered what exactly our favourite hirsute Zimbo had been drinking pre-match. He came back strongly, however, finishing with 1-44 from 9.

A pivotal moment came when Emperor Quinn got one to nip back and bowl Prinsloo for 42. The lads were happy to see the back of him…albeit temporarily. Behind the stumps Will Humphreys put in a classy display of glovemanship. But for the hesitant decision of a myopic umpire, he would have added a clever stumping.

Owen ‘he makes things happen’ Gallagher then came on to devastating effect. He snatched three wickets in his first over and ended up with 5-16. This young builder/vicar is laying solid foundations in his debut season and gave a lesson to the Deddington team – all out for 107. He was supported at the other end by big Antipodean, Andrew Dodd who hit the deck hard with 1-4.

With tea put back, Wolvercote had a quick turnaround and Rawstorne and Godsal faced a miserly opening pair of Buckingham (11.4-5-19-1) and Prinsloo (12-5-14-5). The top order found it difficult to score against such adept bowling. DTB was removed early and whilst Godsal, Humphreys and Forrester got their heads down either side of tea, runs were at a premium and they too perished. Tipler and Beard were also cleaned up and Wolvercote found themselves perilously placed at 19-6.

Graham Livingstone and Luke Mugatroyd showed great application and once they had seen off the opening bowlers, they were able to open up. Graham brought his total runs for the season to 100 with an attractive 26 before picking out that man Prinsloo in the deep. Murgatroyd was in uncompromising mood and flayed the ball to all quarters – his back foot drives with front leg raised have become a trademark. Owen was unlucky to be dismissed from one of several seven ball overs. Luke was in free flow, however, and he was backed up admirably by Quinn whose deft ‘querdles’ and ‘quaddles’ were most entertaining.

Hence victory was achieved in a game where it could have easily eluded Wolvercote. The side move on to play crunch back to back fixtures against Radley.

Tim and I progressed quickly to our first century partnership, scoring at 4 to 5 an over. We got to about 110 before Tim clipped one off his legs which didn’t clear the fielder. Next in was Ben, who started slowly – at least for the first couple of balls. Although Chalgrove have seen me bat before, they decided to push the field out for me, but keep it in for Ben, which help Ben push the score along quickly. With some big shots and cultured drives Ben quickly progressed past his 50. With a century within his grasp, he decided it was time to have a little walk down the pitch and was stumped on 73 with the score past 200.

Captain Campo decided it was time for the big hitters to have a go and try to push the score on to 300. First in was Gus2; Gus’s innings was short, but still golden! Given out LBW to one that looked a little high. With Gus’s departure, it was time for Mr Burns, promoted from number ten to number five. With the bowler on a hat-trick, Burnsy started with what would be a very rare occurrence in his innings, a defensive shot (there were only two other dot balls in his innings, one of which went for 4 byes).

Watching one of the most destructive innings which followed some of the best batting I’ve seen from both Tim and Ben was excellent. I have to say I was happy for burnsy to continually clear the boundary rope, meaning there was no need for quick singles! Scoring his 50 in what I guess was 20 or so balls we quickly progressed past 300 to end on 311. One of the best batting displays I have had the pleasure of watching – luckily from the non strikers end.

With tea next, where Margret put in an excellent performance, as well as Asif, who put in his best performance of the day getting through 3 cup cakes!

The bowling started well, with both John and Burnsy putting in fine performance, Burnsy had a whole over beating the outside edge. With both runs and wickets coming slowly, the captain decided to turn to the Wolvercote bowler who was top of the averages, and described by one person (himself) as our main strike bowler. Landing it on a sixpence and turning it sideways, his decision proved to be a good one. With strong support from Richard at the other end Jon ‘strike bowler’ Campion finished with excellent figures of 12-3-42-4.

With some poor catching – including a full length diving slip catch which I just got a hand to (the reason I’m writing this)! And some belligerent batting, Chalgrove managed to hold on with two wickets remaining.

Overall a superb batting display, and an excellent win by 161 runs.

Special Thanks to Margaret, Marc, Brian and Kurt for their help and support. We are currently top of Division 10 with maximum points, so hopefully this will give us the confidence to continue this great start for the rest of the season!

Campo strode out to the middle, coin in hand, for what may be one of the more important tosses of the season. He returned to tell us that he had performed well in the tossing department and we would have first use of a wicket which would prove to be fair, but which certainly had something in it for the bowlers.

He tossed the new ball to Burnsy, a scar on the bridge of his nose the only sign of his batting indiscretion which resulted in his A&E trip last weekend. His first over was a sign of things to come. Tight bowling, with a good line and length regularly found. John shared the new ball and as with Burnsy hit the spot right from the start.

It might have been a different story had a number of simple chances been held in the field (hands held up here, i dropped 4). As it was, a fantastic spell of middle over bowling from Wayne and Rich, which saw the flow of runs stifled and as a result wickets tumble at both ends resulted in Shrivenham setting us a target of 119 to win.

After a lovely tea had been demolished, mostly by Asif, Tofts and I made our way to the middle to try and find the runs to take us home. I was out in the 4th over, with the score on 26 and Toftsy yet to get off the mark, but that was what he needed to get going. He batted superbly, playing himself in nicely before picking and putting away the bad balls.

He had ample support from Gilly and Dirk, who had both been livewires in the field, before Asif came in to help see the side home. Toftsy finished on a fantastic 50no and his linchpin innings was something we hope to see more of all season.

All in all, it was a fantastic all round team performance. Everyone from Gus behind the stumps, to Burnsy and John’s new ball bowling, Rich and Wayne’s middle over pressure and Toftsy winning knock contributed. A 7 wicket win with 18 overs to spare was more than we could hope for in the first game of the season, but inspires confidence that it may be the first of many. Bring on Kilkenny next week!!

Ben

Under a cloudless sky, and refreshed by a gentle breeze, Wolvercote broke away in the final three overs of the game to win by a nose.

The home side won the toss and started briskly – hitting 10 off an uncharacteristically wayward first over from Wolvercote pace man Simon Burns. At the other end, the Mighty Quinn was faster to blow off the winter cobwebs, and had the home side’s numbers two and three caught behind in consecutive overs, before Burns sent down a snorter to Shorter at number four and Cumnor were 11 for 3. His pecker up, Burns took two further wickets to muzzle Cumnor’s big guns, and finished with figures of 3 for 29 off 5. Despite this decapitation, the West Oxford side were given a bit of a breather as their left-handed comically coiffed long-schnozed Cyrano (a Frenchman playing cricket – now I’ve seen it all!) blazed a face-saving half-century, including some daring dances down the wicket to Burnsie’s brief second spell.

Set an about par 187, the Wolvercote innings began well with some pugnacious back-foot drives from Matt Taylor en route to an impressive 65 – his maiden half-century for the club, and some familiar snouting about from Dave Gillham, before the latter was dismissed for 13 to an equally familiar slap to mid-on. Gus II bounded to the crease and hit one honking maximum, before succumbing to the inevitable rush of blood-to-newly-shaved-head and was stumped whilst charging in the direction of his native South Africa for 15.

Cumnor’s youthful bowling attack was nothing to be sneezed at and did not comprise the snotty-nosed kids of first appearance, and Wolvercote’s middle order folded like a moist Morris Dancer’s hanky: an unpleasant brace of ducks for Sennett and Lamerton was followed by 2 for Tristram, and a scrappy 11 for Campo as he was castled by a straight ‘un so slow that one would be forgiven for thinking one was watching a replay on Sky Plus. Crouch soon followed suit as his late cut was snaffled up by the diving keeper, leaving the visitors reeling at 138 for 8, the home side scenting victory, and the ever-calm Mr Quinn due in at number eleven sniffing the wind as nervous as bin Laden in Abottlabad.

Enter Mssrs. Burns and Gillham (snr). Batsmen of more contrasting styles it would be hard to conceive. The stoic septuagenarian progressed to 6, while the younger man smashed three sixes, and five fours in short order to reach 48 and tie the scores. What followed is the stuff of cricketing legend. The umpire, true to the spirit of third-rate amateur cricket, elected to let two blatant wides go unpunished in the first four balls of the 37th over in order to give Simon the chance to complete his half-century and win the game. However, the fifth long-hop elicited a mis-timed slog-sweep and sent the red leather crashing into the bridge of the unprotected Burns beak. Spectators could hear the simultaneous sounds of crunching bone and clenching cheeks as the man-of-the-match left the field with a broken nose, and Quinn strode nervously to the crease. A textbook forward defensive followed and it was left to Wolvercote’s most senior player to push the winning run off the first ball of the 38th over. What a hoot!

Wolvercote Cricket Club play  league matches at Cutteslowe Park in North Oxford. We have two Saturday League sides in the Oxfordshire Cricket Association, one in Section 6, the other in section 10, both sides having gained promotion in the 2010 season. We also run a midweek 20:20 friendly side as well as a friendly Sunday 40 over a side team. Our indoor winter nets will begin on Sunday 9th January, 2011, again based in North Oxford.

If you would like to find out more about us, perhaps thinking of joining us, then please contact the Club Secretary, David Quinn, on;

01865 514008

07747 352717

quinnd@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you.