2001 annual dinner

This year's annual dinner was held on Saturday, November 17 at Hobbs' Pavilion for the second year running. The attendance was a little down on last year's, but this was more than made up for by the general level of silliness demonstrated by the normally serious-minded Remnants crowd. Certainly most of the regulars were there, but special mention should be made of Andy Reid's return from darkest Kent -- he'd come up earlier in the year to play for us but foolishly chose one of the rained-out matches.

After we'd munched our pan-fried lamb and mushroom steaks a hush fell over the room as Geoff Hales unfurled himself to begin the evening's formalities. This year Faruk Kara blitzed the batting averages (consecutive not out seventies can never be bad) and Rupert Brown slid in under radar (and Tony Malik's more theatrical performances) to take out the bowling award, his average just sneaking into double figures. The Champagne Moment (along with some of the team members) bred over the summer and there were two awards made. The first was to Anton Garrett for a superb catch at square leg to dismiss Remnants nemesis Mick Taylor on Parker's Piece against the Globe. The second award went to the bowler in the above dismissal, Russell Woolf, who, having finally gotten a chance to bat up the order in the last match of the season, scored a very quick 22, was caught brilliantly in the deep, and then walked back to the pavilion selflessly clapping the fielder for his efforts. Almost finally there were deserved thank yous to Remnants captain (and dinner organiser) Phil Watson, deputy Dave Rowson, scorer Sally Hales and, of course, heart and soul Geoff Hales.

Finally, of course, there was Geoff's cricket quiz to test our knowledge of . . . well, ourselves really. Aside from the last mammoth pot-luck question we were faced with 24 teasers relating to the 2001 season, lest it fade from view altogether. Without any further ado, it is reproduced here in full.

Remnants quiz 2001

(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.)

First over (one run per question)

Who got the first duck of the season?

Phil Watson (first ball and all -- quite hopeless, really)
And who got the second?

Daniel Mortlock (first ball and all -- but it was dark and he made quite a good effort to stay in, all things considered)
Who took the first catch?

Nick Clarke (notably absent from the dinner . . . but not the batting crease -- see the averages for details of his run-feast)
Who took the first wicket?

Paul Jordan (who also bowled the first wide of the season)
Who bowled the first wide?

Paul Jordan (who also took the first wicket of the season)
Who had a catch dropped off his first ball of the season and then bowled two consecutive wides?

Ross Williamson (and these were his first ever deliveries for Remnants -- certainly a dramatic way to start a season that ended with a broken collar bone . . . but don't worry it's on the mend now)

Great bowling, Warnie (two runs per question)
Which two players each got four wickets in an innings?

Daniel Mortlock (4/15 against Philanderers, thanks to their reversed batting line-up) and Tony Malik (4/21 against UCLES, in a huff-and-puff-and-I'll-blow- your-house-down match-tieing performance)
Who delayed his debut for the season 'til August and then got his first 2-wicket haul for Remnants?

Jack Anderson (2/21 in what would have been the man-of-the-match performance but for the fact he was upstaged by his father who took 3/17 and took a blinder of a catch in the outfield)
Which two players bowled at a former Test player?

Daniel Mortlock and Faruk Kara (not for Remnants, mind -- this was during the Fathers and Sons CC tour of the Cotswolds, when the sporting chaps from Fladbury conveniently drafted in Neil Radford to smash our bowling (and Rob Harvey's thumb) 'round the park)
Who bowled a double-wicket maiden?

Rupert Brown (after Tony Malik's spell of 4/21 got us back into the game against UCLES Rupert was called on to bowl the last over and took 2/0, although UCLES scrambled a tie with two byes off the last ball)
Who bowled three maidens in one four-over spell?

Paul Jordan (although it's not recorded whether there were any wides in the non-maiden over . . .)
Whose caught-and-bowled was the last wicket of the season, and who was the batsmen?

Paul Henderson dismissed Phil Marshall (the latter playing for the Cavendish, who seemed destined to inflict Remnants second ever 10-wicket defeat until this incident)

Tonk it, boys! (two runs per question)
Who put on the best opening partnership of the season and how many was it?

Phil Watson (73*) and Nick Clarke (60) put on 143 for the first wicket (against Xaar, who then collapsed in the face of the Anderson show, as described above)
What was the highest team score of the season?

174/4 (against the Chamber of Commerce -- embarrassingly we only won by 11 runs)
Which opponents did we beat by ten wickets?

The Beehive (despite the fact they put on a respectable 120/3)
And which two batsmen got the runs?

Nick Clarke (63*) and Dave Williams (53*) (the latter thus being obliged to pack the kit bag)
Who made his senior debut and got 4 not out?

Alexander Brown (who, between quoting from Austin Powers, found time to defy the bowling of one Paul Jordan for some 20 minutes against Hockerill College in our only Sunday game)
Which two batsmen scrambled the single that tied the match against the Globe?

Daniel Mortlock and Andy Owen (the former having faced and missed the last ball of the game whilst the latter was sprinting down the pitch to successfully complete a bye)

Beyond the boundary (three runs per question)
Who made his TV debut?

Ev Fox (who can be heard on BBC Radio 4, or, if you're out of the country, seen reading the weather on BBC World)
Who scored 533 on his first-class debut?

Geoff Hales (no, he didn't break Brian Lara's record of 501 runs in a first class match -- instead he spent the day scoring at Fenners when Essex finished the first day at 533/5 after 106.4 eventful overs)
Who got his bus pass and kept his seat?

Barry Dare (who has made it to 65 not out and is still on the local council despite the Labour rout at the last election)
Who went out to bat at 7:30pm but had to wait for his second delivery 'til after 11pm?

Ev Fox (no, we're not playing day/night games -- the delivery in question was in fact Ev's second child (whose first words will presumably be ``As you can see a cold front is sweeping across Scotland . . . ''))
Who went to India despite the security situation?

Dave Green (who in fact was still in India at the time of the quiz)
Who finally got his leg over something really classy and expensive?

Les Collings (who -- groan -- acquired a shiny new Harley Davidson during the year)

Twenty-four wanted (one run per player)
Select a team of 12 cricketers, past or present, to play against a team of 12 footballers, also past or present. The names (surnames or first names) of the 24 players you select should all be the names of places (counties, towns, etc.), e.g., Alan Devonshire. (Exact spelling is not required.)

Clearly there's a variety of possible answers here, but the cricketers included: John Crawley, Gordon Greenidge, Steve Carlysle, Ken Barrington, Daivd Gower, Jonty/Wilfred Rhodes, Everton Weekes/Fox(!), Tony Lewis, Glen Hampshire, Ian Salisbury, Devon Malcolm, Steve Newport, and so on. Possible footballers are: Justin Edinburgh, Gareth Southgate, Pat Holland, Teddy Sheringham, Dion Dublin, Bobby Charleton, Tony Coton, and so on.

As ever the quiz was tightly and marginally-honestly contested, first timer Phil Marshall (and helpers) winning with 48 out of the 72 possible runs, one ahead of Faruk Kara. Fortunately any ill-feeling this generated was quickly smoothed over by generous sharing of the prize: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? chocolates which were their very own quiz.