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| On This Day A trawl through the archives....
Taking a by-gone year completely at random, the scorebook from 11 May 2003 shows that we were playing Arabs at Wasing Park. Evidently we were put into bat after losing the toss and were soon in trouble – Mike opened the batting with John Miller and was out for a second ball duck. Although Garry Masters scored 24, with five boundaries, it was a tough day for batsmen, as we lost regular wickets and at one stage were 87 for 7. However, we were taken to a respectable score of 134 for 7 by an unbroken stand of 47 between Mark Woodley (who finished on 27 not out) and Craig Woodley (8 not out). Information for the Arabs innings is not complete, but it seems that we bowled Arabs out for 79 in 38 overs, winning with two overs to spare. Sayeed Munir, in one of his earliest games for use (this was the first season he played for us) took 2 for 17 in 9 overs, Mike Brooks claimed 2 wickets and Les Woodley picked up 4 for 8 in 6 overs on an afternoon described in the scorebook as ‘overcast’. Sunday 11 May 2003 Aldermaston Village versus
Arabs (At Wasing Park)
Only 12 months ago, as we mourned England’s exit from the World Cup the day before, we were involved in a classic encounter against Purley On Thames, the same opposition as today, at the same venue as today’s match (weather permitting). Now, I have to say that I wasn’t there for very much of this 40 overs-per-side game, in fact left shortly after the start and arrived back to pick Keith up with about 6 or 7 overs left, and I missed quite a lot in between, not least an unbeaten 93 from our captain for the day, Gary Masters, and 57 from Asif Butt, who a few weeks before had hit an impressive half century at Bucklebury in his first match for us. Gary and Asif shared a stand of 109, with Gary hitting 12 fours. However, our last 8 wickets fell for just 98, and although we piled up 241 thanks to some lusty hitting from Irfan, one of our guest players, we were bowled out after just 36 of ourt 40 overs. Purley’s reply began in steadily, but wickets fell regularly, and the hosts fifth wicket went down in the 22nd over with the score having reached 112, Les Woodley claiming two victims. However, it was stand of 78 between James Meesham (40) and Darren Kulpiec (30) which began to tilt the balance, but when Meesham was run out with the score at 190, the game was thrown wide open again. A couple more wickets fell swiftly, with Kupiec the seventh man out on 194 and Dummett falling soon after to Naveed at 204, and a close finish was most defiantly on the cards. However, Dominic Chatwin was joined by Robert Holman in a crucial stand of 25, as Purley reduced the required rate to under a run a ball, before Chatwin was bowled by Naveed, his third victim which was, amazingly at that late stage, a maiden over, although a couple of byes were taken from the over, the 38th. But Purley’s captain Paul Meesham, like Holman, was in no mood to let the match slip away, some twos and a crucial boundary meant that at the start of the penultimate over, just eight runs were needed. By the start of the final over, this had been reduced to just four runs required, but by the fifth ball, this had only been reduced by two. But off the penultimate delivery of the match, Meesham cut the ball away to the point boundary. Although it was disappointing to see us lose, and I was slightly glad to be only a spectator that day rather than actually playing, it was a terrific finish to watch, on a gloriously hot summer evening. Sunday 2 July 2007 Purley On Thames Versus Aldermaston Village (At Purley On Thames) Aldermaston Village 241 all aout (36 overs) (G Masters 93*, Asif Butt 57, Irfan 26* ; P Meesham 3 for 20) Purley On Thames 242 for 9 (39.5 overs) Allen 44, Kupiec 30, Jayasuriya 26; Raja 3 for 33) Purley On Thames Won By 1 Wicket.
Looking back at scorebooks from years gone by, it seems that matches scheduled on the equivalent weekend of this weekend seem to often see cancelled matches, but in 1997 the match, against AWE Rugby Club, did survive, and although there is not much information in the scorebook, the important facts are recorded, that being that we scored 172 all out, a high score in those days, in 38.5 overs, with Bruce Moore top scoring (as was often the case back then) with 71. A partnership of 49 in 38 minutes for the seventh wicket with Paul Bowerbank stands out, after we were apparently 108 for 6 in the 30th over. Our opponent's innings followed a similar pattern by the look of the individual scores - sadly not much else than batsman’s scores and bowling figures are recorded, but they were bowled out for (I think) 160, to lose by 12 runs, with 8 of those wickets taken by Colin Gulliver, who finished with the startling figures of 11 overs, 3 maidens, 8 for 19, all of which were bowled. The other wickets were taken by Les (1 for 31 in nine - his victim, opener Bartlett for 0, was also bowled) and Bruce (1 for 45 in seven, an important wicket, the other opener, Bentley caught behind for 85). The tenth wicket must have caused us a certain amount of head-scratching and arm waving, as their number eleven, Donnnelly, who had earlier claimed 3 wickets, is recorded as finishing unbeaten on 15. A couple of other familiar names survive from our side of the scorecard - Mark Woodley was our next top scorer behind Bruce and Paul with 25, and also playing that day were Doug Braine, and in the ‘grenadier’s’ position, Gavin Thomas.
Sunday 25 May 1997. Aldermaston Village Versus AWE Rugby Club (at Wasing Park) Aldermaston Villege 172 all out (38.5 overs) B Moore 71, P Bowerbank 27 M Woodley 25; T Donnelly 3 for 33, C Wilkins 3 for 38); AWE Rugby Club 160 all out (38 overs) (Bentley 85, D Collins 29) C Gulliver 8 for 19). Aldermaston Village Won By 12 Runs.
A year ago we took on the same opposition as today, Pangbourne, at their home ground at Pangbourne College. Going by our previous experience of their ground, we were expecting batting to be difficult on their low, slow wicket, and so it proved again as we slid to 77 all out, well before tea, and a seemingly inevitable defeat. No-one really came to terms with batting on the pitch, except perhaps Craig Woodley, who opened the batting and made 26, before being sixth out with the score at 52. The next top score in the innings was Gavin Thomas, who contributed 14 before becoming one of Wyley’s two victims. His second victim was looking in great form - in the nets before he went out to bat, but after facing four deliveries and looking for all the world like he might just score a run, a slower ball got the better of our specialist number 11. For Pangbourne, Payne took 5 for 28. We got the chance to bowl 11 overs before the tea break, and took an early wicket when Wyley was bowled by Sayeed for 6 with the score on 15. However, the score had advanced to 35 before we claimed another wicket, and although we got another one before tea, when the score was 42 for 3 in 11 overs, we didn’t really hold out much hope of winning. But Sayeed and Naveed had other ideas, and in anther 14.5 overs, they blew away the Pangbourne middle and late order, They were, in fact, 59 for 9, before a last wicket stand of 10 made the last few overs a very nervy time for us. Sayeed bowled four batsmen to end up with 4 for 30, while Naveed bowled five and claimed one LBW to finish with 6 for 23, and amazingly, we won by 8 runs. The weather had held off all afternoon, but with ironic timing, the rain began to fall shortly after the players left the field. Sunday 6 May 2006 Pangbourne versus Aldermaston Village (at Pangbourne College) Aldermaston Villege 77 all out (24 overs) C Woodley 26, G Thomas 14; Payne 5 for 28, Wyley 2 for 9) on 4 for 46); Pangboune 69 all out (25.5 overs) (Houldey 18; Munir 4 for 30, Raja, 6 for 23) Aldermaston Village Won By 8 Runs.
The last time we played Woolhampton at home was two years ago, but due to some very English weather, a match we should have won instead ended in a rather soggy abandonment shortly after the tea interval, with our innings having barely got underway. We won the toss and fielded first, and with their innings twice being interrupted by rain, our visitors reached 123 for 5 in 40 overs before tea, Osmond top scoring with 37, and Sayeed Munir chipping in with three wickets. Mark Woodley got through 18 overs, taking 1 for 47. Clouds rolled in again during the tea interval, but we did start on time, despite the arrival of more rain, which was falling when Sayeed and Craig walked out to open the batting. But the rain got steadier, and just two slightly frenetic overs were bowled, in which we reached 6 without loss, before the rain forced another stoppage. After, if I remember rightly, about half an hour of sustained rain, as well as some very loud thunder and several bolts of lightning, with no sign of any let up and with a blanket of dark cloud over the ground, the decision was made to abandon the match and we trooped off home. This gave me the chance to write the match up for the web site on the same evening, and by the time I was sitting at the PC doing this at about 8.30, the rain had cleared, the cloud had gone away, and we had bright sunshine just a few miles away in Tadley. As I said at the time, English weather at it’s most eccentric, especially with what happened the following week at Yattendon when the match was again abandoned in almost identical circumstances. Sunday 27 June 2004 Aldermaston Village Versus Woolhampton (at Wasing Park). Woolhampton 123 for 5 (40 overs) (Osmond 37, Line 25, Munir 3 for 32) Aldermaston Village 6 for 0 (2 overs) Match Abandoned Due To Rain.
In 1995, 4 June was the date of a match which was memorable for most of the wrong reasons. After a car journey to Reading University during which I clearly remember listening to Jonathan Agnew on BBC Radio, reporting on the selection of England’s squad for the upcoming First Test versus the West Indies, what followed was a nightmarish afternoon on an awful pitch in cold, windy and damp conditions, a good five minutes walk from one of the least welcoming cricket pavilions I remember visiting. Fortunately my capacity that day was only as scorer, otherwise I would have been desperate to escape before I suffered serious injury. The fifth ball of the match was a sign of the carnage to come, when Colin Gulliver bowled the University opener Park before a run had been scored. It was the seventh over, and the score was 14, before Colin struck again to remove Simons, the other opener, this time caught and bowled, after that, the highest partnership was 23 for the sixth wicket which took the score 31 for 5 in the fifteenth over to 54 for 6 in the twentieth. Amazingly, after we bowled the University out for 69 in exactly 25 overs, that was effectively the stand that cost us the game. It all began relatively serenely for us, an opening stand of 22 between Les Woodley (our captain for the day) and Doug Braine seemed to have us on the right track, although on that pitch it wasn’t without alarm, and I remember Doug getting on the receiving end of a particularly vicious ball which whacked him on the hand, and had him calling for some ice. If we’d looked at the trees behind the wicket, we may well have found some dangling from the branches. Doug was first out with the score at 22, and although we then lost Ian Johnson with the score at 28, Les and Mark Woodley added 17 for the third wicket, amazingly the third biggest partnership of the match, before Les was caught for 26 (the scorebook sadly doesn’t record the name of the fielder). This was the start of the final, devastating spell, as we collapsed from 45 for 2 to 50 for 8, (Lester Hunt was our second top scorer with 6!) and then finally limped to 55 all out in 23 overs, with Hodgson taking 7 for 18 for the home side, and Robinson cleaning up the other three batsman (including Les), finishing with 3 for 16. All in all, it was a pretty soul destroying day one way or the other, but one that sticks in the memory nonetheless, mainly because of some the statistics it produced. Colin Gulliver must have been particularly gutted - to finish with figures of 13 overs, 5 maidens, 7 for 20, and end up on the losing side. I suppose all you can say in hindsight is that pitches like that are great levellers - both sides get to suffer and exploit the conditions, and on this occasion, we suffered more - to the tune of 14 runs. Sunday 4 June 1995 Reading University Versus Aldermaston Village (at Reading University) Reading University 69 all out (25 overs) (Matthews 29; C Gulliver 7 for 20, Johnson 3 for 44) Aldermaston Village 55 all out (23 overs) (L Woodley, Hodgson 7 for 18; Robinson 3 for 16) Reading University Won By 14 Runs.
An historic day on the equivalent Sunday in 1992, which was actually the first game of the season - I made my Aldermaston debut with a stunning unbeaten nought against Woolhampton at Douui Abbey. I made my entrance at 138 for 9 with Phil Gulliver at the other end, and although I have no idea after all these years how many deliveries I actually faced in the ‘partnership’ of 10 which Phil basically added for the tenth wicket, it was an unbeaten one - I distinctly remember Phil hitting at least one boundary, before going for a pull shot and top-edging the ball into his face, with the result that there was quite a bit of blood and to-ing and fro-ing with ice packs. However, it was decided that Phil couldn’t continue, and the innings closed. When we fielded I was of course, utterly hopeless (so some things don’t change) and our captain Bruce Moore did his best to hide me in just about every fielding position he could think of where I couldn’t do any damage. In the end it was a close run match, as Woolhampton got to 141 for 9, with Andy Woodley taking 6 for 27 in just 7 overs. Sunday 24 May 1992 Woolhampton Versus Aldermaston Village (at Douui Abbey) Aldermaston Village 149 for 9 (43.1 overs) (P Gulliver 34 retired hurt, L Woodley 32); Morris 4 for 29, Jee 3 for 19) Woolhampton 141 for 9 (39 overs) C Hale 28; A Woodley 6 for 27) . Match Drawn.
We had something of a depleted team for the match on the equivalent Sunday in 1995, which was an away fixture just down the road in Mortimer. I remember this day being overcast and distinctly chilly, as we fielded first, and the visitors piled up 204 for 7. Although we had only ten players and just three frontline bowlers in the team, we got through a creditable 47 overs. Our captain, Bruce Moore bowled from one end unchanged throughout the innings and ended with 5 for 76 from 23 overs, while Boby cashed in on our lack of bowling resources with 114. With a depleted team you may suspect that we might have struggled to play our way out of trouble, but either the pitch was a good one for batting or Mortimer’s own bowling was lacking a bit that day. Either way, we saved the game by scoring 135 for 6 from 42 overs, that after being 74 for 5 with 12 overs left, the sixth wicket stand between Bruce (29 not out at number six) and Mark Woodley (27) adding 61 in just 34 minutes, and 11 overs, and in fact Mortimer managed to use six bowlers. I’m pleased to say that we avoided having to rely on my batting quite comfortably. Sunday 14 May 1995 Mortimer Versus Aldermaston Village (at Mortimer) Mortimer 204 for 7 (47 overs) (Boby 114, Evans 35; Moore 5 for 76, M Woodley 2 for 81) Aldermaston Village 135 for 6 (42 overs; 10 players only) (D P Jolliffe 22, B Moore 29*, M Woodley 27). Match Drawn.
I was quite surprised when I saw the scorecard from our visit to Shiplake on the equivalent Sunday in 1995, because apparently the match was drawn and I got a stunning 0 not out. I do remember that I had the honour and privilege of hurling myself at the first ball of the season as it sped towards the fine leg boundary, and that I successfully stopped it from going for four, but I honestly do not remember the conclusion to the game, and fact it was drawn - if someone had asked me about playing at Shiplake I would have sworn that we had lost! In 1996, at home, we did lose, however, by nine wickets, in a big way, and I returned to form with a typically brief ‘blob’. Sunday 7 May 1995 Shiplake Versus Aldermaston Village (at Shiplake) Shiplake 175 for 8 (46 overs) (I Johnson 4 for 46); Aldermaston Village 161 for 8 (36 overs; 10 players only) (L Woodley 60*, M Woodley 42). Match Drawn. Sunday 5 May 1996 Aldermastion Village Versus Shiplake (at Wasing Park) Aldermaston Village 55 all out (24 overs; 10 players only) lost to Shiplake 56 for 1(16.1 overs) by 9 Wickets.
Last updated 9 May 2009.
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