Another memorable week

Click here for the 2003 Cricket Week Awards

A pluperfect Jubilee track made the 2003 week a hard slog for the bowlers, a slow outfield made it hard for the fielders, and some silly drinking games made it hard for the batsmen. The docile nature of the wicket was highlighted by the fact that only one side was bowled out all week - a below-strength Aldenham side in the Brewers Cup quarter-final on the second Sunday.

We kicked off with the second annual match against the Sam Watkinson XI and for a time it looked as if we might be in with a chance of victory chasing 230, but then Sam took four wickets in three overs, including a hat-trick, and we had to shut up shop, ending on 185 for 8. On the Sunday we beat Celeriacs, the last-minute replacements for the cup-tied Etonians, by seven wickets.

On Monday we had the best game of the week against the Grasshoppers. They declared on 260 for 6, built around 90 from Kiwi international Hamish Marshall, and our chase was led by a entertaining 60 from Rick Johnson and a solid farewell 40 from Clem Williams. We slipped well behind the clock until Henry Watkinson blasted a quickfire 50, but we called off the chase at 250 for 9 with four balls remaining.

We travelled to Georgians on Tuesday and were kept in the field in 90 degree heat by a declaration which was delayed as the Georgians weren't ready to take the field! The offer of extending the match by 15 minutes to make up for the delay was declined - wisely as it turned out as our last pair held firm as we scraped a draw.

On Wednesday the weather turned and the match against Tonbridge was washed out at lunchtime after less than 70 minutes play. Out inaugural fixture against Charterhouse on Thursday never got going after overnight drizzle left the square too wet to play.

The sunshine returned on the Friday but, sadly, the game against Wanderers was one best forgotten. Zimbabwe Test opener Trevor Gripper made a hundred - aided by some glaring drops - as Wanderers batted on, and then any chance of a positive result was snuffed out when they kept their opening bowlers on for far too long. We needed eight an over at tea, and started the last 20 overs requiring 208 to win. Opening the game up consisted of getting Gripper to seal up one end with his offbreaks. In the end we almost capitulated as two batsmen committed suicide through boredom (Hobbs and Seeckts) and one through insanity (Brown), as we ended on 109 for 8.

On Saturday we went down by six wickets to Surrey Cryptics, despite half-centuries from David Westcott and Sam Watkinson, and an entertaining cameo from Henry Watkinson during which he managed to be dropped four times in five balls. We failed to hold our chances and the Cryptics batted well.

The final match was the Brewers Cup tie against 2001 winners Old Aldenhamians. They were weakened by absences at a wedding and were rolled over inside three hour, bowled out for 52 with Michael Chetwode taking 5 for 3 and Ed Henderson returning the remarkable figures of 8-7-1-2 (and the one was a wide).

As ever the behaviour of those taking part was exemplary. Rick Johnson won the "drink 60 shots of beer in 60 minutes" competition, but a subsequent examination revealed that his glass was two-third's the size of runner-up Henry Watkinson who managed 57 shots. Brown lost the Rawalpindi Roulette in the Curry Inn and suffered the rest of the week, while also showing that he has by far the worst arm in the club. His humiliation was completed on Sunday when he was out-thrown by a lady. Eds Copleston won the Lord Lucan award, strangely preferring the company of his new blonde girlfriend to that of a bunch of unwashed, smelly OCs. Pete Hobbs hobbled around all week as living proof that there is such a thing as a crippled twenty-something, only perking up when under-20 females were in the vicinity. All in all, a fairly typical cricket week.