2018 Season Review

PRESIDENTIAL REFLECTIONS

2018 was another successful and enjoyable year for SOA cricket.  Building on the strong year of growth from Paddy, we looked to expand and progress by developing closer relationships with the OCB including an Oxfordshire fixture as well as welcoming female playing members to our games.

Whilst the Oxfordshire fixture was a casualty of probably the only rain of the summer, we did welcome our first female playing members on the field for the SOA including the Oxfordshire Woman’s captain Sam Moore, county keeper Ellie Ingram and Rachael Potter.  Indeed, Rachael’s first game was against St Edwards where Rachael was up against an England U19 Test duo (Ben Charlesworth and Harrison Ward), then later in the year opening the bowling for SOA against The England LD XI at Standlake.

I hope that we continue to creating an even more diverse and open membership base that we will all benefit from.  I urge all match managers to consider this in how they raise their sides.

The Western Tour is a highlight of the SOA season.  We had strong tour party for both weeks, often putting out young and competitive sides and were able to offer more bursaries to support the tour than previous years.  A mention must go to Alexander Basford who was able to join both weeks of tour as well as playing a large number of games throughout the year (and scoring a few centuries).  Whilst this is a testament to Alex’s commitment to the SOA, it also speaks to a wider trend for the SOA who are able to attract all ages to the style of cricket (and friendship) that we play and enjoy.

I wish Tom all the best for his year as President.  He will be supported by a talented and hard working Executive Committee who need to be thanked and applauded for their work.  It is important for all members to offer their thanks to the team when they see them throughout the season.

 Once again, thank you SOA for my season as President.  It was an honour to help the club that has given me so much since I first started playing and touring.  See you in the season.

GREG PEARSON  (SOA PRESIDENT 2018) 

SEASON 2018

The fixtures for 2018 bear virtually no resemblance to those recorded in the first Annual Report - only Pangbourne (‘Nautical College’) and Aston Rowant (against Major the Hon. E. Cadogan’s XI). With 58 fixtures on the card SOA players were offered a generous selection of matches, to suit all tastes and abilities: whole days with luxurious lunches; afternoon fixtures with tempting teas; 40-over games for those who like them; and T20s for the busier member. With spectacularly fine summer weather, there was little not to wish for. 

The results for the season could hardly have been better balanced: 

WON: 17. LOST: 17. DRAWN: 2. ABANDONED: 1. CANCELLED 12.

Cancelled: 12? How could this have been? There must have been the odd wet day during the summer, but it is hard to remember even one after early May. Do we have too many fixtures? Unattractive fixtures? Negligent match managers? Unreliable opposition? Or World Cup (football) on the telly?

This apart, there was plenty of cricket to enjoy. As one would expect, hard pitches and fast outfields often produced a glut of runs - SOA passed 200 in 26 matches, and about half of these were 250+. Against the Gentlemen of Worcestershire SOA chased 337 to win by four wickets, and against the Gloucestershire Gipsies five wickets fell in the match when 535 runs were scored. As one would expect it was a batsmen’s summer, and the sort of summer when bowlers do all that they can to evade the captain’s eye, and are even affected with temporary deafness.

High scores, as we all know, do not necessarily indicate good or enjoyable cricket, but in 2018 they did. There were four matches where one side was nine wickets down at stumps to produce the sort of exciting conclusion which is ruled out in limited-overs cricket (‘boring draws’ say the proponents.) There were a couple of further games in which several results were still possible in the final over.

There were eight centuries scored by SOA players: Russell 148* v Worcestershire Gents, Alex Ling 123* v Gaieties, Alexander Basford 126 v I Zingari and 108 against the Gloucestershire Gipsies, with Cross 103 in the same innings, as well as 114 v Shobrooke Park on tour, Thompson 102* v Wayfarers, and Higgs 100 v Nomads. Two bowling analyses stand out: Bishop 7.3-2-16-6 v Hampshire Hogs, and Swayne 8.4-0-56-6 v Stow Templars.

When I first played for my college against SOA in 1963 I was amazed: I had never seen so many old men playing cricket! (Several must have been well into their fifties.) We felt guilty about batting on and declaring at 286, but we could have saved our shame: SOA lost only two wickets in passing our total, and one them was a run-out. There is a tradition of genuine longevity in the Club; a fine photo in 75 Years of the SOA is entitled ‘The Octogenarians’, and in several games in recent years managers have reported an age-range of around sixty. 2018 saw young, and even very young players making their mark. There were several pairs of brothers: Hodder-Williams, Collins, and Lings; sons of members: Wildman and Basford; Max Sutton, opening the batting with his father, and Ed Owens, who would qualify for an SOA loyalty card to earn a free match. Will Woodley was mentioned as a hard-hitting fifteen year old unleashed at Pangbourne. And who was the J. Lunn playing at Tiverton? Among the young players there was Rachael Potter, whose historic appearance has been welcomed by Greg Pearson. If they follow SOA traditions all these young players have a good fifty years cricket ahead of them.

Between the newly-fledged and ‘non-benders’ there is, of course, a much larger group of players who are in - or not yet completely past - their prime. They should not be forgotten. It is clear that the sort of cricket played by SOA is proving attractive as an addition to increasingly competitive league cricket. Repeatedly managers report ‘played in a good spirit’, etc. It is good to see Ed Phillips, for example, moving from very occasional to frequent appearances, and making his managerial debut, as did Arthur Muir and Frankie Crouch, who will combine his 2020 Presidency with playing for Oxford Downs in the Home Counties Premier Cricket League.

Reading the 2018 Reports, and contrasting them with the accounts from the 1930s, is to see the truth of David Money’s remark that the Club has thrived because it has evolved. What Malcolm Elwin would have made of 2018 is amusing to imagine, but actually unimportant. He wrote that the preliminary fixtures showed that ‘a congenial company of performers’ might warrant the formation of a club. Although, or perhaps because every season has seen some innovation or another we remain congenial, and continue to perform. What our founder would have made of the novelties of 2018 - our first lady playing member and ‘breathable training top in SOA colours’? I hope he would have, like your Scribe, welcomed the former and been simply mystified by the latter.

NOTE. Several Reports add appreciation and thanks to those who made the match possible. We are in debt to several groundsmen: Martin Cross, Rob Eason, and Jim Howe; Scorers: Neil Harris, Andrew Moss, and umpires Bob Belcher, Mike Knox, and ‘AJ’. If scorers would always get their names in the book, more could be recognised.

The SOA Report

The first SOA Report appeared in 1936: REPORT FOR SEASONS 1934-35 (the Club’s first two seasons.) Elegantly produced and printed by the Holywell Press, Alfred Street, my copy is now rather faded, and the staples are rusty. The Contents are listed: List of Members; Report of the Committee; Annual Dinners: Individual Appearances; Summary of Matches; Statement of Accounts (Bank charges: two shillings!)

It was proposed last year to print an annual report, but the objection was raised that its value to members might hardly warrant the expense. So many members, however, have expressed a desire for some sort of accessible record that it is proposed to issue an annual report after the present one, which embraces both the seasons of 1934 and 1935, the object being to give member information about the matches in which they themselves did not play, to provide a record for reference, and to illustrate the working of the Club.

The last of these annual reports, for the 1938 season, appeared in 1939. When the club regrouped after the war, the Hon. Treasurer reported that the estimate for printing the delayed 1939 Report had more than doubled to £50; funds ‘did not warrant such lavish expenditure.’ ‘Loud lamentation arose among members’, and a special Report fund was set up, and reached its target so quickly that those whose contribution proved unnecessary were assured that they ‘must not feel in any way slighted or ignored.’ This produced a grander REPORT FOR SEASONS 1939-47, 94pp with Club colours banded on the cover. The Report for 1948-52 duly appeared in the same format. Peter Frankenburg was Hon. Secretary from 1962 -71, and in 1972 he wrote a ‘History of the Years 1960 to 1971’, on typed A4 pages, reproduced on a primitive machine called a bander (which smelt of methylated spirit.) In his Introduction he wrote that the ‘volume’ gives ‘a fuller account’ of each season than in ‘the annual which I have produced in recent years.’ (These always carried the sub-heading MEMBERS ONLY.) ‘I have tried’ he continued ‘to produce the reports in such a way that future Secretaries can conveniently add to the record as each season passes.’ That is exactly what has happened, and the only changes have been those which reflect the advances in document reproduction.  During the seventies he produced an Annual Report in this new format, before handing over to me, his own playing days being more or less over.  I used a typewriter, and later a word processor, and left the Hon. Sec. to do the photocopying. When Steve Wilson took the post in 2007 he took the report production into the modern age. I must add that for a period Miles Hedges took over the Report, for reasons I can no longer recall.

Retirement of our Scribe

Our Scribe over more or less the past 40 years has remained anonymous, but I am sure many of you will have guessed his identity from the literary style of the introductory musings. Yes, it was Tony Lurcock and he has decided that now is the time to hand over the role to someone else. We are sure you would like to join the Committee in thanking him for many years of valuable service. A tangible thank you took the form of the President treating him to an informal Supper at which several Committee Members joined him. (Since Andrew Moss was also handing over the Treasurership to Dan Hawes he came along, too and was also treated to a Supper.)   No easy shoes to fill after Tony’s long and illustrious stint, but we are pleased to announce that Mike Knox has agreed to become our Scribe from next season onwards.

An Exceedingly Grateful Committee