Old Bloxhamists 9 July 2021

Manager Dave Eaton

Lost by 2 Wickets

SOA 210 for 5 dec (George Tait 68* & Ali Short 51)

Old Bloxhamists 211 for 8 (Chris Phillips 16-1-84-5)

A warm sunny day saw half the team start the right way with breakfast at the Red Lion. The other half either on a golf course, awaiting to be picked up by parents, on a tandem with AJ from Oxford or in the case of former President Mr Pearson, chasing puppies around a paddock followed by a drive to Bicester to collect kit which the wife drive off with earlier that morning. As usual, the coin was flipped, I lost the toss and chose to bat (not sure why we bother tossing but it seems the done thing). Juni & Ayyaz were asked to front up and struggled to get momentum with some tight & wayward bowling, none of which found the middle of the bat often enough. It was left to a couple of youngsters, George Tait (68*) & Ali Shortt (51 on debut) to get the score moving. Some late stroking from Ed Phillips (21) got us to a total of 210-5 from 43.1 overs. Calls of "You've declared to early" and "you don't know what you're doing" from the team settled any worries of actually being in charge on the day.

OB's started well against the surprising away swing of Eaton, one opener said "I don't know how to play this" and Ben Cross who bowled a steady 5 overs. Once the first wicket fell with 59 on the board, The North Oxfordshire Avengers soon found their stride and were taking regular wickets until Tom Boardman changed the game, a quick 38 including a couple of big 6s started to swing the game back in the OBs favour. Another debutant stepping up when required, Chris Phillips (5-84 from 16 overs) did all he could and a couple of wickets for Richard Simpson (2-36), but unfortunately their efforts weren't quite enough as the OBs struck the winning runs with only 11 balls of the match remaining.

A superb curry lunch with key lime pie for pudding and some sandwiches with pots of Triple Chocolate Brownie and strawberries for teas cemented the fixture for another year (you can cope with a loss when the food and facilities are of a high standard.

Thank you all for taking time off to play. I look forward to seeing you again next season.