Match report

They Fought the Law, and the Law Won!

Heading to the Cotswolds for the season opener against our friends Long Compton, the pretty village was once again shrouded in relative darkness as the assembled grey clouds promised rain. With skipper Smith and overseas player Scheerer coming to the Cotswolds direct from a rugby tour to some barren Eastern Europe wasteland, it was agreed with our hosts that we would bat first with a reduced 30 overs. With next-to-no off-season preparation, confidence was as low as the waistlines were bulging. Opening stalwarts Cable-Alexander and Meier waddled to the middle to face off against LC’s quicks of Lynch and Adams. This contest has raged across 3 seasons now, with LC very clearly winning the first battle convincingly having IVCC 3 down for 2 runs after 2 overs, but the tide turned at the end of last season with IVCC recording a memorable victory. How would the trilogy conclude in 2017?

Despite some very unpredictable bounce, with some balls tickling the chin whilst others were little more than daisy cutters, it was a positive start from both batsmen, using the bowlers’ pace against them to consistently find the boundary. But the runs did start to dry up and it was almost a relief when Meier was bowled through the gate by Bernard for 17. This brought our over-age player (OAP), Mark Law to the crease. With some strong performances in 2016 under his belt, and having secured a plethora of England tickets for the squad, Law has cemented his place in the IVCC side as a player with wizened skill with the bat, a man who has ‘been there, done that’. Probably before the Great War.

Anyway, it wasn’t long before it became clear that today would feature a quite astounding innings from one batsman in particular. Moving quickly through the gears, he accelerated quickly and kept the run rate at a high level. He found the boundaries on both sides of the wicket with apparent ease, and rarely looked troubled – much to the chagrin of Tim ‘I’ve got a new hat’ Morton who waited patiently but ultimately fruitlessly on the boundary. By the time the IVCC innings had been completed, this impressive innings had registered 10 fours and 3 sixes and Long Compton were glad they’d agreed to a reduced 30-over game. This was his highest score for IVCC so far at 78 and was a great way for Mark to start the season. And he sure showed them kids a thing or two, too.

He was adequately supported by Cable-Alexander (93*), as IVCC posted 204-1.

Given their lack of match practice, or any practice at all, and with a tasty match tea inside their bellies, you could be forgiven for expecting a rather lacklustre performance in the field from the boys in white-and-blue-and-red-and-yellow. Au contraire mon ami, IVCC looked fairly sharp in the field, and the bowling tight. Most notable was Taylor, who after a late night in Surrey was vying with Scheerer for the ‘Most Hungover Man in Oxfordshire’ award, bravely and consistently used every part of his body other than his hands to stop the ball, with impressive effect. With Ross (1 for 13 off 5) opening up the hill from the Church End, he showed his usual control and constrained the batsman to airy wafts before bowling their opener Badham in his second over. Tyler (2 for 26 off 6) was opening at the other end with probably his finest spell of bowling in IVCC’s colours. With deft flight and a consistent off-stump line, the LC batsmen struggled for runs in the opening overs. With Berry (wk) doing his best to injure Old Man Law at second slip, it then took a moment of magic from skipper Smith with a pinpoint throw for a direct run-out to remove the other opening batsman Hayward, before Tyler pressured Bernard into lobbing one up for a simple catch.

LC dug deep, and turned to their opening bowlers of Lynch and Adams to provide brief batting resistance, before Tyler then had Lynch caught by Smith on the boundary in a carbon copy of the exact same wicket last season: same bowler, same batsman, same hoik to cow corner, same reliable Smith taking the catch. Another direct-hit run-out, this time by Ross, followed, before that man Smith again came in and bowled Adams for 21.

Matt Law (1 for 32 off 6) initially struggled to find a decent line, perhaps a little rusty after an off-season spent drinking Bacardi Breezers and growing his first beard, before tucking into the tail and bowling their no. 8 for a paltry 2 runs. Smith took two more wickets to finish on very respectable figures of 3 for 21 runs off 5 overs. There was even time for back-up to the back-up spinner Meier (1 for 2 off 1) to chance his arm, resulting in his first wicket of the season too, and Long Compton skittled out for 110 off 23 overs.

IVCC opened their 2017 season with an impressive win by 96 runs. Huge thanks as always to our good friends and generous hosts at Long Compton, and we look forward to seeing them again at the end of the season.

Ali Meier IVCC Chairman 5 May 2017