Scorecard

Oxford University Club v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Fri 01 Sep 2023 at 2.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Lost by 33 Runs

Match report Match report by Martin Wright.

And so to the second match on the Erratitour of Oxfordshire: taking on the friendly if confusingly named Oxford University Club Cricket Club Club Cricket Club Cricket Club Club (OUCCC for short).

And the venue was the Balliol College Ground, no less – a touch of unaccustomed posherie for us yokels.

The ground was a picture: a vast swathe of field encircled by swishly modern university accommodation and offices, with the less welcome addition of a massive building site on which, we were told, was until recently the OUCCCCCC’s home ground.

The pitch was slightly less of a picture: its pristine state sullied by what were apparently flattened worm casts. This gave it a lively if unpredictable character: sometimes lifting off a length, sometimes staying low, and more often causing the ball to ‘stop’ in the surface – a factor conveniently blamed by several Erratibatters, including your correspondent, for their untimely demise.

But that was to come: first, OUCCC won the toss and chose to bat. Under muggy skies, Skipper Hailwood opened with Anuj, and a welcome returnee in the form of Harry H Molins. Both hit their straps from the off, bowling tight lines and in Harry’s case, getting some impressive lift.
Erratics were tight in the field, and testing with the ball, continuing when Chris Cook and Mark Hailwood took over the attack.

A welcome Spirit of Cricket moment occurred when Anuj’s confident LBW appeal against Omar was given, only to be overturned when several Erratics insisted that the batter had actually hit the ball into his pad. Appropriately enough, he was quick to walk several overs later when feathering an edge behind to Father Molins. A word about him: Paul kept very neatly throughout - (at this point, it’s appropriate to make the hackneyed comparison with Andrew ‘Tidy’ Forrester, involving a lot of use of the word ‘Tidy’, and attendant adverbs, and indeed adjectival nouns, and who am I resist?) – with Forrester-like tidiness. Standing up to the stumps, he was particularly sharp in reacting to the sudden lifting ball. This was by some margin the best I’ve seen him keep, and therefore the blame for his somewhat less Forrestian standards the following day can be laid firmly at the door of Mr Searle’s generous hospitality…

A series of scalps to Erratics saw OUCCC on the ropes, but amid the carnage, Ayyaz held firm, striking the ball cleanly and defending solidly. He was only brought down by a superb piece of fielding from Sam Cook, rocketing the ball in to demolish the stumps. Baharat kept Ayyaz company, and together they pulled Oxford towards respectability, despite some lovely tight bowling from Fraser Chave and Sam.

Sam was on the receiving end of superb late hitting from Abdulla, who was to repeat the trick against us two days later, when he turned out with similarly lethal effect for Warborough…

Overall, OUCCC’s total of 173 looked broadly par for the pitch. And so, as the sun came out and the heat rose, Erratics took to the bat.

The Chaves fell early: Duncan bowled, and Fraser, perhaps deceived by the slowness of the pitch, skying one to fine leg. Your reporter, heady from a successful pull shot, tried to repeat the trick, top-edged and holed out. Mark Searle was also undone by one which stopped on him, and Sam unluckily cleaned up. Erratics were reeling.

But, not for the first time, Chris Cook steadied the ship, ably supported by Anuj. When the latter fell, Harry Molins took over, solid in defence and frisky in attack. Erratics’ hopes soared when Matt Crawford swashed and buckled his way to a brisk 20, including one searing six which tested the toughness of the windows of the offices on the boundary. (Sadly, perhaps, they held.) But Abdulla clean bowled Chris, and Mark Hailwood and Paul Molins followed soon after, and Erratics were short by 33 runs.

A good game though, played in a friendly spirit throughout, followed by drinks at the ‘Club’ and then a curry at the estimable Majlis, where, appropriately enough, an Assembly of Erratics held forth through the evening.




Oxford University Club Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
5w 5b  
for 10 wickets
10
173 (39.1 overs)		     
Suryansh Mehta lbw  A Tiwari 0
Rahul Nair ct  C Cook 5
Ayyaz Mallick run out  (S Cook) 64
Mohammad Omar ct  A Tiwari 1
Sunny Tiwari ct  M Hailwood 4
Baharat Ramanathan ct  F Chave 41
Dan Schofield b  S Cook 2
Fahad Ahmad ct  M Hailwood 0
Abdulla Reza b  H Molins 36
Ashad Ali ct  H Molins 10
Mukkunda Sharma Not Out  0

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Anuj Tiwari7.011527.502.14
Harry Molins6.0125212.504.17
Chris Cook5.01919.001.80
Mark Hailwood7.0025212.503.57
Sam Cook7.0051151.007.29
Matt Crawford4.002300.005.75
Fraser Chave3.1018118.005.68

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 12w 6b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
25
140		        
Duncan Chave b  Ashad 1 5 20.0
Fraser Chave ct  Ashad 2 8 25.00
Martin Wright ct  Fahad 10 17 1 58.82
Chris Cook b  Abdulla 45 96 2 46.88
Mark Searle ct  Fahad 0 10 0
Sam Cook b  Fahad 0 2 0 1
Anuj Tiwari ct  Mukanda 14 32 3 43.75 2
Harry Molins ct  Dan 23 33 3 69.70
Matt Crawford Not Out  20 13 1 1 153.85 1
Mark Hailwood b  Ashad 0 4 0
Paul Molins b  Ayyaz 0 2 0 2

Oxford University Club Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ashad6.011635.332.67
Fahad5.02933.001.80
Mukanda8.0117117.002.13
Jagat8.012900.003.63
OMar2.00900.004.50
Dan3.0013113.004.33
Sunny1.00900.009.00
Rahul1.001000.0010.00
Abdulla2.0016116.008.00
Ayyaz0.40414.006.00