WHITE CITY: 129 FOR 6 DECLARED
Batting: C.Widdows 54 Tony Poulter 38
Bowling: C.Widdows 11.3-0-41-5 B.Coales 7-1-34-3 Jones 6-0-36-2
HALVERSTOWN OAKS: 116 ALL OUT
Batting: P.Rosa 48 D.Ruddock 24 J.Threadgold 11
Bowling: P.Rosa 3-0-7-2 S.Hayes 5-1-10-2 K.Threadgold 5-1-12-1 D.Ruddock 3-0-7-2 J.Threadgold 4-0-12-0 D.Drumm 4-0-21-0 J.Kirby 3-0-21-0 N.O’Reilly 2-0-21-0 P.Carroll 0.5-0-7-0
Traditionally, and there is a lot of tradition around this fixture, we put out a combined League/ Oaks team- emphasising the latter since White City rarely arrive with a weak team. Given the uncertainties over Covid it is a tribute to Peter Oborne that he appeared with a team at all, never mind one a strong one. We had Covid related late withdrawals with vaccination appointments, so our team had a strong Oaks bias.
White City hold the Cup and we were playing a timed game so, winning the toss, it was sporting of Peter to bat first, denying City the opportunity to bat out for a draw if necessary to retain the Cup. Moreover his declaration itself was very sporting, allowing us roughly the same amount of playing time as them. However, we didn’t have a Callum Widdows, who dominated both batting and bowling.
The return of the Ruddock boys to town was good news: we had Danny playing in the Alan Ruddock Cup for the first time since 2017. He would be late because of work so I inveigled Stuart Hayes, who was playing cricket later that evening, to stand in on the promise of opening the bowling or batting, whichever we did first. It was bowling, and Stuart from one end and Kevin Threadgold the other had White City under real pressure, scoring just 28 runs off their 10 overs for 3 wickets. Stuart’s figures were amazing and Kevin’s little different. Danny’s tight bowling impressed too as did Jon Kirby’s catch off him. Spreading the bowling around 9 bowlers cost us runs, but that’s the Oaks way and their total of 129 looked achievable. The Widdows and Poulter stand of 98- before Paolo bowling them both- was our problem.
We lost a couple of early wickets before a 79 run stand of Paolo and Danny took us into a commanding position; then losing them both quickly in the 15/16th overs at almost 100 left it in the balance. Only 30 runs needed and 10 overs to go. How easy is that? But we just didn’t have the batting muscle necessary, especially once John Threadgold holed out off Bill Coales. Widdows went on to take his “fifer” in a remarkable one-man show, with Bill and Mark Jones taking the other 5 with reasonable economy also. Peter used just 3 bowlers, whom only Paolo and Danny really mastered. Paolo deserved a half century but was bowled so heart breakingly close. The great achievement was playing the game despite Covid and rain and White City expressed their gratitude for us hosting this long running fixture despite the difficulties. Next year just has to be easier!
Written by Des Drumm