Match report

Bragging rights to the Village as IVCC lay a Cable on Wiley Report by Garr

IVCC faced off against Wiley-Blackwell for the third time this season. Having vanquished the perfidious publishers at Horspath Athletic Ground only to be crucified in the return fixture at Jesus College, the Villagers were looking for a win in this decider, played once again at that Parthenon of cricketing history in Horspath. What’s not to love about this ground? The lack of scoreboard, boundary markers and sightscreens do not detract from the beautiful views of the Mini factory or the sonorific qualities of the nearby ring-road, and the care and attention diverted towards the square has clearly reaped benefits for those who make use of the facilities.

On our last visit here in May, the pitch was a pudding – slow and low, it made for tough batting without really offering much to the bowlers. This time it was so green as to be barely distinguishable from the outfield, but firm, and was surprisingly good to bat on whilst also giving enough seam and variable bounce for the bowlers to stay interested.

Skipper Bill won the toss and chose to bat first (statto’s note: IVCC have only fielded first once all season), a wise decision given the already fading light. The opening partnership saw the reuniting of chairman Meier and Fergus “the scorecard-and-website-botherer” Cable-Alexander for the first time since the opening day at Long Compton. On that occasion the partnership lasted 2 balls and the pair made 1 run between them; this time things were much more successful and the two wasted no time in taking the attack to the Wiley opening bowlers. Both rode their luck at times, with one-time Villager Jonny Gifford cursing his fielders on a couple of occasions – Fergus slapped a sharp but relatively easy chance to backward point, and Ali skied one to extra cover: both chances were shelled and in the latter case, a thumb was broken as well.

I should add at this point that Wiley only had ten players to start with, so Alex volunteered to fill a gap in the field. With the aforementioned fielder leaving the arena for a trip to A&E along with a team-mate (who would return later in the innings), Ollie Evans also took to the field to help out the opposition.

Meanwhile, Fergus was looking in ominously good touch, caressing cover drives with sumptuous ease and pulling well to backward square on a few occasions. Ali (10) was not quite at the fluent best he had demonstrated for T&F C.C. the week before, but did hit a couple of nice shots before offering a simple chance to Alex at short extra cover – the fielder showed all of the loyalty to his chairman that you would expect and gleefully pouched the catch.

The fall of wicket brought yours truly to the crease with around 7 overs gone (ish). Fergus and I were aware of the need to accelerate the run rate, but it’s fair to say that big-hitting is not the natural game of either of us. So, we tried to be industrious and run well between the wickets and managed a creditable 40 at nearly a run-a-ball before I was hit on the pad by Asif and fingered by umpire Tim for 20.

Tim’s desire to put his finger in places where they were not welcome turned out to be a tactical masterstroke as he was next man in – he duly gave Ferg and me a lesson in how to score quickly, racing to 33 not out off 5 balls (ish), an innings which included a) no subtlety whatsoever and b) two massive sixes to the long square-leg boundary. At the other end, Ferg continued to bat as he had throughout and even managed a maximum of his own as he cantered to his half-century and retired. Well played that man. (Statto’s note: last season, Ferg became the first player to get a fifty for IVCC and is now the third person to have reached the milestone in 2015)

We then had a few overs of the skipper batting with Tim, where more shots were played and runs were scored. The innings came to an end with Bill (9) bowled off the last bowl attempting to hit the ball into the Mini plant, and IVCC had reached a competitive 128 for 3.

IVCC took to the field safe in the knowledge that if they could restrict Wiley to a run-a-ball, they would win the match and thus the “series”. Early wickets and tight bowling were the order of the day then. Ollie Evans, making his second appearance for the Village after an excellent debut at Wolvercote, opened from the Non-Hedge End and rattled through a super spell of tight seam bowling (4-1-15-0). He would probably have taken a wicket or two if the batsmen had been good enough to edge his jaffas!

From the Hedge End, Alex looked to find the rhythm and swing he had shown vs Strollers and bowled three very good overs which included the first wicket, with Wiley’s opener beaten by the booming out-swing and seeing his poles laid to waste. His fourth over went a bit wrong and at one point I wondered if he was doing an elaborate satire of Tory welfare policy or perhaps a bit of post-modern performance art – turns out he had just got the yips (4-0-39-1). By the time the over had finished, Wiley were right back in the hunt and ahead of the run rate – a tight finish was on the cards.

Troth’s wicket had brought together Wiley’s two best batsmen, and the two played busily, finding the boundary regularly and running well between the wickets. I replaced Ollie and bowled one of my better spells – no wides and only a couple of long-hops (4-1-15-1)! I finished up with a wicket maiden and got the break-through that we needed at this point, with the better and more free-scoring of the two batsmen holing out to Fergus at mid-off. Ricky-Dicky Tyler (2-0-15-0) replaced Alex and put in two good overs before being given the hook by a captain who had other plans...

The light was now fading pretty badly and batting and fielding were both hazardous and difficult activities. “Wandering” Will Taylor was obviously struggling in the gloom as he consistently managed to pop up in different places in the field despite being diverted back to his spot by his skipper. Captain Bill, being a ruthless sort, decided that the darkness was the perfect situation for some pace bowling and brought himself on at the Hedge End. At the other, the chairman was thrown the ball and called on to bowl some of his infamous off-spin. With Wiley still needing around a run-a-ball for the win and the dangerous Gifford at the crease, the tension was palpable – could the captain-chairman dream-team shut down the Wiley counter?

Yes! They bloody well could. With Bill steaming in and bowling at full pace, the batsmen were restricted to singles or byes as the skipper turned in a timely and parsimonious 4-0-17-0. Ali (2-0-15-0) varied his flight and speed nicely and the Wiley men just couldn’t get him away enough. 13 (ish) were needed from the last over, but with the light now basically gone and Bill starting to touch Mitchell Johnson pace, Wiley stood no chance, and Iffley ended up victors by 4 runs.

Credit needs to be given to all of the IVCC fielders, who struggled on valiantly in the fading light, particularly Watkins and Taylor who worked hard on the boundary. “Edwin van der” Cav also put in a great display behind the stumps in less-than-simple conditions.

So, with all of the Village agreeing that we hope not to play at Horspath again and glad to have felled their old foes, the players retreated to the pub to reflect on the game and a season’s record which now stands at won 5, lost 4 – with two games to go, can we hope to ensure that we actually win more games than we lose in our maiden season? Stay tuned to find out…

P.S. We beat Isis last night so yes, we are guaranteed a positive record for 2015. Huzzah!