Report by Claude Warnick:
The Oxford Road cricket ground witnessed some genuinely high quality cricket on Wednesday 13th June, with the Cambridge University Women's Cricket Team training in the outfield as the Remnants and Grantchester teams arrived. Things went downhill from there. Sadly, we were unable to recruit any of the ladies to fill the final spot on the team, but fortunately Grantchester had come well prepared, with 12 players, an umpire and a scorer, so were able to lend us a player and we could get things started.
Remnants batted first. After captain Julius Rix's request for openers was met with a bold and courageous silence from all around, an order was determined and Alec Armstrong and Naveen Chouksey went out to the middle to make a cautious start against an accurate Grantchester attack. After a stately beginning that saw us 7/1 after 4 (six-ball) overs, we accelerated like a Fiat Punto filled with rubble to a less-than-imposing 88/7 after 20 overs, with contributions of 14 from Julius and 19 from yours truly. The economy of the opposition's bowling attack was the story of the evening, with none of their bowlers going for more than 5 an over.
It's fair to say that 88 was never likely to be a defensible total, and so it proved. Ben Stone (2/27) was the pick of the bowlers, putting his body on the line on twice to stop powerfully driven straight shots. On both occasions, he got back up, popped his thumb back into joint and took a wicket within the next two balls. Adam Long (1/21) also got in the wickets, but ultimately there were too few runs to play with, and they wrapped things up in the 13th over with 7 wickets still in hand. At least by this stage the University Women had decided to head off, limiting the audience for our final defeat to the Grantchester team and their supporters.
