Scorecard

Wicken Sports v Olney Town Cricket Club Sunday Casuals/League on Sun 31 May 2009 at 2pm
Olney Town Cricket Club Lost by 65 runs

Match report Wicken v Mike Brown – The Result

New Signing Mike Brown justified his huge wage package by singlehandedly taking on Wicken. On another hot day Olney fielded first (the result of the toss remaining a closely guarded secret!)

As this was a cup fixture in a competition where we are the Rushden&Diamond in a world of Barcelonas, the opportunity was taken to blood several youngsters into the world of semi-professional cricket and despite some stiff treatment from the Wicken batsmen stuck to their task well and remain under contract from prying ECB eyes.

Despite Wicken clearly determined to go for it from the off – opening bowlers Macdonald and newly promoted opener Ben ‘The Bream’ Brown did their best to contain the opening bats before a lazy runout gave O’s their first break. Of note despite taking some rather stern treatment in his second over The Bream kept his head and came back with some steady stuff where others may have crumbled.

However it was hard work from there with Wicken reaching 3 figures without further loss though several lunges from Jason Wright behind the stumps almost took their skipper out each time. On a small uneven boundary life was tough in the heat. Though Hair Bear Matt Day and Adam Jewson (almost as loud as the famous one) did well in the field.

On then came the bowling big guns with Hammerlord and Charlie Brown combined average age 44 – average knees/hip age 83. After some toiling OT removed their free scoring skip with a gem from the Lord snaffled up behind followed by 2 quick wickets and suddenly the O’s were right back in it with Wicken soon on 119-5 including a flying salmon impression from MacDonald in the slips to pluck a sharp one from the air..
Sadly though a ludicrous umpire decision was to undo all the good work – Wicken to their credit played the game to win and were clearly after every ball good or bad but the game turned on an innings of 101no from their no 8 who was dropped on 2 then ludicrously not given out on 10 when he was closer to Oxford than his crease carrying his bat waist high, their umpire clearly decided Oxford means you’re safely home! Said batsmen went on to make another 91 !!! though the O’s didn’t help themselves as sadly catches were going down faster than Rick Waller in a broken lift which proved extremely costly! THREE of them in successive overs off of the skipper whose hair loss outlook took a pounding as chance after chance hit the deck ! Faith in humanity finally restored when Charlie Brown held onto one on the boundary in front of the cheap seats. By then sadly the damage had been done.!
Charlie Brown took 4 wickets though frankly he should probably have called the batsmen back for the one that bounced 17 times before settling at the bottom of the stumps ! Some people have no shame!

Wicken finishing on 258-7

So into tea and an air of despondancy hung over the troops. Whilst the skip did his best to implement a victory plan, the focus amongst the senior troops was whose bag to leave the g*y porn in as the skip continued to talk to himself, The matter however taking a more serious twist when it was pointed out that leaving it in a youth bag in error would probably mean a 7 year stretch and constant attention by Mr Big who’s in with the wardens !! It finally found a home in Annie Oakleys bag who thanked the team and as far as we know took it home to enjoy in the privacy of his own home! Who needs CRB checks when we can police ourselves !

So after tea and a rallying call from the skip dismissed out of hand by the troops – Olney trudged out after a tea bereft of any health properties, with Charlie and Annie set fair to do the business. With the Wicken bowling nothing of note the 258 looked a breeze and nothing less was expected with a round of contract negotiations around the corner.

After a promising start of 40 off the first 6 overs, Annie was first to go dragging the ball onto his own stumps – Scotty Dog then sadly departed to a full toss and was immediately placed on suicide watch for the next 30 minutes. Macdonald came and went without troubling the scorers for a weekend pair and with the skip due in he magnanimously stood aside to let Jason Wright go in so that he could concentrate on the particularly fine filly now camped in the scoring area. However before he could work up a sweat he was in anyway as JW departed. First job - inform the encamped Brown that he was on 49 !!
Second job turn Brown back for a single to fly to be met by icy glare
Third job – pray to the heavens he doesn’t get out next ball !!

Following the skips departure for a weekend run fest of 1, the wickets were dangerously low so Brown went nuts and forged through his 50 ahead to a magnificent 117, before holing out much to the disgust of son Ben who let him have it both barrels !!

Despite some resistance from the owner of the Jewsons, Tony, the remaining wickets soon went and OTCC were all out for 194 and a pleasant freezing cold shower awaited the bowed but not beaten men.

After match drink pleasantries were taken in the Navigation Arms canalside garden where one couple welcomed in summer with a live show on the grass adjacent to Table 8. With the pheromones in the air this then set off fierce wife swap negotiations amongst 2 of the OTCC players – negotiations that seemed to be held up whilst the parties involved tried to agree on just how much alcohol it would take to convince the poor unwitting other halves to agree – (probably as much as it takes to induce a coma!) - results to be announced.

So its Wicken again next week in a game that DOES matter – Will Charlie Brown push his average above 3 figures to boost his chances of keeping his place in the side
Will the Olney fielders take in that if you get to the ball before it hits the ground the batsmen has to return to the pavilion
Will the skip trouble the scorers enough so that the decimal point isn’t needed to work out an average
Will the size of Annies appendage not get mentioned for a whole game?
Will Hammer understand that no matter how much you fancy having the condition, tourettes cannot be caught!

Onwards ………


PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT – The Sunday XI are locked in talks with OTCC Sat 1st XI over the signing of Charlie Brown – given the age factor the Casuals are holding out for a free transfer – or at worst a Bosman ! Wage demands are expected to be a sticking point.

Wicken Sports Batting
259 for 7
Player name Runs
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Olney Town Cricket Club Sunday Casuals/League Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Gray Macdonald5.001600.003.20
Ben Brown5.012800.005.60
Mike Lord10.0156156.005.60
Mike Brown10.023348.253.30
Simon Gratland5.0038138.007.60
Scott Wrighting3.003100.0010.33
Matt Day2.002900.0014.50

Olney Town Cricket Club Sunday Casuals/League Batting
194 for 10
Player Name RunsCatchesStumpingsRun outs
Steve Oakley Caught  24
Mike Brown Bowled  117 1
Scott Wrighting Bowled  10
Gray Macdonald Bowled  0 1
Jason Wright Bowled  3 2
Simon Gratland Bowled  0
Tony Jewson Bowled  8
Matt Day Caught  8
Adam Jewson Run out  0
Ben Brown Not Out  1
Mike Lord Caught  4

Wicken Sports Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
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