A mixed bag

Ed Henderson looks back on the 2010 OC cricket week

Old Cranleighans 217-6 (Ashton 94*) beat Eton Ramblers 213-7 by three wickets
An earlier-than-usual 10.30am start at the behest of the Etonians because they wanted to be home in time for the World Cup final was rather undermined when only two of the opposition were present at the scheduled beginning, but the game was underway before 11am. A mature 94* from Rich Ashton saw us knock off the Ramblers 214 in the last of the 40 overs. We had put in one of the tidiest OC fielding performances for some time with tight bowling from Ed Henderson, Paddy Harman, Mike Chetwode and Nigel Radbourne interspersed with regular wickets. We kept up with the run rate but no one bedded in to support Ashton despite contributions from Johnny Gates and Simon Copleston and a steady supply of wides.

Old Cranleighans beat Old Millfieldians by three wickets
A talented OC team of both youth and experience played in the first match between the two sides, with this fixture surprisingly being Old Millfieldian’s first venture into the realm of old boy’s cricket. Led by Jonny Gates, we were put into bat first on a flat Jubilee pitch and got off to a poor start, losing early wickets to a decent up front OMs seam attack. Rich Ashton battled for a period taking the home side to 139 for 8. Gatesy provided a gutsy lower order recovery with the help of much under rated Mike Roper but eventually ran out of batting partners just short of a much deserved fifty. With a more defendable total set, we were able to attack from the off in the field, with ‘veteran’ Henry Watkinson taking the wicket of a dangerous looking West Countryman with late swing and deceptive pace. It appeared that Millfield were also keen to get off to the Merry’s BBQ as they failed to provide any sort of spirited fight against tight bowling from Chetwode, Matt Crump and Graeme Brown. We finished the victors with runs and overs to spare, surely putting pain to the match-fixing allegations faced by Chris Preece early in the week!


Old Cranleighans 136 (Ashton 44, Crump T 36) lost to Old Georgians 140 (Crump M 5-34, Waters D 4-43 by four runs
On paper, a thrilling low-scoring match. In reality, a disappointing display by the club as we turned up with eight men despite some lengthy ringing round after a string of high-profile drop-outs the previous day. Several of the eight that did make it were noticeably the worse for attending the Merry BBQ and subsequent night in Guildford. That we kept OGs to such a low score was thanks almost entirely to a hungover Matt Crump (5-34) and a marathon 21-over spell from David Waters (4 for 43). With Crump comatose in the changing room, his team-mates offered little fight as we lost five quick wickets, but Ashton and Tom crump clawed us to within sight of an unlikely win.

Old Cranleighans 298 for 6 beat Grasshoppers 265 by 33 runs
Report to follow

Old Cranleighans v Charterhouse Friars
A disappointing day which was called off purely because the covers had not been put on leaving the pitch exposed to heavy overnight rain.

Old Cranleighans v Old Tonbridgians
Report to follow

Old Cranleighansv Old Douai
For the second year running our opponents failed to raise a side.

Old Cranleighans 295 for 6 (Copleston S 134, Wilson 61, Hill 54) drew with Buccaneers 275 for 8
Another high-scoring game is testament to the wicket and fast outfield on Jubilee. Simon Copleston (134*) and Dave Wilson (61) got us off to a fast start with Wilson hitting powerfully against some average bowling. Copleston started slowly and had only reached 54 by lunch but he knew that his time to cash in was to come and, supported by Damien Hill (54) he pushed on after lunch allowing captain Henderson to declare at 3.30. Copleston, who plays rarely now he is based in Dubai, completed a remarkable week by completing his sixth OC hundred, tying him with Nigel Paul who also made that number for the club. The Buccaneers were in the game to the extent Henderson wanted them to be in it, but dropped catches meant bowling them out was hard. Tom Basset broke the opening stand on the stroke of tea for his first OC wicket. After tea, recent leaver, Andrew Goudie bowled a very long and impressive spell of slow left arm bowling they earned him four deserved wickets. Chetwode produced a fine spell at the other end as the match entered the last 20 overs and wickets began to fall more regularly. However, the dropped catches meant that we were two wickets light of what would have been a fine win.