The Saturday of Eights week has traditionally been the occasion for the annual match between the College cricket XI and the Old Members XI. Old Member Jervis Smith (Jurisprudence, 1978) reports:
This year saw an extraordinarily wide selection of matriculation dates from 1975 through to 2021, from Mark Flewitt (Modern Languages – French and Russian, 1975), our “senior pro” Old Member, to Harry Kyd (Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 2021), who was last year‘s captain, with a good spread of years in the middle, and only one ‘guest’, Hector McKechnie, who filled in at the last minute when several people dropped out – one even on the morning itself!
After the usual negotiation of the toss, the College enthusiastically took the Field. (They had 10 fielders!) The aged umpires, Smith and Houlden (Modern History, 1970), hobbled out to a ripple of applause from the boat houses and took up their positions.
A very solid start by Clive Rolt (PPE, 1981) and Flewitt ensured that the Old Members did not suffer a collapse putting on 107 before lunch was taken at 1:30pm with Rolt making 57 and Flewitt 39.
At 135 for two, the Old Members looked set for a high score but whether it was the effect of the heat, Keile’s delicious lunch, excessive port drinking, or the tight bowling of the College captain Alex Banhidai (History and Politics, 2024), a vintage middle order collapse raised the college hopes despite Louis Pincott’s (PPE, 2017) steady batting. Five wickets fell for 40 runs and it was left to Findlay Thompson (History, 2018) and the Old Members’ captain Hamish Tester (Literae Humaniores, 2012) to raise the score to 225 for eight declared.
After Danny and Keile had once again excelled themselves at teatime with delicious sandwiches and cakes, the portly Old Members took to the field. Tester and Kyd took the new ball. The American opener, Chase Fellows (PPE, 2025), making his debut in cricket after shining as a baseball player, took to the quicks comfortably scoring 27 before a change of bowling saw Pincott remove him, unluckily playing on.
At the other end, Kyd had found his rhythm and already removed Niko Dahl (Physics, 2025) (14), and the Blues batsman, Freddie Katzenellenbogen (Biology, 2025) (a nightmare name for scorers) in quick succession.
The college captain, Banhidai, who made 68, was not to be discouraged and ably assisted by Will Gladston (Physics, 2024) (27) continued to keep the runs flowing as we entered the 20 overs at 5:45 pm. However, the wily slow left arm Charlie Anderson (Modern History, 1978) took out a couple of key wickets in the middle order and eventually the college ran out of players due to the evening engagements of the last two batsmen. A total of 161 all out was highly respectable off only 27 overs but proved insufficient on the day.
We repaired to the bar for some thirst-quenching ales only to discover that the allure of the Old Members’ bar tab had attracted a greater crowd than normal and the draft beer had run out! However, Danny made sure we were properly sorted out with bottled beer, and, after a medley of college anthems, the players departed tired but happy.
Many thanks to all those who attended and gave us support, including the Provost and of course the treasurer of Amalgas, Professor Tammaro. The ground was in immaculate condition thanks to Danny English’s care and attention. The occasion was distinctly improved by the services of our semi-professional scorer, Richard Sommers, whose handiwork is linked below.
The Old Members won by 64 runs.
Jervis Smith
