Tiddington 16 July 2026

Manager Ayyaz Mallik

Won by 72 runs

SOA 216 for 8 dec (Alfie Gatehouse 67, Shiraz Husain 40*)

Tiddington 144 all out (Hashim Awan 4 for 34, Felix Loeffen 3 for 36)

A typically SOA-esque panoply of cricketers — young and old, academics and entrepreneurs, historians and geographers, the overseas and the sedentary — descended upon Tiddington CC on what is now a quite usual English summer’s day: bright, sunny, and hot.

Tiddington’s thoroughly gentleman leader Brad Rose proceeded to invite SOA Captain and Match manager Ayyaz Mallick to have a bat. The latter promptly demoted (banished) himself far down the order, while the father and son duo of Sher and Ilyas Chattha opened the batting. A steady start was followed by a flurry of wickets around the first drinks break. With things looking shaky at 60 for 3, the Aussie duo of Toby Seward and Alfie studied things. Alfie and Shiraz then pushed SOA towards a competitive total. A late flurry from Shiraz and Felix Loeffen ensuring that SOA declared on a gentlemanly 216 off a gentlemanly 41 overs.

If the Tiddington ladies’ sumptuous tea was supposed to lull the SOA bowlers into lethargy, it seemed to work the other way round: Danny Dawson striking in the first over, with Mehadi Hasan bowling beautifully but for no reward. The stranglehold however provided rewards for first-change bowlers Hashim Awan and Felix Loeffen, with the first drinks break followed by a flurry of wickets. Since then, a regular flow of wickets was interspersed by counter-attacking batting by Tiddington skipper Brad Rose: his lofted drives over wide mid-off and mid-on a particular delight. 

With 12 overs to go, the SOA still needed 3 wickets to wrap things up, and the SOA skipper started ringing the changes. Sher Chattha’s part-time off-spin brought immediate dividends in the form of a caught and bowled. Even so, Brad and the number 10 hung on. Two overs before the cut off, Hashim Awan struck with a beautiful catch by Junaid Aziz in gully. The penultimate over by Felix Loeffen was then hit for two boundaries by Brad, before his attempt to keep the strike provided Toby with a chance for a run-out: bull’s eye and it was all over! Brad Rose heroic’s 50 coming to naught and the SOA players celebrating a hard fought win under the sun.

A wonderful game of cricket going right down to the wire and an enviable spread of food, drinks, and camaraderie: in short, the perfect SOA afternoon.