It has been a strange old summer in many ways, but one constant in my life has always been summer = Cricket, and this summer was no different, although playing 10 matches across seven different XIs for two different clubs is a new one on me...!
I'm thrilled that Old Isleworthians & Heston CC has been able to undergo a renaissance, profiting from a massive fallout from my first club, Wycombe House, which saw a mass exodus in our favour, enabling the Is to field two league XIs this season - both sides finishing as champions in their respective division. I played in a pre-season match for the new 2s as well as an "Old Boys" XI match, but in the end after a few weeks out for various reasons I left for pastures new, answering the call from Kempton CC, a side that has a number of former Is in their ranks these days.
Kempton field four XIs in the Surrey Championship, and it was in the 4s that I started - my 1 (before getting out to a horrible daisy-cutter) won't live long in the memory but a decent cameo for a "5th XI" (in reality a mix of 3rd XI players and youngsters/fringe players) saw the skipper that day, normally the 3rd XI vice captain, suggest he'd recommend I play for the 3rds. Sure enough, my next match was for the 3s and successive top scores (42 and 45) suggested he was right.
Despite scoring just 3 in a match that lasted seven overs, I soon found myself promoted again to the 2nd XI, playing once before my disjointed season was halted again by my two week stay in my Mum's new place in Dorset. A lack of availability meant I was still in the 2s on my return, scoring 8 in a match we should have won but contrived to lose, and to my relief I was back in the 3rd XI for the final league match of the season.
Or so I thought. Turning up early at our ground on Saturday, the 1st XI found itself a man short after a late drop out. I thought at first they were joking when the 1s players started suggesting I might be playing for them, but when skipper Gary (aka King Dong) filled out the team sheet and gestured to me that I was listed, all went a bit giddy. More so when, put into bat, he told me I'd be batting at 4 against a side that would clinch promotion with victory. Eek. My mood wasn't lifted when I saw the left-arm opener luzzing the ball down at roughly 150mph, although the guy from the other end looked more palatable. It was, however, the more innocuous looking bowler who got a couple of wickets to send me in. I faced out the rest of his over comfortably, and was greatly relieved to see the 150mph lefty had been taken off. Sadly his replacement was a 9'3" giant who bowled at about 140mph instead. I was credited with a run (my ankle apparently sounds like a bat when the ball whacks it) but was then trapped in front LBW for that solitary run. Said behemoth then ran through us, taking 4/13, so I didn't feel too badly, as we were hammered by 9 wickets with the match finishing at 3:30.
So, a weird season. While it was a massive wrench to leave the Is (although retaining membership and links as an "Old Boy"), I've been delighted to play in my new surroundings with a great bunch of guys who've taken me in quickly as one of their own. I'll certainly be helping the new Is sides celebrate their performances at the OIHCC end of season dinner on Friday, so please play quietly on Saturday, meanwhile the gear will be mothballed again until my 34th summer of Cricket kicks off in mid-2018.
