Rain stalls OCCC victory charge

Alan Cope discusses the merits of an
MOT with Wiltshire's finest

A disappointing day at Clifton. With the hard work done after the game was reduced to 40 overs, the rain came down in Bristol forcing the cancellation of both the ODI between England and Sri Lanka and the Cricketer Cup second-round tie against Old Cliftonians.

After years of wind ups involving delayed arrivals, receiving a picture of Alan Cope sat in the back of a police car, in an unknown destination 90 minutes before the start of the game was a major worry. His MOT had lapsed and having been followed at 70mph for three miles, he was pulled over. At this point, there was real danger of three members of our team being abandoned at the M4 Services, however some sweet talking (and a fine) later, the lads were back on the road with some good luck wishes from said police officers.

Drama's aside, we won the toss and elected to field, and once again started fantastically. Will Rollings and Khartik Suresh bowled tightly with the first wicket falling to Suresh, leaving Old Cliftonians 13 for 1 in the seventh over. Wickets fell at regular intervals; Bruno Broughton, fresh from his match-winning 90 at Lords in the MCCU final during the week, picking up two in his first over. Resistance came in the form of Tom Smith, who took a liking to our slower bowling, hitting some large sixes on the way to 78. The last 30 of which came in quick time, before he was stumped with five overs remaining of the 40. 

A respectable 189 for 8 was still a long way short of par and after a break for rain, it became clear that the Old Cliftonian skipper also thought this. From this moment on, it never looked as though we would get a result. Finally following commencement, having sat watching some very light drizzle for 20 minutes, we got off to a fantastic start with Matt Crump, and especially Jack Scriven, looking in imperious form. Crump fell, but it made no difference as Stuart Meaker came to the crease.

After 11.1 overs, we were 69 for 1, needing 26 in the next 8.5 overs to be up with the run rate, when rain drove us from the field.  It did not relent and continued long after the game was abandoned.  So it’s try again on Jubilee this Sunday (July 3) at 11:30am.