Firstly apologies for the delay in the production of match reports. I could blame it on writers block but in reality it was just laziness.

The 4s travelled to Sunningwell for a new encounter following the league mergers. An administrative error whilst the skipper was in Cornwall meant no meet time had been put on the Pitchero notification. Not to worry, it’s week 14 of the season so people will have got the hang of a 12:15 meet for a 1pm start. At 12:45 with half of the team missing I was starting to think perhaps I had overestimated the levels of common sense in the team.

Fortunately the rain came and the covers had to be put back on which got us a few extra minutes. Soon afterwards Big Nam arrived with Maddy riding shotgun in his flash new electric motor. He stopped outside the pavilion for a chat, then pulled away to park up. Right foot a little heavy he proceeded to wheel spin leaving a couple of lovely tread marks on the outfield right in front of the unhappy groundsman.

It was at that point I realised that we didn’t yet have an umpire. The panel umpire allocated to us nowhere to be seen and Sunningwell’s usual suspect was on holiday. Never fear, here came a likely looking character wandering across from the car park. Only it wasn’t, but it was. The chap who it should have been had been called into work. Being resourceful he had phoned a mate to stand in and it was he who had arrived. All sorted we thought until he said he wasn’t confident of the rules (we didn’t point out they were laws) so he would just do square leg. 60 notes to stand at square leg at both ends….no thanks we don’t need you.

Having lost the toss and invited to have a bat I was busy getting padded up when the umpire reappeared, this time holding his phone and offering it to me. Turns out it was original umpire’s boss on the phone checking that we didn’t need the stand in and he could go home. Honestly you can’t make up some of the Div 8 action we’ve seen this year.

Umpires sorted I headed out to the middle for a rest. Third ball in and a drive went horribly wrong and I slashed it to cover for a simple catch. However he must have been distracted by umpiregate as well and managed to shell it. At the other end Ally had less luck and somehow managed to drive the ball from a yard outside off stump and be caught at mid-wicket.

Enter Jim Casson to the mix who proceeded to also be dropped by the same fielder who dropped me, also whilst on zero. Those two missed opportunities focussed the batting minds and Jim and I put on a decent stand before Jim holed out for 30. Isteyn was next man in and despite not scoring very many, offered great support for me whilst I went past 50. Some generous bowling of half trackers on leg stump helped me, one of them being dispatched all the way into the side of Nam’s new car. Was that a giggle I heard from the Sunningwell groundsman?

Nam was in at 5, I wasn’t sure how it would be as he hadn’t yet had time to inspect his car, but not to worry. His stay was short and I was safe for a while longer. His departure brought Robbie Casson to the crease and after little bit of coaching (don’t go back on a low/slow wicket) proceeded to bat well and keep me company for a while.

Guy was next in to make his Didcot debut and batted well. Rotating the strike and giving me as much as possible. By this time I knew I was getting close to the ton and with one over to go made enquiries of the scorer. 5 more I was told. With one ball to go I was on 99. With a tempting gap at mid wicket it was a simple task to take a stride down and pick the gap. The stride was simple, making contact was not and I was cleaned up for 99. Gutted didn’t come close as I trudged off.

Allison Sykes, enter stage left. She pointed out to husband Pete that he may have made a mistake. A recount led to another recount led to a third and it was decided it wasn’t 99 but in fact 101. Happy Days. Brown envelope to follow in due course.

A much happier skipper led the team out for the second innings. Sunningwell had struggled with the bat in previous weeks and we were optimistic that 170 might be enough.

Finn took the new ball. Two wides to start was not ideal. At the end of the over he had 3 wickets and their top 4 had 3 ducks between them including a worldly catch from Callum Henderson at mid-off. Top bowling Finn.

However Sunningwell rallied and put on a stand of 120. Maddy was brought into the attack and induced a mistake, their batsman top edging it straight into the air.

Isteyn was wheeling away at the other end by now and picked up the other danger man. A forward defence spinning back onto his stumps. It was then the Isteyn and Jim Casson show as they kept things tight and picked up wickets.

A bowling change was needed and I called on Guy. No runs to play with and a wicket needed. No pressure at all on your bowling debut, cheers skip. What a debut. 2 overs, 1 maiden 2 runs as he came onto bowl his third over. The ball was hit to gully and Isteyn took another outstanding catch. The players went wild, Diddy had won by 2 runs.

A brilliant game. Sunningwell will curse the two drops but Didcot deserved the win. A great performance by the juniors, ably supported by the old fa*ts Costello and Casson. And for those that are interested, Nam’s car was undamaged and I breathed a sigh of relief.