Off to a winning start

And so to the first game – 35 overs a side - against the British High Commission at the Jamia Millia Islamia ground, a 10-minute coach drive from the hotel. Early morning mist (we were assured it wasn’t pollution) took the edge off the temperature and, combined with a fairly heavy dew, the conditions were more like September in England.

Henry Watkinson lost the toss and we were stuck on a pitch which was predicted to be slow and low but Alan Cope and Johnny Gates had few problems against the new ball. Gates looked in good nick while Cope showed why he is so highly rated, the pair adding 86 in 14 overs before Gates was bowled for 22. Cope drove and swept with class, and two punched straight drives off the back foot even had the most cynical OCs cooing in admiration.

Simon Copleston, who had flown in for the day from Dubai, worked the ball around well to give Cope the strike, the pair putting on 45 in 9.1 overs. He was bowled for 20 (39 balls), and Cope followed soon after, caught off one his first false shots for 76 (71 balls), the highest score by an OC abroad. The tempo was maintained, however, as Nathan Ross scurried his way to an unbeaten 55 (41 balls), mixing excellent placement with good running, Damon Hill made a brief 10 off six balls and Tristan Rosenfeldt 17 off 14. Our final score of 221 for 5 looked slightly above par.

The locals showed a keen interest, although they were bemused when told that we were not in fact England and, what's more, contained not a single Test player. Hobbs took to telling them he had played international cricket.

The first over from Watkinson was eventful – he started with two no-balls, threw in a wide for good measure and skulked off to third man where he assumed the familiar teapot pose for the next few minutes. Fortunately, Ed Henderson was at his best, reeling off his seven overs to take 1 for 20, and once Watkinson located the cut strip the High Commission slipped slowly behind the asking rate. Tom Hufton struck twice early on to reduce the home side to 82 for 3 at the halfway mark, but then came the crucial partnership and some high drama.

Surrender, the opener, and Parshant looked to be the class acts of the High Commission side and they started taking the attack to the bowlers and, briefly, we wobbled, Sam Langmead came in for some heavy punishment but he stuck to his task well, and Mills spilt a boundary catch to add to growing frustration.

Surrender, who was past fifty, was then well caught by Ross off Hufton but seemed reluctant to go, claiming the there were only three fielders inside the 30-yard circle and not the required four. The umpires could not decide, and so he made his way off, clearly unhappy. By the time he reached the pavilion, a few players voiced opinions that he should be recalled as it emerged one of our fielders was indeed outside the circle. Watkinson stood firm. He then engaged in a spirited conversation with Rick Johnson and as with all such discussions, it was the authority and command of the captain which was never in doubt. Watkinson was ovveruled and Surrender recalled.

He only added a handful more runs before he was dismissed by Cope for 79 – Cope generated some decent pace on a dead track - and it was then down to Parshant and the tail with the rate heading towards double figures. He found little support, and Watkinson added some polish to his figures with three wickets in five balls to polish off the innings, leaving Parshant stranded on 63.

OCCC 221 for 5 (Cope 76, Ross 55*, Gates 22, Copleston 20, Rosenfeldt 17) beat British High Commission 203 (Surrender 79, Parshant 63*, Watkinson 3-34, Cope 2-38, Hufton 2-45) by 18 runs

The evening started with the much-anticipated Mishra Challenge – Rick had bet that nobody could eat Rs250 (about £3) worth of food at a local vegetarian restaurant about as removed from the hotel cuisine as could be imagined. Damon and Ed Henderson took him and neither really threatened to eat all that was put in front of them, but both appeared likely to be quite ill. The bill for 20 of us came to a little over £2 a head.

We then returned to Rick’s Bar at the hotel where what started as a mature and responsible evening was spoilt when Henry bought some flaming sambuca, setting light to the club secretary’s hand in the process. A tit-for-tat war, which ended with what amounted to neat Tabasco shots being exchanged, followed, with Gatesy being the only major casualty. A floating room party then ensued, which involved us moving on each time security found us, from which the remnants crawled to bed at 8am.

Dick of the Day Henry Watkinson. A close contest. Eds looked in line to keep the title after deciding to relax by the pool rather than watch his colleagues – he was instead hit with seven shots of tequila, one for each hour of play he missed. Millsy put in a good challenge, turning up on cricket tour without whites, but in the end Henry won through for stirring controversy and spilling a return catch (“It went up miles and was really swirling”). Right.