OCCC fail to make Sarasota final

Reports of the success on or off the field of the OCCC side in Florida are few and far between - perhaps that’s actually a good thing – but we have heard that despite pre-tournament bullishness from the club chairman, the usual Sarasota hospitality appears to have taken its toll and we failed to make the final, finishing with a record of won three and lost two.

Undoubtedly more details will be forthcoming as the remains of the tour party limp home in the coming days.

Anzacs 70 for 1 lost to OCCC 71 for 1
OCCC 54 lost to Houston 55 for 2
Nashville 67 for 2 beat OCCC 27
Salty Dogs (Sarasota) 34 lost to OCCC 36 for 0
Greenies 49 for 3 lost to OCCC 50 for 0

Meaker wins fast bowling scholarship

Stuart Meaker has been named as the first recipient of the Harold Larwood Fast Bowling scholarship to Australia.

Seven players are participating in the England Cricket Board’s Fast Bowling Programme this winter. This group includes Meaker (Surrey) who has been nominated as the first recipient of the Larwood Fast Bowling Scholarship which will be nominated annually and enable a young fast bowler to spend a winter in Australia receiving specialist coaching and playing ‘grade’ cricket.

The scholarship has been created as part of the Fast Bowling programme following discussions between the Board and the surviving members of the Larwood family based in Australia.

ECB Managing Director – England Cricket, Hugh Morris, said: “Harold Larwood is rightly regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and with an Ashes tour underway, we felt this was an appropriate time to honour Harold’s memory and inspire future generations of young pace bowlers to emulate his achievements.

“The scholarship will be managed by our National Lead Fast Bowling Coach Kevin Shine and provide an excellent opportunity for a young fast bowler to extend their cricketing education in Australia each winter. We are very grateful to the Larwood family for their co-operation and support and wish Stuart well when he departs for Australia for a three-month period early next year.”

Watkinson leads another Florida excursion

Henry Watkinson leads arguably the strongest OCCC squad to Florida on November 24 for the seventh time in the club’s history and the first since 2007 in an effort to lift a trophy that has just escaped the club’s grasp on more than one occasion in the past.

The Sarasota International Six-a-Side Thanksgiving tournament has attracted such names as Chiv Chanderpaul, Fayood Bacchus, Jonathan Trott, Mike “RJ” Gatting, Paul Maynard and Steve Watkin in the past and the cricket has been extremely competitive with strong OCCC sides falling at the semi final stages at three previous tournaments.

“We arrive this year with our tail between our legs since last time we took a side to the festival we failed to win a group game,” Watkinson admitted. “Admittedly we had a young side then but we had experience as well and it goes to show that we are playing people who play this format of cricket a lot more than we do and we need to learn quickly as good sides can come unstuck very quickly in Sarasota.”

Watkinson also brushed aside claims that his selections had choked in the later stages of this tournament in the past. “It wasn’t nerves that got the better of us it was the teams unwillingness to say no to large amounts of alcohol plied to it by the very friendly locals as well as the opposition on the Saturday night gala dinner before the semi finals on Saturday morning.”

Watkinson feels buoyed by the fact that Rick Johnson has assumed the John McDermott managerial role of building bridges at the festival. “Mac’s are very broad shoulders but if anyone can fill his shoes then Rick can. I was very sorry Mac has had to stay at home due to his wife Sylvia’s advice. In the past we have got into plenty of trouble here but Mac has always bailed us out.”

Watkinson’s team consists not only of Johnson but of Eds Copleston who will be eager to prove that there is life after captaincy, previous tourists Jonny Gates and Sam Langmead, who will have no doubt benefitted from the experience of their earlier chastening visit. Crowd favourite and talented Will Howard will be extremely useful behind the stumps in a pivotal role as will the OCCC’s most talented newcomers of the last three years Alan Cope and Matt Crump. Globetrotting Steve Bailey, recruited while drunk at the weekend’s OC Society Dinner, makes up the numbers.

Watkinson says he will set foot in Florida with a team that is cognisant of a gruelling three-day campaign in which everyone has to be at the top of their game to prevail but also with more than a little hope that this could be the year.

"This one is for Mac," Watkinson admitted.