Merry on song to sink Horsley

OCCC 268 for 6 (39.3 overs – Merry 88, Jupp 46, Gates 43, Shapland 28, Hammond 22, Seipp 3 for 45) beat East Horsley 156 (Brown 56, Drake 45, Hill 3 for 2, Langmead 3 for 34, Treadwell 2 for 50, Craven 1 for 25, Watkinson 1 for 34) by 112 runs

After a crushing victory the day before, a majority of the Follies Farm team carried on their tour up the A3 to Horsley met by another gloriously sunny day and a track that looked more mid-summery than late-April.

The captain won the toss and with three people at the ground on time, decided to bat on what looked a good track. Sam Langmead and Jonny Gates strode purposefully to the crease, safe in the knowledge that a pre-season in India would stand them in good stead. This certainly looked to be the case when Langmead slapped his first ball into the huge extra-cover boundary and the duo ran four, before he then flicked his next ball over square leg for six - the start we all wanted. This optimism was premature when Gates dropped one into the midwicket region and called Langmead through for a risky single which resulted in a direct hit and Langmead dragging himself back to the pavilion with a long, hard (fully deserved) stare at Gates.

Harry Jupp came in at No. 3, fresh from a duck the previous day, but he got this monkey off his back with some glorious driving, being particularly ruthless off his legs, hooking one which flew like a bullet right into the pavilion roof. This was all after Gates had spent the two balls after running out Langmead desperately trying to run out his old school 1st XI opening partner, his calling leaving a lot to be desired.

These two together started to look the part, though, picking up from where they left off at school in 2003. Graeme Brown, playing for Horsley, came in for some severe punishment, particularly from Jupp and finished with 0 for 50 from six painful overs. Gates was also looking a real class act, particularly through the off side - hopefully this is going to be the year he starts to convert his starts into really big scores. Both were keeping the score ticking over nicely before perishing in quick succession, Gates to a rising delivery caught behind and Jupp to a somewhat dubious LBW decision - whatever happened to favourable early season umpiring Curly Craven???

This brought Rob Merry and his lump of an Indian bat to the crease. £100 (petty cash to Rob!) invested in Mumbai looked to be a very poor purchase until he drew a silence from the crowd by getting off the mark for the season with a cover drive that was over the boundary before the bowler has even finished his follow through - it was a sign of things to come. Supporting Rob at the other end was Dom Hammond, wicket-keeper/batsman, who played some delicate and precise sweeps and paddles as well as some rasping square drives before gloving behind.

Mark Shapland, self proclaimed man of leisure (while waiting to bat Mark was asked “When you go abroad what do you put as your occupation Mark?” to which he responded “Hero…”) but never to score the runs his correct technique deserves, made a quickfire 28, putting every inch of effort he had into hitting the ball off the square but possessing an ability to time the ball beautifully and hitting the gap, a summer of runs beckons for Mr Shapland. He entered the closing overs still occupying the crease with Merry, before he was stumped running down the wicket in an attempt to increase the run rate. Watkinson, batting far too low at No. 7, came out and started to find the middle of the bat after facing only two balls in India, a couple of well hit boundaries are sure to add to his confidence and reaffirm his position as a genuine allrounder, particularly with high standard Cricketer Cup games this season.

While all this was going on, Merry was continuing to show no respect to any form of bowling, hitting the ball to all corners of the park, with a wagon wheel of excitement the World Cup has been crying out for. He reached his 50 in only 28 balls (Rikki Clarke making 82 in the same amount for Surrey that same day, come on Rob, pick it up!) and marching towards the elusive three figures. He looked well set, and the only chance he gave up was when he lofted one to deep mid wicket and the fielder was unable to pluck the ball out the air. If it was even possible, he upped the tempo and many watching were glad they were not having to field against a man in that form. The end of his innings however was far from glorious, trying a cross between Mal Loye’s sweep against the quicker stuff and KP’s ‘flamingo’, Merry got himself in all sorts of a tangle and ended up being clean bowled, much to his annoyance, and only 12 short of what would have been a well-deserved and highly-memorable maiden OC hundred.

It was at this moment that Watkinson decided enough was enough and declared the innings. We went for a fully deserved tea, and Merry pretended he didn’t care he had just had a complete moment of madness within touching distance of a hundred (Only the best make it through the nervous 80’s and 90’s at the first attempt Rob!). After a lunch spent with ham, cucumber and egg sandwiches whilst watching tennis (who could have guessed we were in Surrey!) the team went out on to the field charged up and ready to take the same aggressive bowling and fielding performance seen the previous day. The presence of the chairman proving an inspiration to the youngsters proudly wearing the OC shirt.

Brown came out and took guard opening the Horsley innings and was faced with a barrage of sledging, digs and aggressive bowling. He took his time to find his feet, surviving some close LBW shouts before upping the ante with a strut down the crease and a well timed punch over mid on for 6, a quality shot met with glares and a next ball bouncer from the skipper. Watkinson opened the bowling again, successfully, and in tandem with Alex Craven at the other end, they picked up two early wickets between them through consistent and accurate bowling with an old ball doing absolutely nothing off the pitch or through the air.

Brown kept the score ticking over with some gorgeous straight batted cricket shots and Horsley were up with the asking rate of only six or seven an over, highly gettable on that wicket with the quick outfield. It was the loss of Brown that hurt Horsley, padding up to a Langmead delivery one too many times and being given out leg-before, a fantastic knock of 56 showing that he certainly can bat when being sledged and abused, Opponents take note, Brown is the OC Mike Atherton, not worth sledging him, its not going to work!

Drake for Horsley, the current RGS 1st XI captain, carried on the fight, keeping the asking rate down to around a run a ball, but wickets started to fall around him. Langmead bowled a superb spell of consistent, probing bowling and fully deserved his figures of 3 for 34 and Tim Treadwell, our Old-Wellingtonian ringer for the day, sent down some well thought out off-spinners and took two crucial wickets, including that of Drake. Jupp helped finish off the innings with two well-taken and well-judged catches in the outfield having been banished from the slips, these catches putting a smile back on his face having skulked around the outfield like a stroppy teenager! Horsley had the wind taken out of their sails and the final thee wickets were taken by the main man himself, Damien Hill, including two in two balls which leaves him on a hat-trick for the Esher game this coming Sunday.

All in all, a top early season performance, punishing with the bat, probing with the ball and energetic in the field. Watkinson led the way with two direct hits, narrowly missing out on run-outs, although it wasn’t as good for his Headstart colleague Gates, who dropped a chance for the second day in a row. The team left the field in high spirits with all creating ways of dodging match fees, the worst of which being Langmead who tried to talk his way out of the payment despite having a graduate job and driving a Porsche … a definite fine!
Tristan Rosenfeldt

Spots prove no match

Old Spots 89 (Read 2-8, Chetwode 2-16 Houston I 2-19) lost to Old Cranleighans 92 for 2 (Hill 40*, Rosenfeldt 28*) by eight wickets

An excellent opening spell from Nick Read and Henry Watkinson set the tone in a game that we were always in control of. Read used the sloping pitch to his advantage to bowl two of the top order. Watkinson took objection at being dispatched to the boundary and bowled a good bouncer in response that the batsman fended to Rob Merry behind the stumps.

The fielding was mixed. The skipper led the way doing his best impression of David Seaman, by tipping a very takeable catch wide off an imaginary post. He made amends later in the game, but only after juggling twice.

Mike Chetwode was dependable as ever but his slower ball proved interesting. Richard Seeckts (playing for Old Spots) tucked into Steve Bailey but Kitbag had the last laugh. Unfortunately, this was at the expense of Chetwode who managed to send his index finger through the back of his knuckle taking a good catch in the deep – we wish him all the best for a speedy recovery.

Ian Houston also used the slope well and managed to get a considerable amount of genuine turn. His eight over spell brought two wickets, but on another day might have earned him many more. Bailey bagged his second wicket, a stumping, by bowling a flighted Coppleston-esque invitation which the batsmen just couldn’t resist. Johnny Gates, having already shelled a catch in the deep, ran away from the next one, claiming he was just trying to extend his bowling spell. He wrapped up the innings by bowling a bemused-looking teenager - the ball pitching outside off stump and jagging up the hill eventually hitting the top of leg.

Eighty-nine was never going to be enough, on what was essentially a good track, but in true OC style we tried to make it interesting. First Will Bond perished and then Harry Jupp went back to a good-length ball. Damien Hill batted well; the highlight being a hook that would surely have gone for six had Damien not swapped his tried-and-tested Newbury Uzi for a horrible sounding new plank. Tristan Rosenfeldt, sporting an OC blazer-style cap, picked up from his successes of last season putting away the bad balls with style.

The early finish enabled us to make the most of the sun and excellent Old Spots hospitality. Henry, who has resorted to bribing Millie with 7-Up for her attention, was caught in the act by a visibly shocked and disappointed Melissa Johnson. Rick Johnson, who spent most of the afternoon harassing people over the OC ball, was kind enough to invite the team back for a BBQ - a fitting end to a good start to the season.
Rob Merry

Belly dancers, champagne and a spurned godfather

Tristan Rosenfeldt, the self-proclaimed captain elect, reports on the first reunion of the India Tour. For full photo coverage, click here

Imodium-clad and blazer-wearing India tourists congregated at Tom and Osha’s house for the first reunion on Saturday. A large majority of the tour party came along and were greeted by a bright and beautiful English spring evening. Nibbles and drinks got the night off to a perfect start, Millie briefly joining us and promptly asking for ‘Eddie’ while Henry’s jaw dropped in the background.

The hosts then pulled a masterstroke by introducing miniature tomato soups for the group, memories of our friend on the Chandigarh train came flooding back. Fines duly followed and were fairly tame in all honesty, although Gatesy fully deserved his fine for calling Anna ‘Osha’ and Eds started to rack up a huge amount due to his lack of alcohol consumption the day prior to the marathon, ‘we want cramp’ being chanted by the many that witnessed Eds’ collapse in Mumbai (Tour ‘Legends’ – remember that? Oh no, of course not!) .

The real entertainment then began – Jole Johnson-lookalike bringing a bit of India to London, with a course in belly dancing. Particularly keen on learning the moves were Mark Cope, Waffer and of course in a female presence, man of the tour, Mike Payne. England’s thrilling climax to their game against the West Indies was watched, (Rumours that Nathan Ross was taking notes on how to finish a game properly are yet to be confirmed) while Tom went all Jamie Oliver on us and cooked some of the best steaks in South West London.

The tour party moved on to the Opal club, a 20 second walk or a £4 taxi journey if you take the skipper’s directions. The blazers were out in full force, as well as Gatesy’s credit card, it was like a night out with George Best 40 years ago, champagne was flowing (Anna in particular loving the ‘Bling Bling/Puff Daddy’ style of ‘why use a glass when you can drink out the bottle’), behaviour was suitably obnoxious and Henry eyeing up every female, regardless of age or beauty in the club. The party went on late into the night, most crawling out the club around the 4am mark, Rick Johnson stumbling around Gloucester Road hunting for kebab. In Damien’s case, the party went on until 8pm on the Sunday, plonking himself on Tom and Osha’s sofa like the India bug Martin’s stomach just can’t quite get rid of.

Oldies head to Taunton

In true 1950s team announcement style, John McDermott has written that the following 12 will represent the Old Cranleighan Cricket Club on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at the County Ground Taunton at the 10th Annual Reunion with the Old Blundellians.

Brian E M Cole, John W R Cooke, Allen T Dean, Robin W Elsdon-Dew, John Inglis, John L K Jessup, John M Longhurst, Anthony C Loveland, Derek J Lyons, John W McDermott, Colin D White, Andrew Wright.

School return from Kenya tour

In the first two weeks of the Easter holidays, 15 Cranleighans (Under-16 and Under-17s) accompanied by Peter Kemp, Stuart Welch and Graham Cooper set off for a cricket tour to Kenya.

Click here for a brief report on the Cranleigh School website.

Fixtures released for packed 2007 season

The fixtures for the 2007 season have been unveiled and it is one of our busiest summers on record. Even if we fail to progress beyond the first round of the two cup competitions, we face no fewer than 22 matches.

The highlight will be our Cricketer Cup debut against Harrow Wanderers on Jubilee on June 10. We are the first new side to admitted to the cup since it started in 1967 and that honour reflects not only on the club but on the high regard with which Cranleigh School cricket is now regarded. We have also re-entered the Cricket World Trophy. We first took part in 1990, in which year we reached the semi-finals, our best finish to date. With the demise of the Brewers Cup, several of our old foes have entered as well. How we long to renew our acquaintance with David Derbyshire’s lads from Denstone.

The cricket week, which runs from July 8 to 15, will be marked by some special events as it is the 50th since Nigel Paul grabbed the club by the scruff of the neck and relaunched it in 1958.

We welcome some new opposition. King’s Canterbury feature in our week for the first time, and coincidently we meet them in the first round of the Cricket World Trophy two months earlier. The other new fixture comes in September when we meet Elstead, who created a rather unwelcome record in 2006 when they lost their npower Village Knockout match against Blewbury and Upton by 376 runs after being bowled out for 21.

Shelley and Heard enter Hall of Fame

Peter Shelley and Dick Heard have been admitted to the OCCC Hall of Fame. They are the sixth and seventh OCs to be admitted.

Peter Shelley led the side between 1975 and 1981, and was responsible for rebuilding it into a vibrant club, recruiting many of the players who made it so successful under his successor, David Bugge. Always cheerful and extremely popular with both OCs and opponents, Peter always tried to ensure the game was played in the right spirit, leading by example with hardly ever a cross word.

He was also one of the finest wicketkeepers to be produced by the school, and was possibly the last in a long line of specialist keepers. He was probably at his best standing up to medium pacers – and art not seen often these days – and such was his anticipation and footwork that he rarely had cause to fling himself around to take balls. His batting was idiosyncratic – he was a genuine No. 11 even though he occasionally treated himself to a spot higher up the order – and his running between wickets a sight to behold.

Peter’s family's OCCC representation probably goes back further than any other. His grandfather played for the club at the turn of the century, and his father and uncle both turned out in the 1930s.


Dick Heard played in the same side as Peter’s father, and was one of the most natural sportsmen turned out by Cranleigh in the 1920s. He played rugby for the OCRFC in the opening match at TD, but it was at cricket he really excelled.

He was in the Cranleigh side which played at The Oval in 1928, and later that summer played for Surrey Young Cricketers. His leaving Cranleigh coincided with the Depression and in 1929 and 1930 he played cricket almost non-stop. In 1929 he scored 3000 runs in the season, including a hundred in 29 minutes for Wanderers at Leatherhead and 88 in 24 minutes at Gravesend. His bowling was also in demand – in 1931 he took eight wickets in an innings twice. He started playing for the OCCC in 1928, being the leading scorer between 1929 and 1935 and scoring 505 runs in 1931, a record which stood for over fifty years. He captained the side in 1935, but work commitments meant that he did not play after the war.

He continued to live in Thames Ditton until his death in 2002 at the age of 92.

Ten years since our tour debut

On April 10 it will be ten years since the club played our first match on tour. After a week of drinking and a couple of enforced and half-hearted fielding sessions, we arrived at the Antigua Recreation Ground, which two days earlier had been hosting the Test between West Indies and India, to face the island’s effective Under-19 side. Antigua’s not a big place, and word had got round the island about how unprepared we were. Even we began to believe the hype. Click here to find out what happened …

AGM set for April 23

The AGM of the club will take place on Monday, April 23 at the OC Club, Thames Ditton, starting at 7.30pm.