Allen shows his future potential

Old Cranleighans 229 for 7 (Allen 103, Roper M 53, Close-Brooks 4-45) beat Old Wykehamists 228 for 8 dec (Walters A 55, Roper P 3-71, Chetwode 2-37)
The antidote to the previous week's torpor with a game which ebbed and flowed and which we eventually won by two wickets with 16 balls to spare.

The star of the day was Duncan Allen, in his final year at Cranleigh. Batting at No. 6, he came with us tottering on 46 for 4 chasing 229 and smacked 109 not out to steer us to victory, moving from fifty to a hundred in 36 deliveries. His hundred came off 86 balls in 81 minutes, the eighth-fastest century in the club's history. He put on exactly 100 with Mike Roper, who made 53 opening the innings, and our tail was strong enough to provide support even when Roper departed.

Allen had earlier struck with the fourth ball of the day, the visitors' captain Ed Craig doubly disappointed to have fallen to a Johnny Gates catch, but a nine-man Wykehamists side batted solidly right through. Chetwode and Phil Roper took on the lion's share of the bowling, tying down the batsmen throughout, and Allen, Matt Crump and Sam Worthy all turned in tidy spells.

As an intended Cricketer Cup warm-up it served little value, with only two of the likely starters on display. Allen, unfortunately, is barred by the competition rules until the third round, and Rob Jones had little time to make his mark as he fell for a three-ball duck.

Dealers Wheelers conquer the peaks

From May 29, Rob Merry, Sam Langmead and eight other friends will be climbing the peaks of Scafell Pike, Snowdon and Pen y Fan. “Not only will we be climbing these mountains but we will also be cycling between them and then back to London, finishing at Big Ben,” reports Rob. “By the time we finish we will have climbed almost 3,000 metres and cycled over 500 miles - all in the space of five days!

“Dealers Wheelers are undertaking this epic challenge in memory of our close friend Tom Wheeler who sadly passed away in 2005 aged 22. This year marks the fifth anniversary of Tom’s death and this Challenge represents an opportunity to get his close friends together in his memory and to raise money for Alive and Kicking, a charity that we are sure Tom would have been proud to be associated with."

The Team
Andrew Houston, Chris Roe, Dave Hobden, Dom Hammond, James Duncan, Matt Ashman, Paul Ramsey, Richard Callender, Rob Merry, and Sam Langmead.

The schedule
Friday 28th May (evening) Drive to Scafell Pike (Lake District)
Saturday 29th May Climb Scafell Pike (978m) and cycle 80 miles
Sunday 30th May Cycle 120 Miles to North Wales
Monday 31st May Climb Snowdon (1085) and cycle 80 miles
Tuesday 1st June Cycle 40 miles to the Brecon Beacons,
Climb Pen Y Fan (886m) and cycle 40 miles
Wednesday 2nd June Cycle 140 miles back to London

You can follow progress on Facebook by clicking here

Or please donate to the fund-raising here

Season opens in stalemate

Old Cranleighans 302 for 7 dec (Rosenfeldt 71, Hume 37, Crump 32, Copleston 32, Ross 30) drew with Kenya Kongonis 205 for 8

This was the inaugural home tie against Kenya Kongonis – the away fixture took place in Nairobi in 2001 when the OCCC toured Kenya. The “Long Rains” had begun early when the two sides met in Nairobi (only two boundaries were hit all day with the wet outfield) and while England offered similar weather, Jubilee looked an absolute picture.

Rick Johnson was meant to match manage this fixture but as usual decided he would prefer to watch (and eat) all day, and so drafted Eds Copleston in to skipper. We won the toss and elected to bat first. Tristan Rosenfeldt and Jonny Gates, both in “the form of their lives” took some time to get the pace of the track, but then unleashed some excellent drives before Gates fell for a promising 35. Tristan eventually got caught for 71, having been dropped three times by Cranleigh Prep School headmaster Mike Wilson – rumours of bribery were quickly denied.

Roo Hume, who was returning from a sabbatical of mind-boggling lunacy (rowing the Atlantic and a plethora of other idiotic challenges) along with Matt Crump, Copleston and Nathan Ross contributed solid 30s in the middle order. Rick Johnson refused to let Eds declare when we had reached 260 off 44overs and instead batted on to 302 for 7 declared off 48overs.


The Kongonis started brightly with Duncan Allen and Abeed Janmohammed taking them to 55 without loss at tea. Roo Hume and Henry Watkinson, who skippered the game in 2001, opened the bowling. The highlight before tea was Abeed hooking a bouncer from Henry for 6. Henry isn’t as quick as he used to be when he was as old as his girlfriend is now (19).

Crump replaced Watkinson after tea and Peter Rollings came up the hill. Abeed ran Duncan Allen out straight after tea and was then adjudged LBW (given out box before wicket) and the asking rate began to rise sharply.

Davis(50) was the mainstay of the Kongonis innings but as soon as the openers went it appeared the win was out of reach. Wickets fell regularly with Henderson bowling Dave Wilson and Rollings trapping Prodger LBW. With the Kongonis needing 14 an over, Copleston brought himself on and had Rogan stumped trying to hit him into Guildford. David Waters then shut up shop and refused to go for the win – showing extreme patience in playing out flighted a maiden from Eds. Watkinson and Crump were brought back but couldn’t break the resistance as Kongonis hung on for a draw.

A fun day and with a better declaration the game could have been close, Johnson not having played much cricket since he was at school cannot be blamed for not understanding the game. Thank you to Hannah for scoring and Lydia’s first lunch for the OCCC was superb – lets hope we see them down on Jubilee for many years! So the season starts with a tame draw but a game played in excellent spirit and this is definitely one to make an annual fixture (Id be keen to play in Nairobi next year!). Eds Copleston

OCCC AGM on May 13

A reminder that the OCCC AGM will be held at Thames Ditton next Thursday, May 13 at 7.30pm. It would be helpful if those who plan to attend could let Ed Henderson know and he will circulate an agenda to those who are coming next week.

If anyone wishes to put themselves up for any committee position then please let Ed know.

Career-best figures for Meaker

Stuart Meaker celebrated his recall to the Surrey first team by taking career-best figures of 5 for 48 against Gloucestershire at The Oval on the third day of the County Championship Division Two match. Remarkably, it was the first five-for by a Surrey seamer at The Oval for four years. Stuart got his chance because fiery South African Andre Nel had been slapped with a two-match ban after another tantrum.

In the Daily Telegraph, Derek Pringle wrote: Blond and muscle bound, Meaker’s skiddy pace has certainly given his team a sniff of victory. His tactics, in only his 10th first-class appearance, were different, but then he is an eager 21 year-old. With the physique and strut of a scrum-half, he banged the ball in short at a fair lick and then, when he felt he had got the batsmen playing back, he fired it into the blockhole. Two lbws and two edged catches were testament to its success and, perhaps, for youthful zest over old saws.

In two recent matches for the 2nd XI Stuart excelled with both bat and ball. Against Middlesex at Radlett he took match figures of 12 for 156, including 7 for 99 in the second innings; a week later he hammered an unbeaten 150 off 199 balls against Somerset.

His return against Gloucestershire makes him only the second OC to take a first-class five-for. In 1927 Maurice McCanlis, who also played rugby for England, took 5 for 70 playing for Oxford University against Leicestershire and in the next match 5 for 45 against Harlequins. The first of his three five-fors came against Cambridge University in the 1926 Varsity match when he took 5 for 59.

Tony Loveland

It is with great sadness we have to announce Tony Loveland died on May 3.