Tour got off to a flyer….with golf…overlooking the City and the sea – what better place to start things off. Bandit O’Reilly led the charge, having ‘not played for 4 years’. Saddle up Chris? Friday night was the usual eat, drink, be merry and find an appalling night club which ended in tears but was fun while it lasted

The morning dawned early….very early…..as in 7.30, so we could get to East Meon (home of Noel Gallagher apparently), who hosted their annual fantastic 6-a-side. The Hares took up their usual spot under the newly christened ‘Barford Oak’, fielding 2 ‘strong’ sides. And we won both opening fixtures! Clearly the win went to our collective heads and we got a pasting in the resulting games, including some horrific dropped catches from – and lets name and shame – Tim and Grriffff. Undeterred, The Hares ramped up the consumption of beer and cider and finished with a rendition of Parklife to a great band in a marquee in a field in the middle of Hampshire. Well, maybe not finished, despite a lot of sleep in the cabs back to Pompey , the boys made it to Tokyo Joes for some late night partying. It did’nt end well.

Sunday took us all the way to Chessington in Surrey. 30 deg heat, hungover and not really with it. Well, what a game….The Hares were 80-3 after 10 overs, when Warwick school’s finest took to the crease and put on 100+ in the blistering heat, finishing on 204. As we took to the field, Skipper Tobin took the ballsy decision to open with Chris who’d finally dismounted his horse….only to blag a wicket with his 3rd ball! The game progressed with Tour Sec Lish visibly fading as the hours ticked by. It went down to the final over, 10 needed, when our hero of the day, HP was given the challenge of finishing what he started. And he did, including a key wicket, held by Phil ‘call me Jamie Smith’ Morris. Harry then suffocated the poor lad who needed to score 4 off the last ball to leave the oppo stranded 4 short. Brilliant end to a brilliant tour.

The M25 home was Sh*te

The cost of entry is £10.00 per person which includes a superb two course, home cooked meal. If you have any special dietary requirements please let us know in advance. There is also a licensed bar with beer, wine and probably something dodgy from the Skipper’s drinks cabinet.

If you would like to take part, please message the club secretary on 07730 869857

As it is capable of propelling cricket balls at both 70mph and more or less in the same place as the previous one, it already outperforms the majority of our attack. It’s just a shame it’s even less mobile in the field than Pete Romyn, otherwise I think we’d be picking it every week.

Vice-chairman Simon Morgan and occasional club stalwart Mark Griffin put it through it’s paces(!) today and save for the missing feeder assembly all seemed to be working well.

The following clip shows how fearsome this machine is to face in real life…

Thanks also to Layla for scoring (and keeping Jake in check), Pete for umpiring and sharing his golfing wisdom liberally around and cheerleader Simon International for turning up literally on one leg and spending a small fortune on a dress (apparently a replacement for the duck suit in Ben’s loft, but who am I to judge…) that no-one seemed to want to wear (Hawk and Mushie already fined for next year).

No doubt the respective captains are scribing their witty and incisive match reports as I write, providing they can remember what on earth happened. Sadly it’s probably not worth asking these two jokers who missed the majority of Saturday’s run-fest at Empingham…

Match reports have started dribbling in – thanks for Sandy for kicking them off here and (publishable) photos are here…

‘Then a pint with the boys in a bar full of noise’

The picturesque village of Redmile provided an unusual detour on the return recce to Oakham as I finally visited a filming location of my favourite TV series ‘Auf Wiedersehen Pet’.

For the less seasoned reader, this comedy drama focussed on a disparate group of builders trying to compete with the faceless 1980’s corporates like Wimpey, McAlpines and Colin’s Construction, with varying degrees of failure. During the early part of 1986 they were billeted in The Barley Mow pub in a Derbyshire village while they renovated the fictional Thornley Manor-hence we found ourselves on the doorstep of The Windmill, in the Leicestershire countryside.

After mourning the loss of my youth (and mullet) we headed over to The Chequers at Woolsthorpe for lunch. The pub has fond memories for Richard Jones as he played on the adjoining cricket pitch as a fifteen year old and broke a roof tile with a towering six (coincidentally, The Titanic set sail from Southampton to Cherbourg on the very same day). The Chequers does excellent food, the only downside being that they advertise a ‘Campari Sunset’ on their cocktail board-the chairman ordered one but felt that it spoiled the natural flavour of the aperitif (a bit like adding water to a 100 year old malt-well, maybe not).

Replete with fine food we moved on to North Luffenham, the main reason we managed to justify this trip. Age seems to be taking its toll as Messrs Jones and Fisher had no memory of the ground, despite playing there sixteen years ago. The large, sloping tree lined oval is similar to last year’s Sunday venue, but hopefully our performance won’t be!
On arrival in Oakham we felt it was unfair to head straight to The Grainstore without giving some other pubs a chance so we called in at The Lord Nelson. After being largely unimpressed by the round (except mine which was lovely, so not all bad eh) we set up camp at The Grainstore where the Ten Fifty (and several large Grouses-you know who you are) was top notch, as usual.

Dinner consisted of tapas at Bakers Yard, where we are scheduled to have our Saturday meal (if Drage and Dunn ever bother to send me their choices) at which point I lost my voice due to a chest infection and cough, much to the amusement of the team, but not the chairman who only got one hour’s sleep due to sharing a room with an asthmatic pit pony.

Everything looks good so far

That’s living alright

Ed: further photographic coverage of their adventures can be found here courtesy of Mushie

Firstly, nets start again this coming Sunday with the first of 6 sessions at Warwick School (to be followed by the usual debrief), leading in to a further 6 sessions at Kenilworth on Monday nights. Each session costs a paltry £3, which should get you more than a glimpse at both Sandy’s Helicopter shot and the Treasurer’s hand grenades. Any prospective members would do well to come along, if only to reassure themselves that we really aren’t world beaters…

Also, the Tour Secretary has confirmed the 2016 Tour will be returning to Oakham for more fun and frolics

At this year’s Annual Dinner, Barford’s answer to the Cohen brothers (or perhaps the Chuckle Brothers depending on your point of view), Simon Drage and Ben Griffin re-enacted some of the key fielding moments from this years campaign. Although the production qualities are perhaps not up to the most exacting standards, Simon evidently poured his heart and soul into the acting and has certainly managed to fully inhabit the characters he was playing.

Given the vast range of actual cock-ups that they could have chosen, it was nothing short of miraculous that they managed to short list only 6 entries in each of the two categories: Disastrous Drops and Fielding Flops.

Disastrous Drops

Fielding Flops

This year’s video production by DGM (Drage Griffin Masterworks) was a stunning reconstruction of the entries in the Worst Drop and Fielding Flop prize categories, and included some memorable impersonations (especially of the Vice-Chairman). Hopefully these can also be made available at a later date!

Many thanks to everyone involved in organising such a fantastic event, and especially to Simon Drage and Ben Griffin for their unique hosting. The prize-winners on the night were as follows:

Simon has been Secretary of Barford Cricket Club for as long as Lionel Messi has been playing professional football, and I think it’s pretty clear who’s made a bigger impact on the world stage. Since when did Barcelona’s diminutive No 10 ever stroke the ball through extra cover or deceive a top order batsman with his slower, back-of-the-hand delivery? Let alone drag the kit-back around in his boot for most of the season or hand craft a banoffee pie for the pre-season party? To be fair, the Hawk has only chalked up the last two, but there’s always next season.

It’s hard to think of anyone who has done more to keep Barford going through the last few years including the turbulent moves away from Hareway Lane and then Leek Wootton to our current haven at Snitterfield. He’s notched up batting, bowling and the elusive clubman awards on numerous occasions and is usually omnipresent at nets and available (if selected) for the majority of matches throughout the year. He has been the veritable heartbeat of the club for a number of years, and all this despite living miles away in the depths of Coventry.

Fortunately, Simon won’t be “doing a Romyn” (at least this year), and with the burdens of administration removed from his shoulders we should be expecting some spectacular performances on the field of play next season – no pressure…