WCC v St Anne's Allstars  1.8.10

WCC 173-9

St Anne's Allstars 176-3

St Anne's won by seven wickets

By Mike Orwell.

Sometimes municipal cricket grounds are a bit like closing-time kebabs; a necessary evil. The Weekenders took on Oxford University’s masters of whimsy at Dundonald Recreation Ground, a cricket venue that fulfils both criteria of ‘necessary’ and ‘evil’. The Weekenders XII had an untested look to them, containing as it did just four regulars, four borrowed Dodgers and four guests.

The Enders were put in on a wicket which resembled loose cat litter and immediately lost McDonald to a shooter. Taylor fought back with arm-chancing clouts over the in-field to reach 73 but lacked support from the rest of the middle order. The Weekenders foreign legion failed to fire and only Rob Fox hit late runs, amongst clouds of dust thrown up from every attempted shot, making this corner of Wimbledon resemble a desiccated Faisalabad. 

As the All-Stars tackled the 173-9

total, a tricky score in these conditions, the Enders searched frantically for

its bowling attack. Fielding conditions were not enhanced by a peculiar Venn

diagram boundary system which meant adjoining pitches shared ellipses of common

ground, along with regular intrusions by footballs, picnicking Spaniards, fleets

of small girls on pink scooters and pit-bull style fighting

dogs.

Orwell once again raised suspicions of bookmakers’

interference as he bowled 15 overs but managed to not take a wicket in almost

every conceivable way. A personal highlight was the yorker which bounced on the

popping crease, throwing up a spray of builder’s sand and popped neatly over

middle stump. In the end, the requisite breakthroughs were not made and the

All-stars accelerated towards the conclusion with Radcliffe especially in

imperious form.

WCC v St Anne's Allstars  1.8.10

WCC 173-9

St Anne's Allstars 176-3

St Anne's won by seven wickets

WCC 173-9 (37 overs)

Taylor 73, McDonald 0, Roberts  19, Mark Cooper 18, Dixon 0, Lee 5, Batty 4, R. Cooper 4, S. Smith 2, R Fox 14*, Orwell 6*.

St Anne's  176-3 (34 overs)

Radcliffe 61

Orwell 15-4-31-0, R Cooper  6-0-26-1, Fox 5-0-33-1, Pinheiro 1-0-11-0, Smith 2-1-10-0, M Cooper 3-0-25-0, Batty 2-0-21-0.

Catch: Roberts