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[rickjames]

Eurgh.

Last game, at home. Oppo elect to bat on a green one, post 153-8 after 40 which is well below par. Get asked to bat #5, find myself in after 3 overs when we're 6-3.  Tried to just see the opening bowlers out but got bowled for 7. Not that I ever bat high normally but trying to be in a position to consolidate isn't easy when the ball was keeping as low as it did. We were all out, 29 short.

Time to do nothing for six months, although I'm desperate to get better so might do some of those adult coaching sessions at the Oval

[SOULMAN1012]

Had our end of season awards dinner last night. Was great to win Sat 1st batsmen of the year award for 2nd year running and also to avoid the duck trophy (only 1 this season) great to see all captains award various players so not just the same 2/3 and lots of awards to some of our younger players.

Only 24 weekends till we get underway again!

[Seniorplayer]

Had our end of season awards dinner last night. Was great to win Sat 1st batsmen of the year award for 2nd year running and also to avoid the duck trophy (only 1 this season) great to see all captains award various players so not just the same 2/3 and lots of awards to some of our younger players.

Only 24 weekends till we get underway again!

Well done Chris

[uknsaunders]

Finished off with a Sunday friendly with the Ashorne lads. Organisation was a shambles as the skipper/vc were on the way back from a stag weekend and they were still en route by the start of play. We had to bat first were 0-2 off 2 overs of a 30 over game. Things improved but we scraped up an average 143-9 off 30. I marshalled the tail at the end to nudge 14*. We decided to give everyone a bowl, probably not the greatest idea when you've only got 140. We took a couple of early wickets before their best 2 batsman feasted on some non bowler pies. When they were both eventually out they only  needed 20 off 8 with 6 wickets in hand. We started to take it seriously and ended up winning by 2 runs. Finished off with 6-2-13-3, got into a really good rhythm and turned a few. Shame the season has to finish.

[jblowe]

Last game of the season today
Home friendly game at Britwell Salome
Beautiful day here,
Hopefully I can finish the season with a decent knock


Cracking game against a lovely bunch of blokes
We fielded first, bowled them out for 135 and knocked em off , just

I bowled a few, got one for a few, and scored 30ish.

Season over now, I've enjoyed playing at two new clubs and look forward to whatever next season brings

@Northern monkey, wish I had seen this Sunday morning, I would have come over and watched.  Would be great to see you smash the ball straight into the gardens.

[jblowe]

Finished my season having played for 5 different clubs, in 4 different divisions, mainly thanks to the OCA player pool.  Managed to average a disappointing 21.  Batted well in most games but kept getting out in the twenties.  As a whole I did not enjoy cricket at all, it was a season of to many injuries, missing games because of Art exhibitions and being forced to move back to my old club after a period of excessive emotional blackmail (I hated every minute of the 5 games I played for them).

Roll on 2018.  I just hope I can get my knee fit for it, and then find a club that needs a fat pie chucker.

[Northern monkey]

Heh Jason, you got the cbf nets to look forward to

Be good to catch up

[tom line]

@DorsetDan and @jblowe find teams you enjoy playing for
I've had an okay season with the bat, but have enjoyed games where we've lost as much as when we'd won most of the time this season. And although I've had a couple of decent scores by my standards, I went through a stage of two or three ducks in a row but enjoyed each game still despite personal failure. It's always nice to contribute and it makes the game sweeter, but it's important to be able to have a laugh if not, and if you're in a team that won't allow you to do that as you don't enjoy the atmosphere, there's no point awaiting your weekend there

[Lumsden]

My season hasn't finished as my Sunday side entered a T16 tournament over in Hebden Bridge today. Arrived to find a very wet wicket so won the toss and chose to bat first thinking it was only going to get worse. However, despite how bad the wicket looked, it actually played remarkably well and I ended up getting 21no at around a run a ball. We finished on 113 and restricted the opposition to around 84 so won the first game. I sat out the next game as we had 12 players wanting to play today but it started raining about 10 overs into the match and then rained for nearly an hour. No further play possible so once the rain eased, the tournament was settled via a bowl out which we won by the narrowest of margins.

Final match of 2017 for me is next Saturday.

[Seniorplayer]

Finished my season having played for 5 different clubs, in 4 different divisions, mainly thanks to the OCA player pool.  Managed to average a disappointing 21.  Batted well in most games but kept getting out in the twenties.  As a whole I did not enjoy cricket at all, it was a season of to many injuries, missing games because of Art exhibitions and being forced to move back to my old club after a period of excessive emotional blackmail (I hated every minute of the 5 games I played for them).

Roll on 2018.  I just hope I can get my knee fit for it, and then find a club that needs a fat pie chucker.

Pretty sure Jason when you score 20 plus you have done the hard work your seeing the ball and you have played yourself in and as you say felt you were batting well  a season of injuries missing games not enjoying playing  are  all  factors which contribute  to why we don't  get big scores. From experience finding a club that you want to  play for and they  want you to play for them will be  a huge step in the right direction

[Lumsden]

My friendly side's final match of the season yesterday and ended up losing a close-fought game.

I won the toss, chose to bat first but a combination of good bowling and poor batting meant we only posted 113-9 off 40 overs. I put myself down at No.11 and laughably I went in to bat for the final delivery of our innings. This did mean that everyone had batted so chose to go all out for the win (I guarantee everyone a bat or bowl) so didn't spread the bowling around between 8-9 players like I do most weeks. Unfortunately, 113 was just not enough and the opposition overhauled our total but took until the 39th over and for the loss of 6 wickets. The feeling amongst our lads was that we really pushed them to the end so everyone left the pitch not overly disappointed. 

However, there was one person not happy yesterday but this was not a player but a spectator who used to "play" for us. I use the word "play" advisedly because the guy in question was, without doubt, the worse cricketer I had ever met in my life. To make matters worse, he had absolutely no concept of how terrible a cricketer he actually was but there he was lecturing me on how I got it all wrong with who I should and shouldn't have bowled. I tried my best to ignore him but he then followed me towards the changing room and continued his diatribe until a few others told him to shut up. Anyhow, I soon forgot about this until this morning when I woke up to discover a long text from the same bloke, repeating the same befuddled arguments as yesterday. Ironically his main complaint was that I bowled too seamers yet when someone dropped out yesterday morning before the match, he decided to take upon himself to ask one of these seamers to play instead of another lad who had actually asked to play earlier in the week and who was an off-spinner. 

[fros23]

My friendly side's final match of the season yesterday and ended up losing a close-fought game.

I won the toss, chose to bat first but a combination of good bowling and poor batting meant we only posted 113-9 off 40 overs. I put myself down at No.11 and laughably I went in to bat for the final delivery of our innings. This did mean that everyone had batted so chose to go all out for the win (I guarantee everyone a bat or bowl) so didn't spread the bowling around between 8-9 players like I do most weeks. Unfortunately, 113 was just not enough and the opposition overhauled our total but took until the 39th over and for the loss of 6 wickets. The feeling amongst our lads was that we really pushed them to the end so everyone left the pitch not overly disappointed. 

However, there was one person not happy yesterday but this was not a player but a spectator who used to "play" for us. I use the word "play" advisedly because the guy in question was, without doubt, the worse cricketer I had ever met in my life. To make matters worse, he had absolutely no concept of how terrible a cricketer he actually was but there he was lecturing me on how I got it all wrong with who I should and shouldn't have bowled. I tried my best to ignore him but he then followed me towards the changing room and continued his diatribe until a few others told him to shut up. Anyhow, I soon forgot about this until this morning when I woke up to discover a long text from the same bloke, repeating the same befuddled arguments as yesterday. Ironically his main complaint was that I bowled too seamers yet when someone dropped out yesterday morning before the match, he decided to take upon himself to ask one of these seamers to play instead of another lad who had actually asked to play earlier in the week and who was an off-spinner.

Gotta love Bindman 

[uknsaunders]

Must be binman!

[Lumsden]

Given my colourful description, I suppose it couldn't have been anyone else.

However, I was perhaps a bit harsh describing him as the worst cricketer ever because I have just remembered that I once got a guy to play who (unbeknown to me at the time) was afraid of the ball. That in itself could be a story for the "Village" thread.

[Ajdal]

In one of the knockout matches of our Sunday T20 league, 31 were required off the last over to grab a spot in the semi-finals. This freak named Adnan hit 5 consecutive sixes and a four off the last ball to win it for his team. He finished 122 not out off 63 balls. The bowler wasn't a slouch either, he's one of the highest wicket takers in the competition.