Scorecard

Oxford Downs CC v Cryptics Cricket Club on Sun 31 Aug 2025 at 1pm
Cryptics Cricket Club Won by 9 wickets

Match report As Cryptics converged on Standlake, they could be forgiven for imagining the trip to be in vain as sharp showers lashed the Oxfordshire countryside along the way. But the home of the Downs basked in sunshine and the pitch was protected by covers that had spared the soaking that might otherwise have prevented us playing. Nevertheless, the weather forecast suggested it was unlikely we would get a full afternoon's cricket in. The sides were ready for a punctual start and Henry Sensecall considered taking to the field to be prudent in the circumstances. Hunt and Wildman made a confident start, in particular against the pace debuntant Ed Shields who discovered that trying to fire the ball in short led to a sort of slow motion effect where the ball ballooned gently off the pitch and allowed the batsmen to pick where to hit it. By contrast his well pitched up balls, of which there were sadly too few, were virtually unplayable. At the other end the wily Mr Wilkins was tight on line and length and used his slower ball to good effect in getting Wildman to play too early and sky the ball for Henry Sensecall to run forwards and catch without crashing into the stumps such was the verticality of the shot. Shortly afterwards a high but legitimate full toss sent Hunt's off stump cartwheeling out of the ground. Under the stewardship of the 1st XI captain Warner and a brief succession of partners, the Downs maintained a scoring rate of just over 5 an over and it started to look as it things were running away from us. Alan Gregory found it hard to control the swing he was generating and gave way to Sameer Sonawale who, after being clubbed behind the pavilion for 6 by Warner, started to peg back the opposition. Will Sensecall bowled a tidy five over spell and another mistimed shot from Ling fell into Will's hands a few yards from the stumps at the bowler's end. "Pace off" was the cry now and Anton Madzarevic and Paul Massey were deployed as a latter day Laker and Lock. Things quietened down as the ball frequently passed the bat from Anton or was crushed into the pitch in desperate defence to stop Paul's beguiling spin from taking effect. Eventually a long hop from Massey provided too much temptation but was harmlessly patted to Chris Ward at square leg. In the same over Paul trapped Will Owens in front and five down provided some optimism in the Cryptics ranks. It was not long before Anton also snatched two wickets in an over with skipper Dan Hawes pulling softly to square leg where Ed Shields hung on to the catch. The new batter Hook was not going to die wondering what to do and heaved across the line without hitting the ball to be bowled. The score was around 150 and the pitch was starting to look as though runs might be hard for us. Anton bowled Warner (69) "with a beauty" (as they say) that clipped the top of off stump and Paul disposed of Brister in like manner. At 162-9 the last wicket was needed quickly to minimise a difficult chase but Ed Owens and Foster slapped and smeared the ball around to get the Downs to 181 before Sameer returned to the attack and in two balls had persuaded Foster to hole out to Will Sensecall at deep mid wicket. The Cryptics had in fact held on to all the catches that went straight to hand, a rare occurrence.
We broke for tea which turned out to be an excellent Chicken Paella prepared by Downsman Alex Wildman. As we tucked into our food, it started to rain and the pitch was quickly covered up but the shower proved short-lived. The Cryptics line up was a little limited on batting - indeed at best five batters and a lengthy tale. One of them was debutant Sameer Sonawale, unknown to us. He opened the batting with his Oxenforde colleague Ayyaz Mallick who had been part of a 150 run partnership last year. They started quite briskly. As early as the fourth over, Sameer struck Ling for a straight 6, followed by two more the following over off Owens. But this was not a slogfest as both batters carefully defended the better balls. The eleventh over, or overs as it seemed given that the bowler ran to the stumps twelve times and took us to 84 without loss and Sameer to a 37-ball half century. In the course of this over, another six from his bat saw the ball disappear at the Chapel End - he offered to retire but knowing the precarious state of our line up, and not yet being half way to the total, albeit in only 11 overs, Henry advised otherwise. The next ball saw Ayyaz bowled by Ling. When Sameer lofted the ball to mid off there was a moment of concern but the chance was shelled. Sameer would be caught again, but off a no ball. Jamie Firth went in and blocked his way through a couple of overs before getting the measure of the pitch whereupon he started to carve and punch the ball through the covers striking seven fours on his way to 38. The Downs bowlers did not really have a response and once Ling was rested. We started the last hour, still in glorious sunshine, 94-1 off fifteen overs. Despite the best endeavours of Sameer and Jamie, the former could not quite get to his century as the game raced to a close inside the first ten overs of the last hour. Sameer tried to hoist his last ball for six but it fell short and he had the distinction of finishing with 99 not out and a century stand. A few what ifs and we could have been scratching around to stay in the game but dominant batting saw us race home with uncharacteristic and perhaps unCryptics haste. There is no doubt the Downs will be back with avengeance next year and as previously, the footwear will be changed.
A final note to those who have played this fixture previously. It was a pleasure to bump into Tony Lurcock after the game. He used to torment the Cryptics with his slow right arm bowling with Simon Smith being his "bunny". Tony recalled that it was as if the Cryptics on the sidelines were willing him on to dismiss the Bear! Anyway he was in fine fettle and I am sure that many of us will join in wishing him well. I do love this fixture!
Chris Ward

Oxford Downs CC Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2w 7b 4lb 
for 10 wickets
13
181 (39.2 overs)		     
M.Hunt b  Wilkins 13
A.Wildman ct  H.Sensecall b.Wilkins 21
M.Warner b  Madzarevic 69
A.Ling ct  &b. W.Sensecall 12
L.Brock ct  Ward b.Massey 27
W.Owens lbw  b. Massey 0
D.Hawes ct  Shields b.Madzarevic 0
G.Hook b  Madzarevic 0
J.Brister b  Massey 0
E.Owens Not Out  18
C.Foster ct  W.Sensecall b Sameer 8

Cryptics Cricket Club Cryptics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Edward Shields4.002400.006.00
William Wilkins6.011527.502.50
Alan Gregory3.002100.007.00
W Sensecall5.0127127.005.40
Sameer Sonawale3.2014114.004.20
Anton Madzarevic10.0233311.003.30
Paul Massey8.0236312.004.50

Cryptics Cricket Club Cryptics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 1 wickets
0
185		        
Ayyaz Mallick b  Ling 23
Sameer Sonawale Not Out  99
Jamie Firth Not Out  38
Henry Sensecall  
W Sensecall  
Chris Ward  
Edward Shields  
Alan Gregory  
Anton Madzarevic  
William Wilkins  
Paul Massey  

Oxford Downs CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
E,Owens5.003800.007.60
A.Ling8.0226126.003.25
G.Hook4.005100.0012.75
C.Foster0.002900.000.00
Evans-Buekerwa3.202600.007.80
UA-68987171-1