Welcome to Marsh Gibbon Cricket Club

After last week’s vital win against fellow relegation rivals Westbury the seconds travelled to Stonesfield for another “60 pointer.” With the sun out and the toss won Lucy and Paul set about setting a formidable total hoping to capitalise on the two missing fielders that had not yet turned up.
A steady start followed with both openers being watchful of the swing that the blustery wind aided. Lewis was first to depart guiding the ball to gully, he was quickly followed by Paul who had decided to copy exactly the same shot with the same result. Jules and Jordan then set about boosting the scoring rate with a good mix of boundaries and quick running to move the score near three figures. Jules then returned a catch to the bowler to leave for a jug avoidance of 47. With a good platform in place the 200 mark was the target that the skipper was setting from the sideline once he had decided to concentrate on the match and not what formation his footie team would be playing. With a hungover Nick T looking like he wanted to be in bed and ducks from the captain and vice, once again our good start looked like it could be in danger of disappearing. However we needn’t have feared as Scotty carried on his good batting form of the last few weeks dispatching the ball around the park whilst Jordan at the other end was looking more and more confident until he hauled out to the long off boundary but not before scoring a fine 49. Scotty finished on 43 leaving Tommy Leonard 2 balls to charge the bowler for what could turn out to be a vital 4 runs to leave us on a respectable 191-9.
With Boz stocked up on mini rolls and Scott with his ham, crisp and grape sandwich we set about trying to defend the total that we felt was enough against the home teams 10 men. Timmo and Nick T bowled a tight first 15, each taking a wicket a piece to leave the home team struggling in the forties. With two good batsmen still in we felt Stonesfield had the chance of scoring quick runs like they had done in the previous game. They were both back in the hutch soon after with new double team Tom/Tom teaming up to run out their number four then Boz taking a catch behind the stumps of Lewi leaving us in a very strong position. With Nick T bowling economically (12 overs for 12 runs) and Lewi at the other end taking out the usual rabbits although their seemed to be a few more than usual. Stonesfield collapsed to less than 70 all out leaving us with another vital and all but securing our safety for another season.

Marsh turned up to grey skies and a wet outfield hoping to build on two previous wins with another today against relegation rivals Westbury having the potential to push us up the league away from the relegation zone.

With Lewi winning an all important toss Westbury were put into bat with us hoping for quick wickets with the rain looking more and more imminent. With tight bowling from both Timmo and Mason, Westbury struggled to 30-1 off the first 15 with Andy making the breakthrough with Boz taking the catch behind the stumps for two in as many weeks. The introduction of Nick T once again paid off with him finding the edge of their opener who had just began to open up with a sharp catch by Lewi at first slip. Excellent fielding once again runs were hard to come by. With the pressure mounting a good pick up and throw from Jules got the first of his 2 run outs of the day. Leaving us in a commanding position with the rain once again starting to fall. After his heroics of the previous week Deano left his mark on the game with a top draw one handed diving catch at gully off the bowling of Mase with him finishing with figures of (2-26) With loud rumbles being heard it was asked by some of the first team contingent whether it was Deano’s landing or thunder that had caused the noise. Lewis then completed the good fielding display with the best catch of the day leaving Westbury to struggle to 115-6.

With another top notch Marsh tea this week done by Mrs Shipperley, Lewis and Pete set about chasing the required score with hopefully not as many nerves as the previous week. Shippo departed soon after caught behind to leave us wondering whether we were to be in for another tight match. However with steady batting from Lewis at one end and Jules playing his normal game the score moved past the 50 mark before Jules skied one to depart for a useful 23. With Jordan coming and going quickly is was left to Mase to bring us home for a well played 39 with Tef in his first game of the season finishing unbeaten on 10.

Three wins on the trot now have lifted us out of the relegation zone leaving us needing a couple of wins from the last four games in the season to ensure our Division 7 status for another season.

After last week’s top class performance against bottom of the league we were looking to carry on where we had left off against a much stronger team in Kidlington. With memories of the reverse fixture still in the minds of some people (especially mine) where they had scored in excess of 350 revenge was defiantly wanted and needed.

Having lost the toss again (your losing your touch skip) we were asked to have a bowl. With the team boosted by the return of Deano for the first time in over a year we got off to a steady start. After the previous game we knew that we had to keep their opener quiet as he had the ability to score fast runs. We were successful in this to some extent with Kidlington reaching 50-1 off 12 overs, with Timmo taking the wicket that his tight bowling deserved. With the opener having a charmed life with many air shots just falling short we were all beginning to wonder if luck would not be on our side yet again. However the introduction of Nick T changed this taking out not only the opener but also the middle order finishing with figures of (12-5-17-5) backed up by good catches from Jordan, Lewis and Timmo. With other wickets falling to Chris, Lewi, Timmo and Scott who found the batsman’s edge that was well taken by Boz for his first catch in a Marsh shirt, Kidlington were restricted to 144 a target that we felt was well within our grasps.

With some noticeable absentees from the batting line up everyone knew that they had to do there bit if we were to reach the target. However we were soon on the back foot with both Lewis and Jordan back in the pavilion with the score just into double figures. With batsmen getting in and then out again Chris (10), Nick (11), Timmo (17) and Lewi (16) things weren’t looking good in us achieving the score with Boz and Aaron both getting ducks we slumped to 103-9 still 42 runs short of what we required. With Deano taking to the crease for the first time since his injury bets were being placed on the sideline (mostly by Boz) on how many balls our new number 11 would last.

With the thought of more tea and drink back in the pavilion we were resigned to another defeat just wondering when the inevitable would happen.  How wrong we could be!!! With Scotty at the other end playing a very cultured innings with the occasionally lusty blow and Deano punishing anything short the target quickly came into sight with all spectators’ even players from the game on the next pitch stopping to watch. With boundaries flying all over the place and two huge sixes one from each man over the leg side boundary the required runs ticked into single figures. With the increasing nerves on the boundary we got to within 1 run to win before Deano dispatched his second six of the innings to secure the most remarkable comeback seen in many a year. With him finishing unbeaten on 33 and Scott hitting 24 the pitch invasion was well deserved for both players.

After more than a year out it was a most deserved comeback of which we hope there will be many more to come.

With Westbury being beaten we find ourselves outside the relegation zone for the first time in a long while. With them visiting on Saturday never has a win been more important on building on the last two matches to ensure that we stay outside of the drop zone.

Arriving with only 10 men with some noticable players missing including the captain we still felt that after already beating them this season a good start could well bring our second victory in three weeks. However after an early breakthrough with Lewis just about clutching to a catch in the covers off nick t a big second wicket stand broken by another fine catch by Timmo on the long off boundary off Westy was followed by an even bigger third partnership left Marsh chasing the mammoth score of 323. Some positives were taken from the innings though especially the good bowling spell by little Tommy Leonard who then put an even better display in eating more tea than the rest of the team put together.

The Marsh innings got off to a steady but solid start with both openers Lucy and Jules reaching 20′s before being dismissed. Jules a dubious looking LBW shout and Lewis nicking behinddown the leg side. The innings then began to collapse with only Nick T (32) making any real contribution to the scoreboard. With wickets falling regularly including some dodgy run outs (naming no names. Scott and Matt) marsh finished on 119 a long way short of what we required and what we were aiming for with 15 overs of the innings gone.

With bottom of the league West Illsley coming to Marsh on Saturday a much better performance in all 3 areas of the game is needed to keep our survival hopes alive.

After the heat wave of the last few weeks it was back to the normal cricket weather of cloudy skys and the threat of rain. With last weeks victory still at the front of everyones minds and the chance to get one over on Toftsy we all went into the match looking to build on the success of the previous week.

With Lewi’ magic 50p not working this week we were put into bat on what looked like a bowler friendly wicket. The opening partnership of Jeacock Snr and Jnr were sent it to see off the new ball whilst building a solid base to build from. However after four overs this was not going to plan with both Lewis and Paul back in the pavilion with the score not even into double figures. Jules then joined Derek in the middle to give Marsh two vastly experienced players to play us out of the situation we found ourselves in. With Toftsy already saying he wanted to change in the home team dressing room the whole team was left wondering if he wanted to play for us as well as he dropped no fewer than four catches in the next few overs giving Jules, Derek and Chris big let offs.

After last weeks innings Chris was looking full of confidence and with JC going along nicely the Marsh faithful were looking forward to seeing a big partnership forming. With the score pushing three figures Toftsy finally took one behind the stumps to dismiss Chris for 24. After cameos from Mason (11) and Nick Kiam (13) Timmo joined JC in the middle for the last few overs. With some lusty blows and quick running including a run four Marsh finished on 168-7, Timmo on 20 and Jules finishing on a well deserved 75.

After another good Marsh tea, by Mrs Wyatt this week which included donuts, eclairs and to the skippers delight sandwiches with no crusts we took to the pitch confident of defending the score we had posted and discussing who would get the prized wicket of Wolvercotes number 2. We didnt have to wait long to find out with Mason doing the honours of clean bowling him sending him packing for 14 and some well deserved banter. Timmo then joined the party getting their number 3 out LBW with the longest appeal village cricket has ever seen with the batsmen nearly running two by the time the umpire raised his finger leaving Wolvercote 37-2.

With the score at drinks reaching 100-4 which included two more Mason wickets the match was finally balanced with both teams thinking they could win the game. A quick wicket followed for Marsh soon after with Ollie Selway in his shiny new boots claiming the wicket of their wayne look alike. With still 60 odd runs to get we felt that the game was there for the taking, however soon after this diminished with Paul dropping their number 6 on 0 who eventually went on to top score with 41 and win them the match. The only noticable moment in the match after this point was the first wicket for Jules in 5 years he tells us.

Having been in a strong position a few times throughout the innings it was a disappointing loss, however after earlier performances this season it was defintly an improvement against one of the strongest teams in the league. With the pussy well fed again including a fine for the first time to an opposition player we set about drinking and eating the platefuls of watermelon, cheesy balls and cake that was left over.

With the skipper on holiday next week (convienent as its the long trip to hooky) its down to us to put in another good performance with Hook Norton being one of the teams we need to aim to beat if we are going to avoid the drop!

After a much improved performance against league leaders Kilkenny last week we arrived in confident mood on a scorching hot afternoon. With the toss being won again by Lewi who informes us that its 8 out of 9 this season with his lucky 50p we decided to have a bat. With last weeks batting bolstered by the addition of JC we were looking forward to posting a big score on what looked like a good batting track. Things didnt start quite as planned though with Lucy whose mind was obviously on the arrival of the missus deciding to leave a straight one on middle stump. With Jordan joining JC in the middle the innings started to take shape with the scoring rate pushing up to four an over, giving us a solid base after 10 overs just as the captain had ordered! After Jordan had departed for 13 Jules was joined by Chris with both of them quickly getting into their stride pushing the score into three figures, Jules then edged behind after a fine knock of 58 to leave the innings finally balanced at half way. Nick Kiam then came and went quickly for a brisk 14 before Chris was joined by Timmo who recieved ironic applause after getting off the mark after two ducks in the last three weeks (thanks guys) A solid partnership was formed with Chris passing 50 his first for the club and Timmo heading that way pushing the score past 200 for the first time this season, with both departing soon after Chris (69), Timmo (38) it was left to Lewi and Tom “Boz” Bosley to take us to a very respectable 247-6.

After tucking into a fine selection of sandwiches and cakes we took to the field confident of defending by far the biggest score we had posted this season. With the Marsh faithful on the sidelines tucking into what was left of the tea which was considerably more than usual as Lucy had only had one helping (shocking i no!!) the innings started steadily with Hanney creaping up to 50 without loss after 10 overs. A wicket was needed and it came soon after with Timmo bowling one that nipped back to hit leg stump, another followed soon after with Scotty the replacement keeper taking a good catch behind the stumps off Nick Kiam to leave Hanney a mountain to climb. However some lusty blows from their number 3 kept the score board ticking and the nerves on edge. With a breakthrough desperately needed it was left to the skip and vice to make this with Timmo taking a stunning catch on the long off boundary to all but seal the game. Or so we thought!! With the scoreboard constantly ticking over the match started to come more and more into the balance with only excellent fielding from the whole team keeping the required rate at a high level. One noticable bit of fielding was Lucy who added in a dive and roll to impress the home support this however was missed by the two Mrs Jeacocks who were to busy with sudokus and reading the latest edition of Cosmo. With the match heading towards a close finish it was left to another catch from Timmo and tight bowling from Lewi (5-45) to see Marsh home winning in the end by a comfortable 28 runs.

A good all round display for the first time this season lifting us of the bottom of the league. With the return of Tofsy on Saturday (if he dares turn up) and a new found confidence lets hope this is a first win of many that can push us up the league into a position we deserve!