Sidmouth 13 August 2025

Captain Frankie Crouch

Won by 26 runs

SOA 182 for 8 (Steve Green 72, Ben McCure 56)

Sidmouth 156 all out (Colin Allen 4 for 23)

The sun was shining like it meant business, the grass looked fit for a picnic rather than a contest, and the smell of linseed oil and expectation hung about the place. The Amateurs, being gentlemen of foresight, reckoned it best to bat first—perhaps figuring the pitch would only get trickier as the shadows grew long.

It started with Steve Green striding out like a man who knew where every run in Devon was hiding. And sure enough, he found 72 of them, most by the neat and rapid method of walloping the ball to the fence. His innings had the look of something careful and reckless at the same time—like a fellow balancing on a picket fence while whistling.

Then came Ben McCure, who, instead of playing the hero, played the banker—steadily piling up a tidy sum of 54 not out. Between the two of them, they stitched together enough runs (182 for 8) to give their bowlers something to get their teeth into.

Now, Sidmouth may have thought 182 was a friendly sort of number, but the Amateurs’ bowlers had no such generosity in mind. President, Colin Allen, bowled with the precision of a man swatting flies—four fell to him, and none looked particularly pleased about it. Alongside him, Pierre Du Plessis bowled so tight you could’ve bounced a penny off his figures—eight overs for just eight runs. That’s the sort of bowling that makes a batsman wonder if perhaps fishing might have been the better hobby.

But the most spectacular part of the day wasn’t written in the scorebook alone—it was written in the air. Twice, Du Plessis turned the tide with his hands, plucking from the sky the two most dangerous men Sidmouth had to offer. First came Akeem Jordan, a West Indian international whose bat had been looking mighty unfriendly to the Amateurs’ chances. Then Justin Pringle, a South African overseas player, followed him back to the pavilion. Both times, Du Plessis came charging in from the boundary, making a hard business look as easy as picking apples off a low branch, and both times he celebrated with his arms stretched wide as though he’d just roped the moon.

Ed Phillips and Green chipped in with two wickets apiece, and before long Sidmouth’s scorecard looked like a field after a hailstorm—plenty of damage, not much to show for it. They were all out for 156, which left the Amateurs the victors by 26 runs and in the happy position of shaking hands without having to think up excuses.

And so it was that on this bright day by the sea, the South Oxfordshire Amateurs played the game the way it ought to be played: with enough dash to please the crowd, enough grit to win the match, and enough good manners to let Sidmouth think they’d been part of a fair fight.