Shelving O'Moynihan tucks into BK for a brilliant 97 n/o but Cincers go hungry

A stunning 97 not out from Tim Moynihan rescued Cincers from another humiliation at the hands of BK on Sunday.
The formica-flashing Moyners despatched the fine BK bowlers to all corners of Greenwich Park to register his best knock yet for the team and give Cincinnati hope after another faltering start to the innings.
Sadly, it was all in vain as BK triumphed for the second time this season.
For once, the Skipper took advantage of winning the toss to put us in.
Unfortunately, Test Match departed in the first over to a snorter from BK's Rashid (Test Match walked after gloving it) while the bowler was also too good for Ash.
Cincers' pinch-hitter departed for a duck.
Newcomer Rick introduced himself at number three with the cultured shots of a batsman.
What a day, then, for JP to give his first LBW since the Romans pulled out.
'I felt sick in my stomach,' said the Vice-Skip. Not as sick as the Skip felt standing at square leg.
Rick, though, was right in front and left with no grumbles.
Enter the Shelving. The Mighty Moyners - bruised by being dropped by his other club -meant business.
Just as well. The rest of us didn't until Abid joined him with seven wickets down for an innings-saving partnership.
In the meantime, Ash made up for his duck by triggering two Cincers when he umpired - both LB!
BK insisted both were out but it'd be nice if Ash's finger hadn't shot up almost before Mr Ball met Mr Pad.
Abid finished with 34 before perishing to a fine catch by BK's Simon at cover.
Tim M battled on to finish just 3 short of his century. He'd stopped counting at 50!
The 176 total off 35 overs was probably never going to be enough against BK's powerful batting line-up.
Add to that, BK's Dan (well, his wife actually) served up a tasty tea - augmented by the world-famous brownies provided by Amy (aka Mrs Test Match) - to slow us down in the field.
But Cincers started superbly. Test Match, the first slip formerly known as Lurpak, picked up a stunning catch off a lifter from Max.
Ironically, the man out was Biraj who scored a 50 in Cincers' colours earlier in the season.
The wicket was a false dawn as Asim, his opening partner, carved his way to 40.
The Skip dropped him, a sharp chance at shortish (no jokes, please) midwicket off Max.
A bowling change brought Rick on with his leggies and brought Asim down to earth, caught at backward square off a mishit. The catcher? Old Bucket-hands himself - Max.
The Skip chipped in with three overs for 11 but no wickets as did Rockie (none for 19off 3).
All the while, Simon pressed on though not at his best (thank God after his three sixes off the Skip earlier in the season), with the odd edge flying up but not to hand.
Rashid, having snaffled three Cincers with his bowling, put the game out of Cincers' reach with a powerful 47 until he was smartly stumped by stand-in keeper JP off Dan's one over at the end.
In the meantime, Max at mid-off had given us the faintest of hopes with a brilliant run-out.
Sadly,that just brought in big Pete, the BK keeper, who chanced his arm to smash a quick 19.
BK got the runs off 31 overs, with 5 wickets down.
Main Cincers' bowling figures: Test Match one for 37 off seven, Max one for 29 off 5, Rick one for 28 off 7 and Abid none for 35 off 5.
The usual four or five jugs of ale in the Hare and Billet with BK's skipper Max, Pete, Simon et al soothed Cincers' pain.
The story of the day was, we were outgunned by a fine team.
Mind, we should make them work harder for our wickets - ahem, the Skip being a case in point after whacking a loose one straight to a fielder.
'Batting is based on a good defence,'
Many thanks to Rick and fellow Cincers debutant Khan for turning out for us.

Duel in the sun ends in knock-out for 10-man Cincers as Skipper feels the heat

Fears that the Captain had gone done with sun stroke were voiced last night after he won the toss and put Old Wimbledonians into bat!
With the mercury rising, the Captain led Cincers into the Raynes Park desert, sorry, field, muttering something about 'It'll be hotter than this in Lisbon. Best to be prepared.'
Six hours later, over Guinness and Stella (Artois) on the OW's terrace, the frazzled-Great Leader reflected on a 93-run defeat.
'D'you know, it might have been better to have a bat first,' he said.
The Vice-Skip departed loo-wards, sniping: 'Runs on the board. Every time.'
The day began inauspiciously (look it up).
A late replacement - somebody called Nan - didn't turn up.
Then strike bowler Sam rang the Skip shortly before the scheduled start.
Sam: 'Afternoon, Skipper. Have you got a first-aid box?'
Skip: 'Er, no but why?'
Sam: 'I've stubbed my big toe on an escalator. Bleeding badly. Plaster?'
Skip: 'Barman, another whisky please!'
Then Will, our number 3 batting blitzer, arrived to announce he had a very bad back or could it be a kidney stone on the way?
Cincers took the field with a depleted bowling line-up, with Big Jim, Tim R, Max and Rockie all absent.
So Selfish opened up with Ben Gill gamely at the other.
OWs began at a sedate, solid pace but without losing a wicket.
Ben struck first when OWs opener Matt Irvine (one-time playing partner of both the Skip and Rockie) charged him and Will took a steepler at cover (Hmmm. Bad back's shaping up).
Sadly for Cincers, a second-wicket partnership between Muckerjee and Ferguson pushed OWs towards a healthy score until Muckerjee (54) obligingly pulled a long hop from the Captain to Selfish at short mid-wicket.
Sam, meanwhile, had bravely offered to bowl with much limping and 'only off a few paces' excuses.
Newcomer Nick Bentley (wrongly introduced to OWs by the Skip with words 'the new bowler is Bent') sent down five overs - including not a few beamers.
Alex, our languid occasional left-hand batsman, also chipped in as did Tom and a late flurry of wickets saw Selfish almost get a hatrick.
The innings closed at 210 for 7 off 40 after some superb fielding by Cincers, with Ben a stand-out performer and Nick also pulling off some great stops.
Selfish had 4 for 11 off 8 (it's suppposed to be a team game. Can someone please tell him?), Ben 1 for 41 off 8, Sam one for 39 off 7, the Skip one for 32 off 6 while Nick had 0 for 45 off 5, Alex none for 25 off 4 and Tom's two overs cost 13. Cincers took tea confident that a top order of Tom, Alex, Will and Selfish (dropping down to 4 for a rest after his bowling).
Some rest. Tom played on/left one, depending on who you believe, in the first over and Alex was yorked in the next.
Will began impressively but Selfish holed out at point. Worryingly, the ball was hit directly at the umpire who happened to be the Skip.
Then Will was caught behind.
Wickets continued to fall until the Skip joined Adam S at 62 for six.
Having kept superbly, Adam now started batting in the same vein, with some gorgeous cover and straight drives.
A partnership of 52 ensued, thanks to the Skip's occasional dribbled singles and Adam's sumptuous strokes.
A rare attempt at an aggressive shot by the Skip led to his downfall, having crafted five runs (nose-bleed territory for him). 114 for 7.
Sadly, we only made it to 117 even though Tom was allowed back in as our 11th by courtesy of OWs captain Lawrence.
Ben was controversially given out LBW by the Skip. 'The silly fool, he thought it was going to hit the wicket but it would have missed the sight-screen,' said one malcontent.
Tom was left-stranded on 3, having hit four from his first knock. Cruel would it be to point out that was a combined total of seven was one more than the six overthrows which came off his attempted shy at the stumps earlier in the afternoon.
The day ended with the Captain leaving the field with a crazed look and muttering 'Look! Over there! Yes! Yes! It's an oasis!'
PS: Many thanks to Nick and Ben for stepping in at short notice and to OWs for a great game, nice tea and facilities.

Rockie - still fibbing about his age as 10-man Cincers score two victories in one day

Two triumphs in one day, plus top-notch brownies - Sunday's encounter was paradise on earth for Cincers but hell for the London Saints.
Cincers' first-ever hatrick - Testmatch, take a bow - Craig's 4 for and Adam S's stunning keeping left Saints self-shocked.
A 10-man team minus Big Jim, Selfish, the Vice-skip, the Chairman (need I go on? 'No, shut up') reduced Saints to 60 all out in Elstree after the Skip won the toss and put the oppo in with debutants Greg and Russ still not at the ground. The M1, a nightmare apparently.
Saints started as they meant to continue with an opener getting run out without facing a ball (smart fielding from Ben Ellery whose brother Finn played for Saints).
Craig 'Light under a Bushel' Woodhouse stole the bowling headlines with 4 for 14 off seven while everyone else chipped in including Sam Ladbury who played despite a mighty hangover (Will, are you reading this?)
Rockie turned in a wicket maiden while the Skip took the final wicket just to thwart Craig's five for.
Cincers then got the runs for the loss of just one wicket (step forward the Skip, out to a sharp catch at first slip for an nose-bleeding eight!) while Testmatch notched up 39 not out.
Time for a beer match of 10 overs and mass run-out suicides by Cincers (Greg and Russ, my office, please).
Hang on! There's Max smashing the ball to all corners. Up the order next game, Lord Rashbrooke.
Rules were one over each apart from keeper Adam. Just enough balls for Testmatch to take Cincers' first hatrick! 'Does it count, Skip?' Sure does, if only because the tea-time brownies from Mrs R. were award-winning.
Behind the sticks, Adam turned in a superb spell of keeping all day, with three stumpings in the short game (one off the Skip and two off Craig) plus a brilliant run-out although credit (most of it) must go to the Skip for bellowing 'Bowler's!' in his left lughole. After all, Adam's throw that took the stumps out at 24 yards was just mechanics once he'd got directions.
Saints needed six of the last ball to win but Rockie's 'drifter' (he calls it his faster one) baffled the oppo's last man.
Thanks to oppo skipper Peter and the Saints team for being such sports and good hosts on a tough day for them.

CCC v BK, Greenwich Park, May 10

Surveying the battlefield at high noon, the Captain's face darkened and a small cloud appeared above his forlorn sunhat.
“We’ve been given the end strip again. Just look at that short boundary,” he grumbled, to no-one in particular, or rather, no-one at all, as most of the team were still some miles away, near London.
“We’ll have to re-use yesterday’s pitch, like we did last week,” he informed a bored squirrel, who nonetheless paused mid nut, and raised a furry eyebrow as if to say, “I know your game – you’ll try anything to get your leggies to turn.”
So alone, save for the wildlife, the Skipper began to push stumps into the parched earth. Sighing the heavy sigh of captaincy, he completed one set and trudged, head bowed, to the other end to begin to construct another.
But there a rogue pebble brought his enterprise sharply to a halt. The Skipper must have spent half an hour trying like some cricketing Sisyphus to roll a stone out of a stump hole. Nothing could force it to move.
In exasperation, he finally fell to his knees, cursing his luck, and accepted that he would have to bowl on a pristine wicket, with a microscopic leg-side boundary. “This, surely, will be the graveyard of legspin as an art form in the modern game,” he sighed.
As in so many things, the Skipper was half right.
In fact, the short boundary proved completely irrelevant once the match got under way.
Despite a tidy opening spell from Lord Rashbrooke and Test Match Tim, which reduced BK to about 60-4, the batsmen soon found the bowling to be irreproachably hospitable and the outfield quick.
Runs piled up faster than Tim Moynihan’s plate during tea as two of our oldest BK friends helped themselves to a pair of 50s. Wicket keeper Pete eventually departed, stumped by his opposite number Jack off the Skipper’s bowling, but not before crashing several flighted deliveries to the ropes. BK’s very own Selfish Simon, however, went on to make a brilliant hundred and finished unbeaten on 103.
It was his first innings since 2007 and he looked like a man who had been starved of full tosses and longhops for far too long. We were, perhaps, a little too ready to oblige in putting that right.
The Cincers fielding was little better than the bowling. Test Match reminded the watching parakeets why his original nickname was Lurpak by buttering a catch to his left at slip and other chances went begging as the ineptitude spread.
But first prize went to one mesmerizing moment of paralysis where the Ross brothers nominated each other to field a looping catch off the Skipper’s bowling (“No, I insist, it really is all yours old thing”… “But I simply couldn’t, dear chap – after you” etc). Predictably it fell to the ground between them, quite an achievement given that one was at slip and the other keeping wicket.
BK finished with an imposing 255-7.
Tea was a magnificent affair of firey pasta, fresh cherries and gourmet sandwiches courtesy of the vice-skip, and augmented by a tray of Amy’s brownies.
What followed on the pitch, though, was stomach churning.
Despite a strong batting line up, even without our Selfish Simon, Cincinnati wilted under the pressure to achieve such a huge target.
Taking their queue from the Skipper’s earlier trouble with the stumps, every man in the side became inexplicably obsessed with woodwork. Nine out of 10 ‘Nati batters were bowled. The other, Steve - always one for doing his own thing - trod on his stumps instead.

By the end of the innings the wood at both ends had taken a fearful hammering and Cincinnati were all out for just half the BK score.

If only we'd used that other strip...

BK 255-7. Simon 103*, Pete 60. T Ross 3-28, Lord Rashbrooke 1-27.
CCC 134 all out. Tom 21, Ash 21. Rasheed 2-12, Josh 2-19.
Result: Lost by 121 runs.

2009/2 West XI v CCC by The Skipper

Test Match Tim combined with Big Jim and 'broken bat' Bevan to lead Cincers to a superb 46-run triumph on Sunday.
An extraordinary new ball opening spell by Jim and Tim rescued West XI to 24 for 7 - yes, 24 for 7, folks - and rescued Cincers from a disappointing batting effort.
It was extraordinary we were playing in the first place.
Over a dozen regulars were not available, including the Vice-Skip with a sore foot, Rockie studying for an exam and the Chairman also out (family engagement - three-line-whip), for a match which looked destined for cancellation late last week.
Step forward a quartet of new boys, including Biraj - kindly lent by BK.
After the Skip won the toss and with an experimental batting line-up (yup, stand by for disaster), Biraj biffed his way to 51, accompanied by elegant left-hander Alex until he discovered the joys of a slower ball and had his off-peg readjusted.
Test Match arrived at the crease with his new bat and Cincers sped towards the century mark when Biraj holed out.
Selfish strolled out with his trusty Salix, and we seemed set fair - our traditional stout opening partnership at the crease and 100 almost on the board.
Tragically, Bevan discovered a whopping great crack in his bat (kept it indoors over winter, central heating etc, tut, tut, Rockie will be furious) and had to use Jim's for the rest of his innings.

'Too heavy,' he muttered before clipping a catch and departing for 12.
O me miserum. Cincers slumped from there to 147 all done, with Tim bowled for 22 and various zeros along the way....including a second-ball duck for El Capitano and for Chris.
Briefly, Jim gave us some 'magic', including a forward defensive that nearly went for a straight six, while new boy Ben imitated absent Will to hit 15.
Tea came with Cincers contemplating defeat against some fine bowling, not just from West XI's Neep but from others including Chris Dane and Aussie opener Mr Boden. West XI's skip Chris Wright - who could be joining us on tour in Portugal - was a bit rapid.
Over winter, Tim politely pestered the Skip about fielding at first slip. He forgot on Sunday and took up post at fine leg.
The Captain, of course, never forgets (apart from match fees) and promptly ordered Tim to his new post.
After Big Jim removed West XI's keeper Bapu by shivering his timbers, Tim took a spectacular to-his-right slip catch - just like on the telly!
Selfish hates being out of the limelight so he took a brilliant forward-diving, ball-inch-off-ground catch at cover to give Test Match his first wicket.
And so it continued, Jim whipping out four for 15 off seven and Tim three for 9 off 7.
New boy wickie Adam Smith kept superbly behind the stumps as West XI subsided in a heap.
All over? Not yet - bowler Neep turned in a blistering 64 (next top score in his side was 7!) to keep Cincers at bay, advancing down the wicket and carving the second-string around the park despite desperate dives all round including from new boy Mark Hookham.
We also managed to spill five catches....
The Skip's leggies (0 for 27 off 4) wilted and Selfish (one for 8 off 5) seized his chance to restore order.
Eventually, Neep holed out off Alex's medium pace (two for 7 off 3) to a beautifully judged outfield catch from Selfish who also took the last wicket.
Now he has to buy a new bat. Jim's isn't good enough for the likes of him. Typical.
Result: CCC won by 46 runs

2009/1 - NBW v CCC by The Skipper

Cincers' 10th anniversary season - and earliest start since Aussie Joe got frost bite - opened in fine style last week with a six-wicket triumph over New Barbarian Weasels.
The weather was bright and calm at Regent's Park but poor old Weasels, batting first after sort of winning the toss (prior agreement with the Skip), were blown away for 77 by 'Big Jim' and 'Mad Max' on a bouncy artificial pitch.
Then enter Will to whack what must be Cincers' fastest-ever 50, including 19 off one over.
Before one of our biggest crowds ever (we were playing next to the cafe), Cincers' opening duo took one each in a sustained opening burst (Lewin: one for 8 off 4 and Max one for 13 off 7), before Chris Ashman whipped out two.
Debutant H. Duff became the first player called Hamish to play for Cincers and the first - apparently - to take a wicket with his first ball. He took one with his third (or fourth - who's counting) to finish with 2 for one off one.
Even the Skipper - one for 19 off 7 - and Tom - a wicket with his only ball - joined in while Rockie (his nickname shall henceforth be Evergreen) shrugged off the winter cobwebs with one for 6 off 4.
Sour point - Cincers' extras (23 of them) top-scored for Weasels who slumped to 77 all out off 30.1 overs.
So to the chase....Tom and JP opening up.
Weasels' bowler Mr Owen took Tom's edge first ball (past the flailing hand of first slip for four) to herald a fine piece of accurate, sideways-moving, medium-pace bowling.
Tom learnt his lesson? Did he heck as like.
The Dasher chipped in with a hasty 15 before perishing with a skier to the keeper. JP holed out to Owen soon after.
25 for 2. Enter the Moyners and....exit. Rapidly.
'Howzat!!!!!' Tim M out first ball to one from Owen that fizzed, turned, seamed, swung, turned again, fizzed once more and then clipped the formica.
After the game, a pair of dark spectacles were found on the pitch. 'Must have belonged to the guy with the white stick!' quipped one Cincer whose identity is known to the Captain but will only be revealed on payment of, well, a match fee.
Enter the Captain. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
A match-securing partnership then ensued with Will hitting the ball and the Skip judiciously leaving it outside off and avoiding the strike like the plague till Mr Owen disrupted his stumps with a yorker. Of the 50 partnership, the Skip scored precisely uno.
But hey, it's the winning that counts - not the taking part. Cincers managed the next 7 runs without losing another wicket to win with 21 overs to spare - Will 58 n/o. Time enough in the pub afterwards to learn of Tom's passionate love affair with the egg. 'I was making pasta the other day. Four eggs and six egg whites. Lovely.'
He's quite fond of omelette too. Oh, and boiled eggs. Pancakes are nice. Poached too. Meringues? Why not.
Result: CCC won by 6 wickets

Beast Members Wear Pickersgill

Ever wonder what it's all about? Here's a pretty new toy to tell you.

Enter the address of this blog www.cincinnaticc.blogspot.com in the appropriate place and you will be given a "word cloud" in which the main themes of the blog are displayed. Apparently, the bigger the text, the more prominent the theme.

My cloud clearly spelled out the title of this post. Please share any other surreal formations you spot.

O Fortuna! Cincers at the Barbican

Two club members will be singing in this concert at the Barbican on 7 April. Big Max will be keeping the basses on a tight line and length and Selfish Batter will be hogging the tenor part.

If you are interested in getting some tickets (they're selling pretty quickly), please email me. It would be great to see you there, with or without your Old Spice.

CCC Darts Tournament

Just under a week ago several members of the CCC squad met to demonstrate their athletic versatility with a masterclass of darting prowess. As many expected, the final was contested between John 'I Wear a Fez' Pickersgill and Simon 'The Beast' Bevan. JP had already shown his abilities with a stunning 55 outshot (8, 15, double 16 - the way the professionals do it) to defeat Adam 'Trust Me' O'Callaghan in the quarter final, whilst The Beast had destroyed all who dared to stand in his way with his unique javelin throw action. In the end, JP edged a thrilling final to take home the trophy and the title of 'CCC Darts Champion'. Here's the results from the night:

(Tim 'Test Match' Ross retired hurt prior to the tournament - undefeated)

R1
Simon 'The Beast' Bevan bt Ash '20-20' Desai

QF
John 'I Wear a Fez' Pickersgill bt Adam 'Trust Me' O'Callaghan
Simon 'The Beast' Bevan bt Dan 'Dangerzone' Watt
Terry 'The Thief' Crook bt Chris 'The Judge' Storr
Steve 'The Flight' Wright bt Will 'The Teaser' Ashton

(Steve 'The Flight' Wright - retired hurt, semi-final place taken by Dan 'Dangerzone' Watt on 1 dart shootout)

SF
John 'I Wear a Fez' Pickersgill bt Dan 'Dangerzone' Watt
Simon 'The Beast' Bevan bt Terry 'The Thief'














Final
John 'I Wear a Fez' Pickersgill bt Simon 'The Beast' Bevan


Thanks to all who came along - stay tuned for news of the next CCC social gathering.

Cheers,

Adam & Dan

Weekend Routines

After a quick look at the 2009 fixture list had confirmed that the Skipper is persisting with his Sunday-only policy, our bowler of the year decided to accept the situation and make other plans for Saturdays.

CAPTAIN SNOWBALL

Determined to the last, The Skipper fought his way through the drifting snow to the Oval for our weekly net on Thursday night. Comprehensively kitted out as ever, he wore a fetching pair of "Black Run" ski boots for the occasion.

Some suggested the branding referred to the Skipper's tendency to run out colleagues while skiing to the non-striker's end after middling a passing snowball in June.

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Fixture List

As Adam and Dan were staging their first event as Social Secs (their title, not the event) last Friday, the Skipper was busy at home finalising next season's fixtures. The list of matches can be seen on the left-hand side of this page.

Merry Christmas all!

78 HOURS

That's how much time we spent playing cricket this summer.

Just think - 78 hours.... That works out at three and a quarter days.

Multiply that by 11 players and we spent more than a month this year plodding round the boundary, spilling catches, stealing the captain's cake and watching Selfish bat.

And that's before we even got to the speeches at last week's AGM.

Well done and many thanks to The Chairman for his final deed as social sec organising the excellent bash.

Testmatch Vs West Indies

Check this out comrades - it is Cincinnati's slowest batsman taking on one of the West Indies' fastest bowlers: Mr Courtney Walsh.
He's about 7ft tall, very good, and now known in my house as "Sir".
The first two pics are of the beginning and end of the same delivery. The bloke in the background is Devon Malcolm. He was quite lively, too.
The best that can be said about the encounter is that I managed to avoid being killed (narrowly) and didn't get out (sorry Will).

AGM Preparations

With the club's annual awards ceremony just over a week away, the Chairman heads to his local to rehearse his acceptance speech.

A big thank you even if it did get a little bit too much for me by the end of the evening!

Chaps,
Many, many thanks for a great 50th bash at Finchley CC (thanks for hosting us, Frank). The caricature is a great gift.
But whose idea was it to leave the stumps intact? You've got to make these things look realistic, you know.
Someone's got to tell me who drew it. Everybody else is asking me and all I can say is I've never met the chap.
Your fan mail has been pouring in this week from the other partygoers - 'what a nice bunch of chaps' and 'very jolly people' - and some of these spoke to the Vice-Skip during the evening. My god, the ghost of Thixendale is finally laid to rest.
The cake pictured above - courtesy of Emily Wills, sister of Abigail, PA on the Daily Telegraph when I was there - is almost as good a likeness as the cartoon.
Er, that is, apart from the shot which is highly reminiscent of Stephen's 'over the white-washed garden fence' technique.
Still, the ball has clearly dribbled off the side during the slicing so not a bad result for me. Probably a single there...no, hang on, waiting, WAITING!!
Pity the deluge stopped us giving Frank's Finchley a run for their money on the day.
But let's not be modest about it, as this blog reports, for the first time ever, Cincinnati can celebrate a winning season - more games won than lost and some terrific efforts during the summer.
I'm putting Sunday down as the highlight - your best performance of the season even without a ball being bowled!
See you all at the AGM if not before,
Brendan

Happy Birthday, Skipper

Cincers gathered at Finchley CC yesterday to celebrate Brendan's half century.


Bren sets hearts racing with talk of resignation before deciding that his successor is not yet ready to step up. He celebrates with a slice of a cake.
































The Chairman presents a gift from the club to the skipper.





































Although the game was rained off, a trip to Finchley would not have been complete without a huge appeal from Frank for the Skipper's wicket.

What a great tea - shame about the cricket

Cincers showed Actors Anon how to do it on Sunday with a sparking performance by Dan and Adam.
On their first outing as teaboys, the young duo - pictured above with their handiwork - floored the opposition with refreshments worthy of an Olympic Gold.
"Not so much a buffet as a banquet," said one Actor, admitting defeat straight away in the face of a groaning Greenwich Park table.
"Best tea we've ever had," said another.
Not even 'Tubs' Moynihan could have munched his way through such trays of fine sandwiches, pork pies (the Chairman snaffled the last one in the pub later), chicken legs, pasta, salad and as fine a selection of cakes as the Cincers' better halves could muster.
Why, there were even lashings of ginger beer!
Actually, there weren't really but it's a nice quote from a little-known unpublished Enid Blyton story 'Five Wickets Go Down for One Run'.
Sadly appropriate for what went before the tea interval.
Thirsting for revenge, Actors fielded a new quickie along with regular Irish Jamie who's always a handful and Cincers struggled to get the ball off the square for 12 overs or so.
Just for the record, Jamie's bowling figures were 5.4 overs, three for four!
Sanjeev, the quickie, was positively expensive at six overs, none for 10.
Manfully, Test Match opened up and stuck around to post a hard-worked 26 before unluckily holing out (one of a couple of excellent Actors' catches by Roy) and newcomer Abid - helpfully filling in at 30 minutes notice after Will pulled out 'sick' before start of play - chipped in with 23.
The rest of us, well, we didn't get any though Jim had his usual watchful four, four, four, four and out, while Rockie hit two fours as well.
105 all out short of our 35 overs was never going to be enough.
Gamefully, the Skip (that's me) invoked the spirit of Whitstable as we took the field to recall our incredible victory last month but it slowly became more spirit of Clacton as Actors lost just the two wickets.
Max bowled well to take an early wicket, caught behind by Jack, and Jim did his best given he'd spent half the night watching the Olympics.
Rockie got the other wicket but Actors strolled to victory.
After a tea like they had, there's ingratitude for you.

Savour a triumph - forget a defeat!

For some reason, the match report from August 3 - the one the Skip missed due to a savage bout of food poisoning - has been delayed. No doubt our illustrious Chairman will send out one of his "Oi! why hasn't the blog been updated??" emails and put matters right.
In the meantime, readers are invited to feast their eyes on this fine body of men - the triumphant Cincinnati team after the tour victory in Pembrokeshire last month.
Let's savour the moment in south-west Wales and forget what came next in south-west London!
PS This picture is one of many taken by Andy O which - when I can work out how - will appear as a slideshow. Over to you, Selfish!

The Chairman's Dive - Part II

Apologies for the angle - Selfish cameraman to blame.



With thanks to producer and editor Mrs Selfish