All-too predictable Gates steers us to victory

Old Cranleighans 162 for 4 (32 overs, Gates 61, Howard 54) beat  Esher 160-9 (40 overs, Clarence-Smith 3-32) by six wickets

Ed Henderson takes the first wicket of the year

A glorious day heralded the start of the OC season and a comfortable win was notched up to get things started.

Esher won the toss and batted on a beautifully green-tinged strip. The outfield was soft underfoot meaning that the ball stayed in good shape throughout and allowed the OC bowlers to experiment with concepts such as swing and seam movement. The only time the ball took a bit of a beating was when Henry Watkinson was mowed into the road from a slow, filthy long-hop.

Esher never really got any sort of momentum going. One of Cranleigh CC's overseas player for the season, Seb Conway, opened the bowling and constantly threatened with some good paced outswing. Only really in the third-wicket stand did Esher have two proper batsmen who could have gone on to post a challenging score. Fortunately Charlie Clarence-Smith held onto a very sharp chance at midwicket off Jay Harman to break that stand. Clarence-Smith, who probably hadn't turned over his arm for eight months, bowled nicely and generated some pace and bounce from a timid run up. At one point he was on a hat-trick but the pressure got to him and his key delivery was wide and tame.

You can always guarantee certain events in an OC match. One is that Jonny Gates will be the object of derision and mirth and the other is that Jonny Gates will get in the captain's ear about having a bowl, be given a bowl and be taken off shortly thereafter. The poor lad took a couple of bruises in the field and didn't bowl too badly but he needs to listen to his captain who has, for the seventh season in a row, declared a vote of confidence in Gates as an opening batsman. For once, this was fulfilled.

Will Howard was dropped four times before he reached 20 opening the batting but, in the end, recorded 54 which set us up for the result. Gates at the other end went along at a lesser pace but played some glorious straight shots. He ended up with 61 and was involved in a curious incident where he played the ball down by his feet, promptly picked it up and handed it to the bowler without realising that Howard was half way down considering a single. The bowler shied and missed. Howard glared. Gates grinned sheepishly.

Cope, Hill and Spreadsheet Merry all got to the crease and faced a few deliveries which is about as much as needs to be said.

Special thanks to Esher who produced a very enjoyable BBQ tea between innings.

Ed Henderson

The fielders had to go far when Henry Watkinson was bowling