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Sun 2nd Jul 2017 vs. VP Invitational XI (A) @ Preston Capes

Match report

On the weekend the Lions made the most unlikely of comebacks in Wellington, the men from Iffley Village made the trip north to Preston Capes to try to wrestle back the Camel Cup from the Vice Presidents’ XI.

After an eventful journey through the winding Northamptonshire countryside, and a stellar lunch at The Plough in Everdon, both sides made their way to beautiful village of Preston Capes to scrum down. The VPs batted first after some typical negotiation between Ross Snr and Ross Jnr with Daylight taking the new ball. Bustling in from the "no sight screen" end with all vim and vigor of a youthful Bill Beaumont, Big Bob made an early breakthrough, bowling (not Steve) Hanson second ball. Dickie Tyler took the second over and was unlucky not to have A Ross caught on the boundary, with the ball bursting through the hands of the usually reliable (but on this occasion half cut) Smith at long on – a dreadful knock on. With the VPs taking the game to IVCC, Smith atoned for his previous aberration by removing A Ross, LBW for 26, with a full swinging delivery. Bowling in tandem with Ross at the other end, the IVCCers were looking to put the pressure back on the VPs batsmen and were unlucky not to get more success. Conway replaced Ross from the “sight screen” end and, notwithstanding a certain lack of consistency and seemingly being sponsored by Ginsters, had both P Rymer and H Rymer back in the pavilion, both smartly caught by Tyler and Berry for six and zero respectively.

After some early gains, the Village were put under the pump by an outstanding partnership between Markham and J Feather, with Markham retiring after reaching a wonderful 50. With the Villagers glad to see the back of him, Ross then nipped out J Feather for 28 – sharply caught by the Wookie at square leg. Adams and Hall then swung at, and missed, straight ones from Daylight and the Villagers could start to taste the half-time pork pies. Yet, resistance from C Feather (17 no), supported by Ross (caught by Alan off Tyler’s bowling for 9) and Treadwell (caught by Daylight off Smith for 2) saw the half-time whistle go with the VPs XI setting a target of 176 for the Villagers to chase.

As both teams enjoyed a feast laid on by the Ross Family with the clouds rolling across the sky, it was remarked that it was truly a great day for cricket.

With bellies full, it was time to scrum down for the second half, with Meier and Taylor opening the batting for IVCC. With some extremely tight bowling from the duo of H Rymer and Markham for the VPs XI, Taylor and Meier applied themselves diligently for the first five overs, laying the foundation for the chase. Taylor was the first man to go, being bowled by a dipping inswinger from Markham for 2. This brought Morton to the crease. Being true to his “big hitter” reputation, he dispatched his first ball onto the Barn Roof for a massive six. However, it was just not Morton’s day, being dismissed shortly afterwards, the ball dribbling onto the stumps off his pads in the most unfortunate of ways. Scheerer was the next man in and played the best innings of his IVCC career. He made use of all parts of his bat to accumulate 14 runs to all parts of the ground before being bowled by J Feather.

Meier was ticking along nicely at the other end, playing some wonderfully fluent strokes through by the off and leg side. However, the introduction of A Ross in the 11th over proved to be decisive. Having claimed to not have played for over 10 years, the smell of bovine excrement wafted across the ground. Ross managed to generate pace and accuracy seldom seen in Preston Capes and never seen by the IVCC batsmen! With the speed gun reading 82 mph, Meier was undone by Ross’ straight one for an excellent 29. IVCC were starting to fall behind in both the possession and territory statistics and were staring down the barrel of a big defeat at 66-4. However, Davis and Conway did a fantastic job of rebuilding the innings. Both batsmen played aggressively and fluently, with one particular pull shot from Davis reminding the crowd of Matt Prior in his pomp. However, Davis fell for 26, smartly caught by Feather off the bowling of Treadwell.

Davis’ exit brought O Ross to the crease to face his cousin, A Ross, who had by that time broken a pair of spikes and the speedometer. The family battle was emphatically won by A Ross, bowling O Ross off his pads for a quacker – O Ross’ first visit to Club Zero. With 50 still required, the Villages were facing an uphill task, when Smith joined Conway. The task was made tougher still when Conway was bowled by Treadwell for 25 to bring an excellent knock to an end. When Bobby (no) Boundaries fell three balls later having been out three times in three balls (caught (not out as first ball), caught (controversially given not out by the TMO) and, eventually and finally, bowled by Treadwell) the game was all but over with Tyler joining Smith as the last pair. However, after 7 overs of busy cricket and clean hitting, taking advantage of some loose deliveries from the tiring VP’s XI bowlers (one of whom appeared to be a member of the Ministry of Silly Run Ups), an unlikely victory looked possible. However, it just wasn’t to be, with Smith falling for an industrious 37 (bowled by A Ross) with just 9 runs required. Tyler fought valiantly as the last man but was only able to nudge a further single before A Ross obliterated his stumps with a full (and final) express delivery for three. And so, the Camel Cup stayed with the VP’s XI for another year after another enthralling contest that went down to the wire.

Thanks to all involved but, in particular, to groundsman extraordinaire, Mr Hall, and to Charlie Ross for his usual enthusiasm for what is turning out to be the regular highlight of the IVCC fixture calendar.