This year's annual dinner was held, appropriately, at Hobbs' Pavilion on Parker's Piece, on Saturday, November 18. In all about forty Remnants, both new and old, attended and a merry time was had by all (although some were more merry than others by the end of the evening).
As befits such an austere occasion, there were a few formalities to get through. There were prizes for Andy Reid (scorer of two centuries for a start, and also a farewell gift as he's left us for southern climes -- well, Kent, at any rate), Nick Clarke (who topped the batting averages by about 25 runs per dismissal), Les Collings (who was similarly dominant in the bowling) and Daniel Mortlock (winner of the Champagne Moment award for the come-from-behind win against Hart-McLeod). There were also some most deserved thank yous: to Tony Malik for his captaincy (and to Phil Watson as his deputy); to Sally Hales for her peerless scoring; and, most of all, to Geoff Hales for just about everything else (cf the alternative quiz below).
The main activity -- aside from drinking -- was the traditional Remnants quiz. This differs from the standard pub quiz (e.g., Who is the only batsman with four initials to have made a double century on debut in Test cricket?) in that it relates mainly to the Remnants season just gone. Geoff spent long nights going through the season's scoresheets to compile it, although it's possible that a little more time should have been spent on the scoring scheme which was out by ten points -- it was meant to be a nice half century, but . . . Anyway, the quiz was fantastic fun, and allowed us all to relive some of the year's highlights. (Oh, and the answer to the above question is one D. S. B. P. Kurrupu -- he hit 201* on debut against New Zealand at Colombo, 1986/87.)
(To see the answers simply highlight the region below the questions with your mouse by dragging the cursor across the screen with the left button held down.)
Quick singles (one run each)
Martyn Waterfall (who, aside from having one of the world's best surnames, also bowls a pretty mean offie)
Andy Owen (whose suicidal wicket-keeping was one of the year's highlights, although he offended all of us ``fast'' bowlers by being able to stand up to the stumps)
Andy Reid (although he was unable to answer this on the night)
Paul Jordan (and these weren't just his best figures for the season, but the best by any Remnants bowler)
That would be Woolf(ie) (who, in case you were wondering, also got his season's runs all in one glorious shot).
Rob Harvey (but he was captaining the intriguingly named Xaar against Remnants that day, and ran into question 16)
Turning for a second (two runs each)
Les Collings and Daniel Mortlock (A word or two of explanation is in order. On the way to being thrashed by The Beehive, Daniel saw a chance for a run out, and hurled the ball at the bowler's stumps . . . but was so far off target that it hit Les, who was walking back to his mark, on the back of the head, and ricocheted for four overthrows. Of course it was all a vain attempt to knock Les out of the race to top the bowling averages . . .)
Rob Harvey was the retiree, and I can't exactly remember what happened -- I think he'd run a quick two and decided that was than he could take, but there may be more reliable witnesses.
Andy Owen and Graeme Bridges (We were meant to have a game against Cambridge Granta, but they didn't turn up, so we played a round-robin format with four teams of two, with a ten run penalty for every wicket lost. Let's just say that not everyone was in the black and leave it that, shall we?)
Les Collings and Daniel Mortlock (It was dark, and there were just 12 balls remaining when Les came to the crease. A few lucky slogs later it was all over, but it helped that the fieldsmen couldn't see the ball.)
Tony Malik and Andy Owen (yep, two of our best batsmen getting off to slightly slow starts)
Pete Warner and Dave Green (This was the easiest question to answer on the night as we all had the team averages in front of us.)
Coming back for three (three runs each)
Andy Reid scored 106*, with Rob Harvey his final partner (This was a great way to end an amazing run-chase, the target of 143 being overhauled on the last ball with yet another Andy Reid boundary.)
Nick Clarke, Ev Fox and Colin Anderson (Nick and Ev doing the actual batting and Colin acting as Ev's runner after he did himself a mischief).
David Williams, Geoff Hales and Daniel Mortlock (David had done most of the hard work, and Daniel was with him at the end . . . or at least would have been but for one of his many run-outs, and so Geoff came in, but required a runner, and who better than the outgoing batsman who'd just been involved in a mix-up?)
What is the new record 20-over score, who top-scored in getting it, and how many did he get?
220/5, of which bloody Andy Reid scored 105 (Sorry, but it's getting monotonous. To be fair, Andy started the season in amazing form once he got that duck out of his system.)
Who were the two teams beaten by ten wickets, and which batsman was involved each time?
The Technology Partnership (at Whittlesford) and CAT (presumably an acronym) with Nick Clarke involved on both occasions. (The second of these occasions was fairly unremarkable, the target being ``just'' 115, but the first came after we'd been smashed all over the park to the tune of 152/4 in 15 eight-ball overs. However Nick and Ev Fox -- see question 14 above -- tonked the 153 runs required in just over 11 overs, or 89 legitimate deliveries. The qualifier is important -- there were a great deal of extras, and one over was fifteen balls long.)
Who made his maiden fifty, who made his debut but was not selected again (despite scoring 23), and who made his final appearance?
Daniel Mortlock, Dave Norman and Richard Wilson (It should be noted that Daniel's 54 in the annual Remnants vs. Remnants match would have been impossible without a certain cousin of a Test cricketer dropping him on about 20. Dave's failure to be selected again was, I suspect, more to do with his being a bit good for us, and Richard's final appearance probably had more to do with his moving to Durham than any bowling deficiencies.)
Gone for four (four runs each, unsurprisingly)
Who captained three teams to last-ball victories, and which teams were they?
Phil Watson, Remnants, Philanderers and Watsonians (Have another look at those two team names and I think you'll get the picture. It was here that controvercy reared its ugly head, with calls for neutral umpires and more clean-shaven officials generally, although it was quite clear that the last of these three victories had nothing to do with that LBW decision that Phil made.)
Which four survivors of the first match in 1980 played this season, totalling 10 runs between them?
Geoff Hales, Barry Dare, Les Collings and one other whose name I can't remember (On a related note Remnants played their 500th game this season, no mean feat in this modern age.)
Twenty-four wanted
Pick two teams, with twelfth men, representing the best in the world playing now and the best no longer playing. (One run for each choice coinciding with mine (i.e., Geoff's).
? (I can't remember them all, but I do know that the current twelve included Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Waugh, Glen McGrath, Shane Warne, Courtney Walsh and Brian Lara; similarly, the past twelve included Sir Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham, Dennis Lillee, Sir Jack Hobbs, Sir Richard Hadlee, Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock and, of course, Sir Donald Bradman. Plenty of room for ``intellectual debate'' -- for instance where is . . .)
The quiz was tightly contested, with Dave Rowson and Daniel Mortlock sharing the prize: a hard-back edition of the 1999 Wisden. Sadly Remnants didn't rate a mention.
Phil Watson also ran a shorter, somewhat monotonous quiz:
(To see the answers simply highlight the region below the questions with your mouse by dragging the cursor across the screen with the left button held down.)
Which Remnants cricketer has a brand of cakes named after him, Eccles, Hales or Mr Kipling?
Hales
Complete the phrase: ``_____ and hearty!''
Hales
Name the current tallest wicket keeper (now that Phil Watson has retired).
Hales
Which Remnants cricketer has played Thomas Hardy and P.G. Wodehouse (but not at cricket)?
Hales
Which Remnants cricketer took his first wicket for a very long time in the 2000 season (but not for Remnants)?
Hales
Which Remnants cricketer is married to our scorer (not a multiple choice question!)?
Hales
Name a Remnants cricketer with the same first name as Mr Boycott (and a similar batting style).
Hales
Name the Remnants cricketer who was written a book on cricket umpiring and scoring.
Hales
Name the Midlands town named after two Remnants cricketers (one of whom is Owen)
Hales
Name the Remnants cricketer without whom none of this would be possible.
Hales
I think you get the idea.