Old Hurstjohnians | Eton Ramblers | Old Georgians | Old Tonbridgians | Fettest-Lorretonians | Rugby Meteors | Butterflies | Old Wellingtonians | Esher

Eds Copleston reflects on a shattered dream

OCCC lost to Old Hurstjohnians by 163 runs, June 24th
The OCs' first outing in the Brewers Cup ended in a comprehensive 163-run defeat, the second biggest in the club's history, at the hands of the Old Hurstjohnians. Being drawn against the pre-tournament favourites, who fielded several players with county experience, was bad luck but the home side thoroughly deserved their victory.

Once Eds Copleston had lost the toss on a blisteringly hot day the Ocs were always chasing the game. The experienced Michael Chetwode and Sam Watkinson were unfortunate not to make early breakthroughs but thereafter the batsmen were on top. None of them really cut free, a credit to the perseverance of the bowlers, but almost all of them made valuable contributions. And made quick runs in the dying stages of the innings, adding 46 from the final 5 overs. Hufton, whose last over for the club two years earlier had lasted eleven balls, surprised many with his nagging medium pace and Moorby also did enough to justify his selection as sixth bowler.

The target of 288 was stiff but getable on a fast outfield, but it needed at least three batsmen to make big scores. The loss of the in-form Eds Copleston, who gloved a lifter, in the second over was disastrous and thereafter the afternoon disintegrated. Brown was needlessly run out, albeit by a good piece of fielding, and Howard completely failed to control an attempted hook to leave the OC innings in tatters. Simon Copleston and Abeed Janmohamed stopped the rot and briefly threatened to take the attack to the Hurstjohnians, but then Copleston's well-balanced innings was ended by a stroke of bad luck as he top edged a flick of his legs and was caught at long leg. Any remaining hopes of a miracle vanished within three overs of the resumption after tea as Read failed to get on top of an off-drive and was well caught at mid-off and then Steve Bailey repeated the shot two balls later. All that remained was to try and scramble the runs to avoid a record defeat (180 runs) which Janmohamed managed. He was last man out for a battling 53, an innings of composure during which his backfoot strokeplay was particularly elegant.

Nick Read strikes at Hurstpierpoint - but it was too little, too late

Despite media calls for his resignation, Eds Copleston remained defiant. "We were missing a good six or seven players from my strongest line up from the squad," he said, adding, "this is not an excuse - we came a poor second on the day. I take so many positives from the belief we found out there in the field when it would have been easy for the guys to switch off."

Warming to his task of trotting out clichés, he went on, "It is disappointing. I don't like to lose, nobody does. The batsmen just didn't play to their potential. This is a crushing defeat, but I take a lot of encouragement from our performance. We'll certainly come back a stronger side next year."

Asked whether the presence of Rick Johnson would have not strengthened the side, Copleston was unrepentant. "We've got a lot of youth coming through. He knows how i feel about application and attitude"

There was a little consolation for the Cranleighans in that 24 hours earlier the School had beaten Hurstpierpoint by two wickets chasing a target of 211.

O Hurstjohnians 287-6 (50 overs)
O Cranleighans 125 (32.5 overs) (Janmohamed 53, Copleston S 33)

OCCC lost to Eton Ramblers by 5 wickets, July 15th
Eds Copleston and Abeed Janmohamed - pick of the batsmen in 2001 The OCCC cricket week got off to a disastrous start on Sunday with a five-wicket defeat by the Eton Ramblers. Having lost the toss and been put in, Graeme Brown (49), out of form lately, took the attack to the bowlers with four boundaries in the opening over and gave us a rapid start despite the early loss of Hume. But Howard's dismissal to a poor shot for the second time in successive matches, followed by Hobbs' demise on the stroke of lunch left us at 120-5 at the break. Ed Copleston (78*) led the post-interval recovery on a placid track, marshalling the tail with great authority to steer us to 259-9. As in previous years, the visitors relied on a string of seamers to restrain the batsmen in the hope that they had enough firepower to chase a target.

The OC bowlers made two early breakthroughs to leave the Ramblers 50-2 at tea and the game looked to be heading towards a draw. However, some big hitting coupled with intelligent strokeplay put the Ramblers back on course as they began the last 20 overs requiring 131 with seven wickets in hand. Needing six an over off the last 10, Martin Williamson then had Ross caught at midwicket only for John McDermott to controversially call a no ball. If that wicket had counted the game would have been back in the balance, but instead McDermott was defiant and refused to budge. Ross then opened up smashing 38 off the next 20 balls to in an awesome display of power hitting to end the match.

The defeat spelt more pressure for the under-fire captain, Steve Bailey, who has yet to lead a full compliment of OC players onto the field in his reign. He remained positive, however. "We'll go and have a curry and a chat about the game over a few lagers. It'll all look a bit better then."

Butterflies, July 16th
A little local difficuly resulted in the Butterflies turning up a week early and , despite assurances that they would be back on the correct date, they failed to reappear. The OCCC hardcore retired to the Cranley Hotel and onto various Guildford nightspots via the murder of a golf course

OCCC drew with Old Georgians, July 17th
Another failure for the clearly distraught captain Rain robbed the OCs of running up a record score against a weakened Old Georgians attack and eventually led to the abandonment of the match shortly after an early tea had been taken at 3.00pm. Steve Bailey won the toss and had no hesitation in batting under leaden skies. Despite a dismal run of form Bailey (31), aided by Rick Johnson (108), posted 85 for the first wicket in 50 minutes; that was tame compared with what followed the captain's dismissal. Johnson and Gary O'Driscoll (102*) made the most of a pathetically short boundary on the pavilion side, some woeful fielding and less than penetrative bowling to add 165 in 70 minutes either side of a break for rain. Johnson, who was dropped five times, reached his maiden OC century in 115 minutes in an innings of unorthodox power; O'Driscoll took just 80 minutes to post his hundred, cutting and driving with style and grace. The contrast with his inelegant partner could not have been more marked. Johnson's innings was ended at the sixth attempt just minutes before the light drizzle turned to steady rain. "It was probably the worst OC century I've ever seen," said club president John McDermott. "Pure filth."

OCCC drew with Old Tonbridgians, July 18th
Suffice to say that rain restricted play to a little over four hours suring which time our opposition failed to maul the weak OC bowling attack as they should have done. Play was abandoned shortly before tea.

OCCC drew with Fettes-Lorretonians, July 19th
The rain which had marred the previous day's play continued unabated and only 70 minutes play was possible, and that took place in cold, damp conditions which rendered proceedings less than enjoyable.

OCCC lost to Rugby Meteors by 7 wickets, July 21st
The OCs were outclassed throughout but only had themselves to blame, managing to muster just nine players for this inaugural match against one of our stronger oppositions. The OC innings struggled to 173 all out, only a bright and breezy half-century by Simon Copleston giving any cause for satisfaction. Rugby knocked off the runs with few alarms and almost an hour to spare.

OCCC beat Buccaneers by 12 runs, July 29th
Abeed Janmohamed - a half-century and five wickets in the win against the Buccaneers The OCs recorded one of the most remarkable wins in recent years in defeating the Buccaneers by 12 runs on Jubilee. It was remarkable for two reasons. Firstly, with twenty overs remaining the visitors needed just 78 runs with seven wickets in hand; secondly, the OCs only had nine fielders.

The OC side was young - only one player was over 30 and only two over 23; that probably accounted for the two absentees who were, presumably, not allowed out to play by their mothers. Either way, frantic attempts to find replacements produced two individuals who only batted and then disappeared; neither scored a run.

Ed Copleston won the toss and chose to bat - according to him it was because he knew the pitch would deteriorate and was nothing to do with only having seven men on the ground at the time. Early dismissals to questionable shots on a pitch which was producing minimal bounce seemed to have left the OCs in deep trouble at 23-4 before Copleston (41) and Abeed Janmohamed (52*) arrested the slide. Janmohamed added 35 runs for the ninth wicket with Williamson (11) which, in the circumstances proved vital.

The Buccaneers begun aggressively, somewhat strange given that they were chasing a relatively small target with only nine fielders trying to fill some large gaps. Crucially, however, by tea the ball was beginning to go through the top of the wickets and uneven bounce was becoming prevalent. Ed Henderson was superb in a over spell before the interval but after the break the heroics came from an unlikely source and thanks to some inspired captaincy.

Abbed Janmohamed, with one OC wicket to his name, was brought on at the Village end and immediately his flat offspin caused problems as balls spat and shot, striking the helmeted wicketkeeper so often that the visiting umpire queried the wisdom of him standing up to the wicket. But the two wickets in successive overs from Janmohamed gave the OCs hope, although Stringer (30) seemed to have batted the Buccaneers to safety before he fell lbw to the part-time spinner with 34 runs still needed The tail offered little resistance, and the lively Pete Hobbs (2-8) wrapped up the last two wickets. But it was Janmohamed, with a half-century and 5-32, who took the plaudits.

OCCC lost to Old Wellingtonians by 7 wickets, August 5th
Match report to follow…

OCCC drew with Esher, September 9th
Rob Jones; the youngest half-century by an OC The season ended with a whimper, perhaps fittingly, as a lack of initiative on the part of both captains led to the match against Esher finishing in dull stalemate.

Esher were to blame in that they batted on far too long, purely to let one of their number who seemed incapable of acceleration score a painful century; that he reached three figures with a towering six merely added to the insult. We then refused to make any attempt to even look as if we were interested in a stiff target.

Batting first, Esher's opener was dropped behind off Tim Evans before he had scored and he made us suffer (and trust me, watching him plod along was painful); he was again reprieved, again by the 'keeper, when he had 60. We bowled a remarkable 22 over per hour, largely thanks to Chetwode (3-66) and Houston (1-61) who both came in off short runs and in all we sent down 65 overs.

Left to chase 227 in a maximum of 46 overs, we contrived to lose both openers (Hume and Craven) for 0. We could have been in deep trouble but for an excellent unbeaten 77 from Rob Jones, a 15-year-old who had been given special dispensation by the Headmaster to be elate back for the beginning of term in order that he could play. Displaying a sound technique, good footwork and a maturity beyond his years, he dealt with Esher's frontline bowlers with ease. Aided by Abeed Janmohamed (25*) he ensured that the match was saved, even if it would be consigned to most people's Room 101.