DemiJohns (152 for 8 dec) lost to The Village (153 for 2) by 8 wickets
Overcast and quite blustery, making it rather cold but dry alteast.
An overcast day in Oxford saw Village win the toss and elect to bowl. As KP and Ben opened the bowling it became immediately apparent this was the correct decision. The pitch was firm and quick with both bowlers getting excellent carry and hitting the gloves hard.
If anything the ball did too much, KP shaped a beauty away from Mody to have him snaffled by ‘The Example’ diving to his left at first slip for a brilliant catch.
Ben bowled an amazing spell with real bounce but was not so fortunate, although the bat was rarely able to get anywhere near the ball. Village remained in control.
After an hour the hosts were 15-1 and the ball continued to regularly beat the bat. Lukas came on for KP and his change of pace together with yet more prodigious movement saw him pick up 3 quick wickets.
The opposition had moved on to 65-5 by tea. The hospitality of our hosts was excellent, a good range of sandwiches, cakes and biscuits. The highlight was undoubtedly the jam and cream scones.
Village took to the field after the interval with Morgans complaining he had eaten too much.
Eddie bravely gave the ball plenty of flight as Village aimed to move the game on. His efforts were rewarded with a sharp return catch off his own bowling.
At the other end ‘The Example’ was again providing more questions than the batsman could provide answers and would have had a well crafted wicket but for a missed stumping opportunity.
A change of bowling saw ‘The Cobra’ give it some rip from the Woodstock end of the ground. Another wicket fell as ‘Cobra’ cramped the batsman for room and he was bowled off his pads. He was unlucky not to finish with two as the keeper yet again missed another (leg side) stumping or two.
The opposition declared on 152 for 8 as Forbes (45) fell just short of a brisk half century caught well by Ben at cover off the bowling of KP for his third wicket of the innings.
Village had around 90 minutes left to get the runs. Steve Harty and Alan White set about the task in somewhat contrasting fashions.
Alan proved to be the ‘anchor’ with a very steady 22 including a straight drive 4 which had the purists ecstatic with polite applause.
Harty smashed a 67 inside 10 overs including 4’s to all four corners of the, very lovely, ground putting Village in control of the game. It was a ‘shot a ball’ master class reminiscent of a time, around the turn of the century, when the Australians were the best cricketers in the world.
At three came Morgans who pushed the ball around nicely. He was joined at four by Lukas and they calmly finished off the game with some excellent running between the wickets and offering few chances in the process. Morgans finished 35no and Lukas 14no as Village won by 8 wickets with a few overs to spare.
