Texaco twins fail to tarnish memorable win

Hampshire Hogs 280 for 6 (Robinson 70, Henderson 3-72, Hobbs 2-44) lost to OCCC 284 for 8  (Copleston E 70, Hill 56, Johnson E 40, Howard 35) by two wickets
Click here for the full scorecard

We have had some extraordinary games, including two wonderful wins, with the Hogs in the four years they have been hosting us. Something unusual or controversial always seems to happen. On a sunny and occasionally warm August bank holiday weekend, this game lived up to all expectations.

OC’s never have the full complement of 11 cricketers at the allotted start time. It isn’t a great stat. It doesn’t show what a committed and professional outfit we sometimes are but it always adds to the drama and forms part of the story of the day. Charlie Clarence-Smith rang up at 10.55 from Jubilee. He was told in no uncertain terms that he was supposed to be opening the bowling and he ought to get himself hurtling down south pronto. He made an honest mistake. The next paragraph talks about the other two who were nowhere to be seen when the bell rang at 11 o’clock.

Jumbo Jupp and Michael Roper were no doubt bumbling leisurely across the Sussex countryside in Jumbo’s blue polo with one working headlight. One imagines they may have talked a little about the game or about Jumbo’s exciting new living arrangement or about Michael’s questionably tight shorts. Whatever they were chatting about, at some point not too far from the Hogs grounds, one of them, probably Michael suggested that they stop for a cup of coffee. They spotted a Texaco garage and assumed that some brown hot drink would be available. So, they stopped. Perhaps one of them, probably Jumbo, checked the time and calculated how long they could afford to stop for.

Doubtless they enjoyed their cups of coffee and carried on chatting, perhaps about Michael’s continuing bad luck on the dating front. When Jumbo got back behind the wheel they probably both realised they had stopped for longer than they ought given the impending 11 o’clock start. What is beyond doubt, and not denied by either of the culprits, is that they took the wrong road out of Texaco and (unbeknownst to them) pootled out of Hampshire and back into Sussex. One of them must have sensed that they were heading east towards China rather than West towards Hawaii and checked a map. A sheepish phone call from Michael to angry captain Ed Henderson ensued. Michael claimed to be ‘in the area’ and ‘5 to 10 minutes away’. Judging by his arrival 40 minutes later he had lied on both counts.

The silver lining on the underside of this most grey cloud was that the Hogs kindly lent us three fielders. After three balls in which Henderson satisfied himself he could just remember the fundamentals of bowling, he invited one of the Hogs to go into second slip. Next ball and edge was caught by said Hog to much amusement all round.

The good start was short lived when Jamie Richards, opening the bowling instead of the missing Clarence-Smith, pulled a hamstring in the field and was forced out of the game. David Bugge (0-45) found himself in the attack within 10 overs and a new ball in his hand. He bowled a very tight eleven over spell and deserved a wicket.

Jupp and Roper appeared after this drama had taken place. You would have expected a degree of contrition from the pair. It was forthcoming from Jupp but not Roper who was banished to fine leg. Unfortunately that didn’t prevent him chattering away like an excitable monkey for the next 40 overs. It is possible that he said something funny at some point, the law of averages are in his favour on that point, but Henderson (3-72) has enough experience of this particular miscreant to block him out. It seems likely that some of Roper’s commentary would have concentrated on Henderson’s costly no ball on which he bowled the number three who went on to make 50.

280 was actually a generous declaration in the circumstances as it came at 3.10pm. Peter Hobbs had bowled well and taken a good catch and the same can be said for Bugge. We experimented briefly with Eds Copleston and Damien Hill in the attack. Clarence-Smith (arrived 1240 and was in no hurry to get himself changed and onto the ground) grabbed himself a wicked too.

At the half way stage Henderson told his batsmen that if they applied themselves we could chase this score. Quite how Euan Johnson (38) interpreted this instruction to mean try and score through the heavily populated slip and gully region from every ball is not known. Indeed when the Hogs opening bowler somehow bowled a ball down to third man, Johnson sprinted after it, or was it the petrified fielder, with his bat raised. After such a tempestuous start he needed an experienced partner of stable mind at the other end. He had Will Howard.

At 60 for 0 after 6 overs the captain was not complaining. In fact he was beginning to enjoy things. Howard delighted his watching team-mates with a loud shout of ‘buzzers’ when a Hogs fielder shied at the stumps and generally busied himself with the business of the chase, happy to hook any slow long-hops into the cow field. After he departed, Jupp top edged a sweep to deep square and Johnson ran out of steam, the game was back in the balance.

Damien Hill (56) and Edward Copleston (70) then put on a fine 4th wicket hundred partnership and looked like they were taking us home. Copleston drove, harried between the wickets and punished full tosses which Hill focussed on not letting Copleston lap him whilst running a three. Hill timed the ball better than he has in five years.

At 5pm and with a victory looking likely we still had not had the annual moment of controversy. Henderson had noted to Jupp that there was to be an umpire related twist to this tale and sure enough there was. The bowler fired a flat one towards Copleston’s nipple. Copleston flayed and was caught at midwicket. He stood staring at the square leg umpire in that faux-aghast way that only he can. The umpire wasn’t calling a no-ball and the Hogs spectators began to murmer about poor sportsmanship by the batsman for not walking off.

If it wasn’t for the calm, straight bat of Bugge (29*) we would have butchered the run chase. After Hill was out, Clarence-Smith, Roper and Henderson left Bugge stranded and it was the every-youthful looking Hobbs (6*) who stood firm to see us home.

For one of the 55 overs we bowled, we had eleven men on the pitch. One fielder light on a big cricket field with a depleted bowling attack on a good batting wicket is tough yet we stuck to the task, fielded well and managed to create periods of pressure. Chasing 280 to win is a fine effort and, as the sun set over the hill that had earlier seen the Red Arrows and a Vulcan bomber pass over, we were able to reflect on a very satisfying day.  Ed Henderson

Cope steers OCs to Cricketer Cup success

OCCC 243 for 7 (Cope 98, Allen 63, Waters 34) beat Bradfield Waifs 209 for 9 (Williams 104*, Rollings 3-25, Hannah 2-45) by 34 runs 
Click here for match photos

Matt Crump lifts the trophy

Only eight years after becoming the first new side to be welcomed into the Cricketer Cup, we won the trophy in our third final with a 34-run victory over Bradfield Waifs. A third-wicket stand of 130 between Alan Cope (98) and Duncan Allen (63) was the foundation of our 243 for 9, and that was backed by good bowling and typically excellent fielding to secure a win which was all but done and dusted long before the close.

Both sides arrived at an overcast Wimbledon on the back of four home wins. The OCs made two changes to the side which thumped Charterhouse in the semi-finals, Bruno Broughton back in for the veteran Michael Chetwode and Elliott Hannah preferred to James Halton. Rob Jones, who had to undergo surgery on a finger broken in the quarter-final, and Brad Scriven, starting a longer-term comeback, were also sidelined. The athletic Paddy Harman came back as 12th man, relegating Will Howard to a role as his assistant. Bradfield’s problems came from players on Minor County Championship duty, while their skipper, Will Kendall, was struggling to overcome a shoulder injury.

Kendall won the toss and stuck us in on a track which we expected, based on what we had experienced in last year’s final, would be hard to score on, and so it proved. The threat of rain, which would favour the side batting second, must also have been a factor.

We started cautiously as the first over produced four balls that kept low and then one which spat off a length. Jack Scriven, the batsman of the season, fell for 0 in the third over, top edging to slip, and then Allen survived two confident shouts for leg-before in the following over before he had scored.

Alan Cope on his way to 98

Seren Waters, the match-winner in the semi-final, was not quite at his best, not aided by the pitch, but gradually found his touch before he tried to run a ball down to third man but only managed to steer it to the keeper. At 52 for 2 after 12 overs the game was evenly poised.

Shortly after Cope joined Allen the heavens opened and for 25 minutes rain lashed the ground with only tarpaulins protecting the square. But as it eased the sun came out and less than hour was lost.

Cope and Allen then showed their class, pressurising the fielding side with constant and assured running, content to take as many singles as they could as the fielding grew ragged, and taking boundaries when the chances came. At the start a score of around 230 was believed to be par but, for a time, we dared to dream of a total well above 250.

Allen’s dismissal in the 40th over triggered a wobble as we slipped from 182 for 2 to 221 for 7. Michael Burgess (1), sleepless after a night of celebration after Reigate had secured the Surrey title, somehow managed to reach a ball sailing over his head and steer it to midwicket in a manner which would have impressed the neighbouring Centre Court; Matt Crump (1) was left high and dry after a calling mix-up; Tom Crump lofted a high full toss to midwicket for 10; and Will Langmead was bowled first ball.

Duncan Allen lofts a six over midwicket

Cope, until recently lambasted for not delivering on the big occasions, grew in stature as wickets tumbled and kept the scoreboard ticking over and in the latter overs opening up with skill. He had earlier provided the day’s only controversial incident when he stood his ground in the face of a vociferous appeal for a catch behind down the leg; the keeper had earlier spilt a similar chance.

Hannah did well to keep him strike in the death overs, and Cope was only denied a deserved hundred when he scooped the final delivery – which would probably have been a wide – into the leg side where he was caught.

The score of 243 for 7 may have been less than seemed possible but we knew on this kind of track it was very defendable. Bradfield had also handed us 21 wides and three no-balls, as well as around 20 runs with some below-par fielding.

Our new-ball pair of Matt Crump and Will Rollings were something of an unknown quantity, even to us. The previous day Rollings had been banished to the naughty boy step after back-to-back beamers, while Crump had managed 15 wides in five overs. Fortunately, they had got all that out of their system when it mattered.

Matt Crump fails to hold on to a looping return catch

Bradfield’s strength, by their own admission, was their batting, but they started horribly when Charlie Russell – who had made brisk fifties in the previous rounds – uglily hoiked his second ball from Rollings to Matt Crump, and Shelvin Gumbs dismissal soon after was only marginally more excusable. At 15 for 2 we were in the box seat.

Hannah’s introduction into the attack proved crucial as he trapped Hampshire’s Hamza Riazuddin leg-before in his second over, and the third bowling change – Broughton for Crump – proved just as inspired as Will Chaloner, until then solid as a rock, played over a superbly tossed up delivery. It was not quite all golden captaincy – in between those changes Allen saw his first ball disappear for six before pulling a groin in his second over.

In Hannah’s next over Kendall, visibly incapacitated, was unable to get over a shortish ball and Burgess took the catch. At 43 for 5 there seemed no way back for Bradfield, and another change brought the sixth wicket as Scriven bowled Jonathan Gaffney.

Michael Burgess catches Will Kendall off Elliott Hannah

At that point Henry Corp headed to his car to uncork the champagne, others started wondering what time we would be at The Ship and an excitable Howard frolicked round the boundary as only he can. But Curran Gaur (35) and Craig Williams put on 60 for the seventh wicket in what seemed little more than a consolation stand which was ended when Waters pinned Gaur in front of his stumps. Then the fun started.

Williams, with nothing to lose, started hitting out. Hitting almost exclusively on the leg side, he started savaging the slow bowlers, with Waters (1 for 44) taking the most punishment including three sixes over midwicket off four deliveries. Although No.10 Oliver Smithson kept his end up he was unable to match his colleague’s blitzkrieg and the reintroduction of the seamers eased the nerves of the large OC contingent as they proved much harder to get away. Even so, it was only when the required rate headed into double figures they started to relax again.

The one dampener for the OCs came when Tom Crump dived to stop a far-from-powerful drive, getting struck in the mouth as the ball bobbled. He was led away bleeding copiously and later had 15 stiches in his tongue.

Williams reached his hugely entertaining hundred in the last over – only the fifth in a final – by which time Smithson had departed to another bullet-like throw from the deep from Harman and the game was decided.

Matt Crump collected the trophy in glorious late-summer sunshine and then the celebrations started, inevitably continuing at The Ship. It was a match played in the right spirit and where we deserved our win, although Bradfield fought hard throughout and ensured it was never anything other than entertaining.

For such a young side - and with so much talent about to arrive from the current Cranleigh 1st XI over the next few years - this win ought to be the start of a very special period in Cranleigh cricket history.

• We have been drawn away to 2013 winners Old Tonbridgians in the first round of the 2015 competition.

Cope turns the tables on abject OCs

OCCC 149 lost to Blackheath 151 for 5 by five wickets

This was as abject a display as the OC’s have been guilty of in recent years. On a Friday afternoon in the week preceding the Cricketer Cup final then perhaps a relaxed approach could have been expected. There is relaxed and there is sloppy and unfortunately our batting performance was unacceptable. The bowling attack was not too challenging although Graham Webb, playing his first game of the season, showed that he is still a masterful slow left arm operator. Some good catching, notably from Alan Cope, helped Blackheath but frankly the ball should not have been in the air in the first place.

After Matt Crump and Jumbo Jupp perished without Heather having to use much ink, Will Langmead continued the approach he seems to have adopted this season of trying to smash everything. In fairness to him he got 50 whilst batsmen who should have done better failed. Simon Copleston showed some application as one would always expect from him but to be all out for 149 well short of our allotted 40 overs was very poor.

The captain opened up with Luke Chitty and Phil Roper and both looked threatening. Chitty, generating pace and bounce from his unusual action, rapped Cope on the glove and tested him. Phil Roper, a man who was destined to be the new Webb but now doesn’t bowl enough, turned the ball nicely.

Chitty pinned Cope on the foot, on the full in front of the stumps yet it wasn’t given and that proved to be decisive. Crump came on up the hill bustling with bravado and probably desperate to chin his mate Cope. Sadly his two bouncer efforts were hooked effortlessly over the pavilion and the inevitable pitched up ball went down the ground for six more. It was a sobering over for the Cup captain and one which Alan Cope will have enjoyed immensely.

Ben Wilson on debut, Chitty and Roper all took a wicket or two but our fielding effort couldn’t make up for the batting one and we recorded a rather embarrassing loss. Paul Cope’s paella after the game softened the blow.