2's stun Bicester & North Oxford!

I confess I posess a confusing mixture of pessimism and optimism…confusing for me anyway because I am never quite sure if things are on a downward spiral or are looking up! and so it has proved to be over the last 2 weeks.

It was a privilege to stroll the wonderful Machrihanish links last weekend, experiencing the alternative joys of driving 300yds, only to shank the remaining 60yd approach shot. The highs and lows in sport reflect life in general. Anyway, our second X1 (soundly beaten in their first two matches,) won their first game of the season last weekend. The most notable performance was the flexibility and lateral thinking by our skipper who was 3 players short on the Thursday and considering forfeiting the fixture against Long Marston. Fortunately his tenacity paid dividends as LM threw the towel in first…a game of cricketing Russian roulette! Bit of a surprise really as they had spent most of the winter poaching our players.

Buoyed by this victory, we set off for Bicester & North Oxford CC yesterday with a nicely balanced team of a 61-year old, the ubiquitous Paul China, skipper Borch, 2 debutants and six, 13-15 year olds. I was hopeful but not expectant.

With confidence bordering on arrogance, Borch won the toss and batted (by the way have I ever bored you with the reasons why one should always bat first?). Plan seemed to work, albeit slowly, as Stalky and Borch put on 43 for the first wicket in 16 overs. After a middle order collapse it looked like BNOCC would be chasing something around the 75 mark and I was not optimistic. However, then young Ben Powell -Williams was joined at the crease by Alexa Wilson. From 73-6 they cut and slashed and smashed and caressed the ball around the park with confidence, skill and a bit of good fortune. Their running was brilliant. Hello, I thought from the square leg umpire position, we could get 2 batting points. In fact we got 3 and the tail which comprised of the younger element of our team had well and truly wagged….2 notable straight drives from Morgan Atkins

Still not overly optimistic about what the final result would be, (143 was only just respectable in my mind) we tucked into a splendid tea and I have to say this team of young and old is gelling nicely as the banter testified.

Cracking catch by BPW off Ryan's bowling saw the dangerous opener back in the hutch. Two wickets for Morgan Atkins (nippy 13 year old!) pegged BNOCC back as our youngsters covered the outfield like whirling dervishes! A fantastic spell by Dawie Viljoen (on debut) created lock-down and Borch castled their skipper. Vabs weighed in with 4 wickets (on debut). The wickets kept tumbling and as the optimist in me bubbled to the surface, so the unbelievable became reality when the last wicket fell with 2.5 overs left and a win by 21 runs.

I have to say it was one of the most uplifting, exciting and unexpectedly enjoyable matches I have played in for years. Everyone played a part, none more so than the partnership that Ben and Alexa put together, which gave us a thread of hope.

We built this club on youth and continue to do so. For the first time in a long time, I feel optimistic and can see retirement on the horizon!!