OCCC 200 for 8 (J Scriven 51, B Scriven 30, Cope 27, Howard 21*, Rogers 3-32, R Sale 3-49, 45.3 overs) beat Uppingham Rovers 196 (Hughes 64, Rollings 3-27, Subba Row 2-35, Thorpe 2-38, Freeth 2-48, 49.3 overs) by two wickets
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The OCCC made it through to the quarter-finals of the Cricketer Cup with a two-wicket win over Uppingham Rovers, but it was a tense final hour and needed the calm head of the veteran Will Howard to see us totter over the finishing line.
With the sun out all day, Jubilee looked a picture and the groundstaff had prepared another excellent track with something in it for everyone. Again we struggled to get our strongest XI out and were further hampered by the late withdrawal of Sam Dickson who seriously injured himself playing a slog sweep for MCC. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Brad Scriven won the toss and put Uppingham in and Will Rollings (3 for 27) and Archie Freeth (2 for 48) made early breakthroughs with the new ball to leave Uppingham 24 for 2, but Will Rogers (29) and Henry Hughes (64) then added an untroubled 62 for the third wicket, with a highlight coming when Hughes dismissively reverse swept the first two deliveries from Jack Scriven for four. Ocne that scoring outlet had been closed, normality returned.
Once Scriven removed Rogers leg before Uppingham lost momentum, Hughes unable to find anyone to stay with him or, at times, even rotate the strike. Nathan Thorpe (2 for 38) and Max Subba Row (2 for 35) both bowled tight spells as the middle 13 overs of the innings produced only 34 runs and no boundaries.
The reintroduction of Rollings accounted for Hughes who holed out to Freeth at mid-on and with accurate bowling supported by good fielding, the Uppingham tail could only push singles with the occasional two. There were no boundaries at all in the final 13 overs.
Faced with a no-show, Uppingham sent an SOS to Cameron Sprott in Essex and he hot footed it to Cranleigh, racing up the drive as the ninth wicket fell (his arrival further delayed by getting lost in the village) . As he scrambled to change, the umpires said he would be timed out if anyone appealed. Pleasingly, nobody did. The nine runs he helped add for Uppingham’s tenth wicket almost proved crucial.
Brad Scriven (30) and Subba Row (8) made a breezy start – aided by eight wides – and Thorpe (17) then continued in the same vein as we eased to 70 for 1 after 12 overs. The first wobble followed as both departed within 12 balls, Scriven easily stumped after an expansive charge to the spinner.
With the in-form Jack Scriven (51) looking untroubled and Alan Cope (27), as always, elegantly effortless, we eased to 139 for 3 at which point we needed only 57 with 23 overs remaining. But as we saw in 2021, collapses are something of a Cricketer Cup speciality. Cope started the slide, two sublime cover drives followed a loose third, his checked shot giving extra cover a straightforward catch. Luca La Costa started with a lovely four but perished trying to cut a ball too close to him, and three deliveries later Ed Cooper pulled straight to backward square leg. When Rollings played over a straight one we had slumped to 157 for 7 with Jack Scriven desperately looking for someone to stay with him.
Enter the gnarled stalwart Howard who had left Glastonbury at 2am after two days for his first game of the summer. In his heady youth, we would have expected a thrashed four followed soon after by a shot designed to reduce his captain to apoplexy. But in his 25th summer with the club he is now a wizened old pro and that, allied to an often overlooked passion for the OCs to win, meant he reigned in his attacking instincts and played the most important of his 74 innings for the club. With plenty of overs in hand, he defended staunchly and pushed singles when the opportunity arose. Scriven, too, eschewed his big hitting and did likewise, his confidence in his partner meaning he was more than happy to rotate the strike . Still the game ebbed and flowed, the large crowd kept on their toes with a succession of confident lbw appeals as the scoreboard slowly ticked over.
There was a final twist. With 15 needed Scriven looked to flick a ball off his pads, missed, and was given lbw. His patient and well-made 51 had taken us to the brink. Enter Will Bovill, a late replacement for Dickson making his Cricketer Cup debut who was not born when Howard made his OCCC debut. Bovill looked untroubled from the off, the only alarm coming when he was almost run out after failing to appreciate the pace (or lack of) the semi-immovable non striker. Singles and a couple of leg byes, reduced the target to seven. A rare lose ball allowed Howard to pull a four and then level the scores with a cut for two. The OC spectators relaxed as did OC No.11 Freeth who had spent the previous hour praying he would not have to bat. Bovill then sealed the win with a leg glance for four.
The next round sees us travel to Wellington on July 10th. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who turned up to watch, to the always appreciated groundstaff, and to the catering department who laid on a superb tea. And not forgetting Michael Chetwode who, despite appearances, is loving his new role as reserve scorer.
