Scorecard

Oxford Tour: Mandarins v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sat 06 Sep 2025 at 2.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 13 Runs

Match report Captain’s Log, Erratidate 20250906 -
Fixture 59, Mandarins at Warborough.


As Richie Benaud said, “captaincy is 90 per cent luck and 10 per cent skill”. True. Whatever you plan, you never know what’s going to work (eg who’s going to take a wicket), and sometimes the things you are sure will work manage to fail spectacularly (eg the batter who’s going to anchor the innings).

Trust your feelings, captain. May the Force be with you. And try the following…

Give everyone a game:

Remember that your game is the captaincy, so you don’t need to bat or bowl. Give batting opportunities to those who don’t usually get them, and especially to those who endured rather than enjoyed the game the day before. Cynics will say that this approach to a batting order will lead to “unpropitious beginnings”. It did on this particular day, but that’s not the point. Everyone had a chance, even if not everyone was able to take full advantage of it. And we still managed to post a total that was competitive. We might still be going to lose, because we certainly have certainly the Mandarins an opportunity to win, but “hooray” for a friendly and genuinely competitive game!

Rotate your bowlers rapidly:

Seasoned captains often seem to start with their “best” bowlers, giving the opening pair at least half a dozen overs each. Boring! If the opening batters settle, they won’t be removed by the opening bowlers, so unsettle them with unexpected and early bowling changes. After all, any of your bowlers can be your “best” bowlers in a given situation. (Peter Colclough had got a five-for 3 weeks prior to this game.) Frequent changes of bowler also mean changes of field placements, so nobody gets the chance to grow roots, or to “do a Weiler” and have an extended conversation with the square-leg umpire.

When you have 12 players, and only 11 are allowed on the field, don’t give extended pavilion breaks to those who might want a cup of tea. Sure, rotations every 5 overs can be confusing, especially on top of frequent bowling changes. Some of your players might get muddled, but you’ve got this! And always remember the 10% that isn’t luck. So, when of your rested players retakes the field and tells Matt Crawford he’s next to take time out, you intervene and designate instead one of the vast majority of those not as fleet of foot or fast of arm as Matt. After all,
you’re not defending an OUCCC-size total, and Matt is more or less irreplaceable in the field.

And don’t forget to rotate yourself to that off-field position. The side can uphold the spirit of Erraticism without you, and the puzzlement that descends on the field as you remove yourself at the death might affect the batters as well as the fielders. Which it did. In the event, you didn’t know that one of your fielders would then be crocked, and you’d be back in charge on the field very quickly.

Even at the death, remain unpredictable. Make the last-minute unexpected bowling change. A bowler can’t take wickets if they’re not bowling, so give them that chance. “There’s a fine line between stupid and clever” (Spinal Tap) and there’s a fine line between winning and losing, but if you Do the Right Thing, you can console yourself with the success of that, even if the defence of your total proves to be a failure.

So, when the nick off the final batter off the final ball of the penultimate over is not taken… do not despair. It’s still been a great game, enjoyed by everyone who took part.

And then, lo and behold, the final wicket falls in the final over! Victory to the Erratics! Yes, it’s great to play a game in which all results are possible in the final over. But winning does add that little bit extra.

“Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl a cracked and broken path
If we make it, we can all sit back and laugh…”

And laugh and smile we did. We celebrated a great game of friendly cricket, in the pub, alongside our friendly and sporting opponents, the Mandarins.

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2b  
for 10 wickets
2
140		        
Jon Perkin ct J Wilmot b J Thomson 23 45 4 51.11
Mark Hailwood lbw K Rangarajan 0 6 0
Peter Colclough lbw R Eastaway 0 14 0
Matt Crawford b R Eastaway 0 1 0 1
Martin Wright ct J Wilmot b K Rangarajan 1 5 20.0
Mark Phillips b R Eastaway 0 3 0
Anuj Tiwari b M Hurst 40 42 4 2 95.24 1
Chris Cook st B Tivey b P Mills 58 67 6 1 86.57 1
Fraser Chave ct B Tivey b M Hurst 7 20 1 35.00
Phil Power Not Out  5 22 22.73
Lee Grant b M Hurst 4 6 1 66.67 1

Oxford Tour: Mandarins Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Rob Eastaway6.011635.332.67
Kishen Rangarajan5.04623.001.20
Martin Hurst13.0247315.673.62
Dan Forman10.033700.003.70
Jim Thomson4.0032132.008.00
Paul Mills0.30010.000.00

Oxford Tour: Mandarins Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
5w 5b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
12
127 (39.1 overs)		     
Chris McKeon b A Tiwari 2 9 22.22
Graeme Tunbridge ct A Tiwari b A Tiwari 5 9 55.56
Jonathan Wilmot ct C Cook b M Hailwood 1 7 14.29
Kishen Rangarajan ct L Grant b C Cook 20 33 60.61
Paul Mills ct M Crawford b C Cook 53 67 79.10
Jules Lowin b L Grant 13 22 59.09
Bob Tivey lbw A Tiwari 3 20 15.00
Rob Eastaway b C Cook 12 45 26.67
Dan Forman b C Cook 0 1 0
Duncan Chave Not Out  5 15 33.33
Martin Hurst b F Chave 1 7 14.29

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mark Hailwood5.0017117.003.40
Anuj Tiwari7.022337.673.29
Fraser Chave11.1418118.001.61
Phil Power3.001300.004.33
Chris Cook6.012546.254.17
Lee Grant7.0024124.003.43