OCCC 191 for 6 (Crump 85, G Ealham 54, Majid 3-33) School 5 for 0
The season got underway with a hastily arranged 40-over match against the School on a grey Thursday afternoon on Jubilee. For the School 1st XI the weather was of little consequence as it was the first game they had played since July 2019 and so any match was welcome.
Matt Crump did an excellent job in putting together a side in 48 hours, while the School, with a few UVth players absent doing exams, gave debuts to some young players, including IVth form spinner Hasaan Dajir.
Crump (85) opened the batting with Oli Trower (23) and both started well against the opening attack, Trower scoring three boundaries off one Tom Laws over, albeit with the first gloved just out of keeper Sachin Shanmugavel’s reach. Crump was also dropped twice – one simple, one less so – while an edge from Trower was also spilt.
The introduction of spinners Tommy Ealham (1 for 14) and Yousef Majid (3 for 33) stemmed the flow of runs, and Majid broke the opening stand of 66 by bowling the becalmed Trower. Jack Scriven (7) had barely got going when he was well run out going for a third to Ruairi Johnson in the deep, but that brought in George Ealham (54) who showed his class with a mix of the orthodox and the innovative.
Crump eventually ran out of puff within sight of what would have been a deserved hundred (despite his claim he wanted to give everyone a bat) while Ealham spooned a catch into the covers.
The final score of 191 for 6 was reasonable given the conditions but the School openers faced only one over before the rain came. Despite a few lulls when it seemed the game might resume, a downpour at 5pm brought a premature end.