PRESIDENT'S DAY 2006
Annual Cricket Match
 

MATCH REPORT

OSA Presidents XI 169 for 8 dec. (Tony Pigden 56, Robin Baker 37, Richard Slatford 30)
Botany Bay CC 110 all out (Robin Baker 3 for 12, James Mote 2 for 14, Richard North 2 for26)

Whilst the major celebration this year is the Old Stationers’ Football Club Centenary, it also marks the thirtieth OSA President’s Day Cricket Match and the twelfth against this year’s opponents, Botany Bay Cricket Club. As befits the forward planning of the Association, we had elected a long standing member of the Football Club, David Hudson, as our President, and in time honoured tradition, specific Presidential 'selectoral' requests were sought. As a man of standards, David decided that to “break with tradition” and ask his daughter to play (albeit she is a fine cricketer) would just “not be cricket”. Therefore the Presidential selections were limited to his son, Ben (recently of Bromley CC – who were about to play in the National Club Cricket Championship Final at Lords) and Richard North, son of Bobby - who played with the President and the Match Manager in many successful Old Stationers Cricket Club sides in the late 1970’s – and both sons would be debutants in the fixture.

As last year, an initial squad of twelve was selected (but fortunately this year there very few changes), and the Match Manager again hoped not to have to play - especially as he had not bowled or thrown a cricket ball in anger all season because of injury. The President ensured that his many guests (including many of his Football Club and school year contemporaries) had an excellent lunch, during which the Match Manager lost the “imaginary” toss of the coin with the President, who chose to carry out his Presidential duties on the boundary’s edge rather than play!!

However, the Match Manager had better luck with his second “imaginary” toss of the day (this time with the Botany Bay captain), and openers Tony Pigden and Richard Slatford strode to a damp wicket and got the innings off to an excellent start putting on 71, at around four an over, until Richard was bowled for a belligerent 30. One of our two “professionals”, James Mote, decided that it would be unfair to contribute with the bat; failing to trouble the scorers but the other, the President’s son, Ben, took the opposite view, with a few mighty blows before falling for 17.

Tony Pigden was than joined by Robin Baker (one of the many players carrying an injury – albeit this one was not disclosed beforehand!!) and Robin’s bad back meant few singles were run, unless (according to his partners) it was the sixth ball of an over!! Tony’s innings ended with the score at 142, when he decided that having scored an excellent 56, that it was time to let the rest of the side have a bat.

Unfortunately communications between the Match Manager (who was umpiring) and his lower order left a little to be desired and the latter overs “onslaught” never really materialised despite Robin contributing 37, including an all run 0 (yes 0!) for a blow past mid off to the long off boundary, as he assumed it would go for four and wanted to save his back!! We declared at 169 for 8 off 35 overs.

The Match Manager started his field placing by hiding the older members of the team, and was shocked when with four fielders still to place, there was no-one else to hide!! As a result, the opposition started slowly against Barry Soames and Tim Westbrook (who admitted that he had managed to squeeze into his son’s cricket trousers and jumper for the second year running), and when Ben Hudson slightly misjudged a catch off Barry’s bowling, he did the next best thing by throwing it in over the stumps for an easy run out.

I was then able to do something that I had never been unable to do in many years as an OSCC captain and invite a North to bowl – but today it was Richard and back then it would have been Bobby! In Richard’s third over, Tim took a catch at short extra cover having narrowly failed the over before!! Mike Weatherley then joined the party with an early wicket (bowled Weatherley – I’ve heard that somewhere before!) and when Steve Young effected the first of two excellent stumpings off Richard the game was almost over as they had taken twenty three overs to get to 52 for 4.

Further bowling changes attempted to both keep them interested and to take wickets, and James Mote finally delivered the coups de grace with two wickets in two balls to bowl Botany Bay out for 110 in 38.5 overs, with more than four overs to spare. So we avenged last years defeat in style, and although we didn’t need to (unlike many OSCC games in the past) we “drunk the fixture back” quite convincingly.

Yet again our thanks to the Botany Bay Cricket Club, who host both the lunch and the match so splendidly, to our own President Dave Hudson for his hospitality towards both players and spectators, and to our umpire Dick Hersey, who had to put up with the Match Manager at the other end for the first innings of the game!!

Finally in the Football Club’s Centenary Year it was pleasing to see that our side contained five players who had at some point in their careers represented OSFC’s First XI and to our ever increasing numbers of spectators, can I recommend Liam Gallagher’s excellent book A Centenary History of the Old Stationers’ Football Club. One quote from just before the OSA President’s Cricket match started sticks out like a sore thumb “…it is a sad day when I feel not a single Old Stationer connected with the Football Club had either the time or inclination to support the Second XI in it’s attempt to win the Old Boys Junior Cup…”. Let’s ensure our President’s Day continues to go from strength to strength!!

Geoff Blackmore