The Old England Cricket Club

Nets tonight! Come on down to The Old England for a bat, bowl and a pint. We'll be there via the side gate from 530pm 🍻🏏

There are no nets tonight due to a midweek friendly. They will resume next week.

Another really good midweek net at The Old England. Always good to see some of our more serious athletes staying on afterwards to rehydrate.

Nets tonight from 6pm until dark. Side gate at the Old England will be open. Grab a drink and head out the back!

Second outdoor net of the season and it was incredible to see over 20 people with both regulars and new faces. Two full lanes and a healthy contingent staying for drinks afterwards too!

Weather forecast has us optimistically aiming for our first outdoor winter net out the back of the Old England pub tomorrow from 6pm. Everyone welcome. Side gate will be open.

Getting loose and warmed up before our penultimate indoor match last week 🍻

What a great first match against Brislington Cricket Club for our return to indoor cricket after a 5 year hiatus!

After winning the toss, our Head Warthog Bertie Rogers chose to bowl first which lead to the usual questioning of the decision by the batsman. The bowlers though were impressively (surprisingly? - Ed) consistent considering the lack of cricket and picked up regular wickets at the top through Jeremy Greig (2-20) and Rob Cooper (2-28). Their excellent ex*****on was ably supported by an energetic fielding performance and a really economical Tom Barrington (0-14). With the Brislington innings in danger of whimpering to a small total, a vital middle order rally from Brislington, with a big use of the powerplay, allowed them to set 101 required to win.

Heading out to bat the OE ticked along whilst James Black (64*) and Barrie Darby (14) were at the crease, with the run rate staying above the oppositions at the same stage. However as wickets began to fall, starting with Barrie who was run out by a brilliant piece of fielding, it became key that James would be able to anchor the innings. He batted with restraint to reach a chanceless 25 and retired, but was back in before he'd barely had time to take his helmet off. With Brislington using their best bowler to try and wrap up the win with some fiery away swing, James "Blacky" Black made sure to see him off and then called the batting powerplay in the 11th over with 40 needed off the final 2. The first ball was an uneventful dot, before both batters' fitness was put to the test with 4 consecutive wall dabs and quick singles and a legside wide to round it off. With the powerplay doubling all runs scored a quite incredible 31 was added to leave just 9 to win off the last (yes, we're aware that an over where everything is doubled should be impossible to see an odd number of runs scored 🤷).

When 7 were taken from the first two balls of the final over, leaving just 2 needed from 4, it looked like the game was sealed but remarkably 3 dot balls left the game heading into the final delivery with all 3 results possible. Unflappable, and also now incredibly sweaty and short of breath, James once more perfectly guided the ball into the wall for a scampered 3 to seal a stunning one wicket win in a game played in the right spirit throughout.

An incredible innings from James Black that was paced to perfection and will take some beating as the innings of the season!

Such a fun match and it was great to get a team back in an indoor league and a big thank you to the organisers and umpires who did a brilliant job.

Indoor season starts tonight and we're having our AGM at the Sportsman afterwards from 8.30pm for anyone who wants to join

Our end of season AGM is on Thursday evening. We'll be voting in roles, reminiscing about the season and planning our winter. If you'd like attend reach out to Jeremy Greig or Eric Stephenson.

Well, now what do we do with our weekends?

And just like that, with shoulders sore, backs seizing up, scabs on elbows and knees and one smashed rear windscreen, the season came to a lovely conclusion at the delightful Lansdown Cricket Club. Always one of the best places to play we managed to win the self titled "Battle for 4th place" with maximum points.

Set 212 by Lansdown, who were indebted to a classy hundred from Max Trotman, the OE put together one of their best batting performances of the season to chase down the target for the loss of just 4 wickets. 50s for James Black and Ben Salisbury stood out, as did a brutal 44 from Ruan De Jong that had the opposition fearing for the safety of their hands. There was also a huge straight six from our former Lansdown c**t, Charlie Guy, who comfortably cleared the pavilion with room to spare!

It's been another amazing season full of tight games (2 ties!), great times, astonishing collapses, inexplicably bad fielding and the consistent feeling that Eric is about to explode with stress. Incredibly we've managed to have 45 people play for us this summer which is genuinely awesome and shows how welcoming and friendly a bunch we are.

A couple of videos of Ben on his way to his excellent unbeaten 50, as well as the car that reflects the state of some of our bodies now the season is over.

Thank you everyone who has taken part this summer, and that goes to both our own players and our oppositions, as well as all the people who don't play but help their clubs run.

Due to injuries and illness the OE net session is cancelled tonight.

Thanks Old Elizabethans for a lovely midweek friendly! Always a pleasure.

Now on to our home game at Long Ashton v West United on Sunday where we will yet again have debutantes getting involved. Amazing how many people have played for us this season :)

No nets tonight as we're playing a T20 friendly against the Old Elizabethans.

Absolute scorcher on Sunday for our game v Hampset CC. Batting first, we collapsed spectacularly to post 188 all out from only 30.3 overs after being 130-2. Big effort from the Hampset team in the heat to stick with it and fight their way into the game. We were massively indebted to Ben Salisbury for an excellent 57 and a brutal 46 off just 22 balls from Hal Parks to give us a fighting chance.

In the field we remarkably held 6 catches (and dropped none!) as a great all round effort saw us bowl Hampset out for 173 at the end of the 39th over. Tom Barrington with the pick of the figures as he snaffled 4-29 with an excellent spell of off-spin bowling.

All in all a great game against excellent opposition who are always a pleasure to play against.

A great win at the weekend against Hinton Charterhouse at Long Ashton CC. A big all round effort in the field in the heat followed by an amazing unbeaten 90 from Bertie Rogers to see the chase home.

No game last week but we'll be back at nets at the Old England on Wednesday and then a home game v one of our favourite opposition Hinton Charterhouse Cricket Club this Sunday.

Great game at the weekend v The Star CC. Amazing pitch, good weather and in the end we just came up short chasing 270.

Some great performances too with a 6-fer on just his second appearance from Prasad and first 50s for the club from Duncan May and Charlie Guy.

Good luck with the rest of your season and its great to have you back in the same division Star CC. We missed you :)

Great net session tonight at the The Old England. Was amazing to have new faces and special shout out to Will who had his first ever bat and bowl!

Nets tonight from 6pm at the The Old England. Plenty of kit can be provided so head on down and grab yourself a nice pint on the way 😎

In incredible scenes we tied our second game of the season! 50s for Bert and Shiv as well as a stunning 4-28 for Prasad on his debut standing out in the stats.

A selection of our safe for work photos and videos from our recent tour to the Netherlands. Amazing hosts, great beers and superb weather.