Langmead makes hay as Winchester fail to come to the party

Old Cranleighans 241 for 6 (50 overs, W Langmead 104, Janmohamed 74) beat Old Wykehmists 73 (28 overs) by 168 runs
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Will Langmead lofts a six over midwicket
on his way to a maiden OC hundred

How joyful it was to finally get out onto the field of play in this dreary, rain-ruined start to the season. The outfield was verdant green like a snooker table's felt, the pavilion shimmered white like McDermott's new teeth and the OW's, by the end, were as red faced with embarrassment having failed to compete in this comprehensive spanking.

OCs won the toss and batted and thank goodness they did or the players would have been back with their families before lunch. OW's presented some decent opening bowlers and, on pitch offering some rare assistance to bowlers and an outfield as slow as Rick Johnson's metabolism, it wasn't easy going for openers Rob Jones and Morgan Fletcher and we laboured to 32 for 2 from 13. This was where Winchester could have taken control of their own destiny and put us under pressure. Instead, they embarked upon a comedy circus routine of juggling and spills. Will Langmead (104) was the principal beneficiary of this inept display of catching. He was dropped about as many times as there are numbers between one and his final score. It seemed as though every Winchester schoolboy between 1906 and 2012 queued up to drop Langers. There will have been a lot of bruised chests this morning.

 Nevertheless, although Langers felt embarrassed, he shouldn't be. He scored his maiden OC century in genuinely tough conditions and played any number of fluent strokes to take us to a competitive total. He and Abeed Janmohamed (74) combined to put on 140 for the fourth wicket. It would have been good fitness for the Cricketer Cup skipper batting with the young whippet. He wasn't the only one on Jubilee who looked as though they hadn't had a particularly rigorous winter training regime (Chetwode, Johnson, Cross) but he gave a chanceless demonstration of middle-order batting and undoubtedly kept Langmead going through to his ton.

The second innings was an altogether shorter and more dramatic affair. Ed Henderson, suffering from a wedding the night before, was an embarrassment to the new ball. If the new ball is reading this - apologies. Debutant Ollie Cross at the other end bowled very nicely. He chugged up the hill and bowled with decent pace and control finishing with figures of 3 for 7. He showed plenty of potential for becoming an OC stalwart of the future. The rest of bowling Webb (3 for 28), Chetwode (1 for 10), Basset (1 for8) all made hay against a line-up of complete non cricketers. However, you can only play what's in front of you, and this was clinical.  Ed Henderson

Abeed Janmohamed: wider of girth, slower between the wickets, but still a top batsman