Tigers outsized and outmuscled by Witney RFC ... but not outgunned

The combined Witney RFC and SpecialEffect Tigers after the game 

A warm Friday evening on the leafy outskirts of Witney and the sound of children shouting as they play outside the West Witney CC pavilion is suddenly broken up by raucous laughter. That’s right, Witney Rugby Club have arrived to play their annual 20/20 thrash against the Tigers.

Tigers team v Witney RFC

Back (l-r) Ed Juszczak, James Hayes, Paul Fagg, John Grain, James Ellwood, Baz Floyd, Stu Duff

Middle (l-r): Ben McPherson, Robbie Mills, Cam Newton-Grain

Front: Tom Juszczak

Witney RFC v SpecialEffect Tigers

Back (l-r) Robbie Richardson, Henry Lamb, Owen Fowler, Simon Copperwheat, Charlie Bennett, ?

Front (l-r): Dan Godfrey, ?, Ben La Costa, Dave Gardner, Simon Chatterton

Under darkening skies Witney RFC skipper, Owen Fowler, won the toss and with a quick glance at the heavens elected to bat. Game on!

Some early realisation that the Tigers’ wicket keeping gloves had been swiped meant that Ambush joint-skipper for the night, Floyd, was forced to bowl his spinners from the off as we waited for gloves to be driven in from Finstock (our thanks go out to Karen Juszczak for the ‘mercy dash’).

But, as Dave ‘Scottie’ Gardner and Dan Godfrey opened the batting it looked like the decision to bowl the slower bowlers first had paid dividends. Dan Godfrey totally misjudged one of James Hayes’ off-breaks and was cleanly bowled with just two to his name. First blood to the Ambush!

Charlie Bennett tormented Tigers bowlers with an excellent 28

However, two bloody noses off the rugby lads last season with new batsman Bennett being chief tormentor, caused a ripple of trepidation through the Ambush as the number three took to the crease. And, from early on, Bennett picked up where he left off last season as immediately took the fight to the Tigers.

With Gardner and Bennett looking comfortable, seeing off the first two Tigers bowling attacks, young Tom Juszczak struck a blow for the Ambush in bizarre fashion. Juszczak bowled, Bennett drove straightish, and the youngest Tiger in the field got his hand to the ball to divert it onto the non-facer’s stumps leaving Gardner stranded as he backed-up. A good knock from Scottie though and a valuable 20 added to the Witney RFC total.

And it was young Juszczak who struck again as new batsman Tom Buckingham looked to get aggressive from the outset. A drive for four and then a lofted drive to long-on and the hands of James Ellwood. Buckingham gone for four.

Next up for Witney RFC was big Simon Copperwheat. His shadow fell over the square before he’d got halfway to the crease and the bails rattled on the stumps as he strode out. Well, actually they didn’t but he is a bloody big bloke.

Simon Copperwheat blasted his way to a quick-fire 37 

And Big Si used that strength to full advantage as, grim faced, he set about the Tigers’ bowlers. As Charlie Bennett was, at last caught behind for 28 by Paul Fagg off Ben McPherson, Simon was still plundering the bowling with a series of fours and sixes.

Just as it looked as though Copperwheat would cruise to a half century, John Grain lured him into a big lofted drive to long on and Ellwood was under it to take his second catch of the night. The big man despatched eventually for 37.

Ben ‘Biscuit’ La Costa was next out to the wicket but, with his target now firmly set, Grain despatched back to the pavilion without troubling the scorer. Clean bowled and quacking all the way back to his teammates.

Carl Campbell joined Henry Lamb at the wicket as the overs dwindled. However, Lamb was retired before he even reached double figures for reasons best known to Witney RFC skipper, Owen Fowler.

Henry Lamb scrambles home as Ben McPherson scores a direct hit

And so into the Witney RFC tail-end. Strutty, like his mates Buckingham and Copperwheat, found Ellwood at long-on for Twiggy’s third catch of the night. The tail-ender gone for 3. And Carl Campbell would join him soon after as the ever-reliable Stuart Duff clean bowled him for 7.

At this point, the scoring became confused … as did I when trying to work it out. But as Chatterton nudged his way to a respectable 13, the Witney RFC tail end came to a close. But not before Tigers conceded 13 off the last over. Five of those from Stu Duff’s overthrows he tried to hurl his way to glory by running Chatterton out. The look on bowler, Newton-Grain’s face was a picture as Stu turned to apologise.

So, the Tigers would chase a pretty respectable 132 from their 20 overs.

It’s worth saying at the outset of the Tigers’ innings that triple-catching James Ellwood is actually a Witney RFC player. He defected to the Tigers for this game because Tigers joint-skipper for this one, Robbie Mills, asked him to.

The unfortunate Ben La Costa went for 2-0-21-0

And the Ambush was glad he did. Opening with Ben McPherson (yet another Tiger-Witney RFC player) Ellwood immediately set about trying to win the game on his own. Opening bowlers, La Costa and Lamb, had their bowling figures wrecked as Ellwood crashed four 4’s and four 6’s in the first four overs before Robbie Mills advised Floyd to retire him on the grounds of good sportsmanship.

James Ellwood, Tigers match-winning performance against his own rugby club 

Ellwood had got the Ambush off to a flyer with his quick-fire 50 not out. Normal service would be resumed as skipper Floyd took to the crease. Just for once, Floyd would outlast his batting partner as McPherson was clean bowled by the extremely useful Chatterton for 10.

Charlie Bennett & co take a rest as their team mates search for the ball

Floyd would be next to get despatched back to his usual batting place however (i.e. sat by the scorer). After uncharacteristically playing himself in against a mean Simon Copperwheat, Floyd chased big Si’s one wayward ball on his legs and was promptly caught behind by Lamb as he top-edged it. The skipper gone for 3.

Baz Floyd fends one off from Simon Copperwheat

The skipper is out, long live the skipper … time for tonight’s joint Ambush leader to replace his fallen team-mate. Cue catcalls, extreme sledging, hoots of derision and an immediate tightening of the fielding circle as Witney RFC favourite Mills took guard.

Simon Copperwheat turned in bowling figures of 2-0-6-1

But it would be Paul Fagg who would walk first. After hanging around and looking solid for his 7, the Tigers keeper fell foul of a jaffa from ‘Scottie’ Gardner. Clean bowled and heading for the pavilion.

The Robbie Mills fielding circle

Young Cam Newton-Grain joined Robbie at the crease and the two started to add some runs. Robbie, demonstrating he wouldn’t be intimidated by an ever-decreasing fielding circle, helped himself to a big six before being snapped up between mid-wicket and mid on by Copperwheat off the bowling of Dan Godfrey. The Tigers’ front-man might have gone but he’d added a valuable 13 as the overs dwindled and the target became ever smaller.

Simon Chatterton on his way to 2-1-7-1

Next to the crease came John Grain. And here, I think we have the first father/son batting partnership in Tigers’ history. Less than 20 needed now, would the Grain/Newton-Grain family combo steer the Tigers over the finish line.

Well, no has it happened but for all the world, it looked at one point as if they would. Both batting with measure and controlled aggression, the boys helped themselves to 10 apiece before Cam held one up off Campbell and into the grateful hands of Tom Buckingham and then John stepped across the line to be trapped leg before by Owen Fowler.

Stuart Duff would add another 7 to tie the scores before being bowled by Carl Campbell, leaving Badger-turned-Tiger James Hayes to grab the glory with the winning run. Except that didn’t work out either. The usually solid Hayes played around a peach of a ball by Fowler and was promptly bowled all over the place.

No, it was the second father/son combination of the night, who would help the Tigers stumble to victory. With three balls left, Ed nudged the required single and the speedy Tom Juszczak scampered down the wicket to see us home.

Good game lads!

Great evening, great game, great bunch of lads. Thanks very much to Witney RFC for being such good sports and providing much of the evenings’ mirth and merriment. Thanks too to Robbie and James for turning Tiger for the evening.

And, lastly, thanks to everyone from both sides for supporting our fantastic charity, SpecialEffect. Cheers fellas!

  

Click here for Witney RFC batting and Tigers bowling 

And click here for Tigers batting and Witney RFC batting

Tigers bowlers go quackers but Ducks tar and feather our batsmen

It's all action around the scoreboard ...

A warm but murky night at the home of West Witney Cricket Club saw the second league clash of the season between the Ambush and our mates, the Audley Ducks. You may remember, the Ducks beat the Tigers by a comfortable 8 wickets in the first game of the season on 22 May. The Tigers came into this one determined to put up a better show.

But as Ducks' captain Jean-Sebastian Saleem and our Chris Grain met in the middle, the night got off to a bad start. Our skipper lost the toss and was told the Ambush would take to the field.

But J-S may have been forgiven for thinking he'd made the wrong decision. Whilst an unlucky Pete Bartlett was knocked to the boundary twice in his first over by Ducks' opener, Tom Julian, at the other end Cam Newton-Grain's opening salvo claimed the tail-feathers of Chris Jacobs. A duck for the Duck's opener, bowled all over the place by the enigmatic CN-G.

Ducks innings gets underway

But the entrance of Henry Southall soon indicated a restoration of order for last season's league champions as he and Julian saw off Bartlett and Newton-Grain with no further loss of wickets. 

A change of bowling however brought about almost instant results. Ed Juszczak bowled an excellent line and length at the Burford Road End. But it was young Tom Juszczak who combined with Mark Westaby to get the Tigers back amongst the Ducks. Westaby quickly earning himself a reputation as a regular Jonty Rhodes as he smartly snapped up his second catch in as many games. Julian had done his bit though, crashing away four 4's on his way to a solid 29.

As Tom Marvin stepped up to the crease for the Ducks, he was happy to play second fiddle as Southall continued his assault on the Tigers bowling. As the number 3 blasted up another 19 runs to Marvin's 1, Ed Juszczak broke the partnership on 20 by neatly taking a catch off his own bowling to send Marvin back to the pavilion.

And as the Ducks skipper, joined the now half-centurion Southall, the Tigers waited just another 13 runs before celebrating again. This time it was the big hitting number three dismissed as Hass Olympia finally bamboozled him with spin. A great innings and a valuable 59 added to the Ducks' total by Southall.

With Dave Clapworthy joining Saleem at the crease and the overs disappearing slightly quicker than the light, the Ducks' skipper decided it was time to start taking some risks. A quick single here and a risky brace there. But Clapworthy was the next Ducks' casualty as he became Tom Juszczak's second victim of the night, finding the hands of the ever-reliable James Harrison. 

And as the Ducks skipper finally took one risk too many to be run out by Mark Westaby for 11, it was left to Jim Watkins to steer the Ducks home with an aggressive 23, including four 4's. But the Tigers' bowlers hadn't quite finished as Hass Olympia and James Harrison combined to dismiss Huw Owen for the Ducks' second duck of the innings.

With Tim Allen knocking 3 at the Ducks' tail end, the home side finished on 134 for 7 wickets, leaving the Tigers' batsmen with a run rate of 6.70 to achieve victory. An excellent Tigers bowling performance, with just three no balls and wides conceded throughout the entire innings.

So, knowing exactly what they needed to clock up the Tigers' first league victory of the season, openers James Harrison and Stu Duff found runs difficult to come by. Jim Watkins and Glenn Evans kept the opening overs tight as a ducks a**e and, with just three to his name, Stu Duff misjudged a Watkins jaffa and heard the death rattle behind him. Already well behind the required run rate and with an opener back in the pavilion, the Tigers already looked to be struggling.

Tigers' opener Stu Duff looks to drive

After two excellent league innings', hopes rested on Chris Grain to salvage the situation. But the skipper's luck wasn't in this week as he was freakishly run out by a deflection whilst backing up. Just 11 for Chris this week and with the run rate increasing alarmingly, it was already looking like the Tigers would need a miracle to win this one. 

Tigers' James Harrison steers one to leg on his way to 17

Mark Westaby joined James Harrison at the wicket but, as the pressure for runs increased, Harrison stranded himself outside his crease and Saleem stumped him smartly off Huw Owens. As Westaby nudged and clipped his way along, new batsman Dan Raymond-Barker desperately tried to put the Ducks' bowlers on the back foot. But, as he tried to hit Owen over the top of long-on, he found the trusty hands of Southall who held on to the ball well. Raymond-Barker gone for 7.

Ducks' keeper takes cleanly as Tigers' Harrison strolls home

By the time Huw Neyroud entered the crease, the Tigers situation looked lost. And, as Neyroud fell to another Saleem stumping off the bowling of Owen for 9, Tigers' last remaining hope strolled out in the form of Hass Olympia. To give Hass his due, he did try to blast the Tigers out of trouble. But, as Westaby finally succumbed on 18, leg before wicket to Evans, Olympia was bowled for 15 by Watkins and the Ambush innings petered out to mark a fourth league defeat with Newton-Grain chipping in with a token 4 and Ed Juszczak just the 1.

Tigers finished on 93-7 off their allotted overs.

Yes, it was another defeat, but lets take a few positives out of this game too. 

Ducks skipper J-S Saleem tells his Ducks how many he's going to get tonight

For the first time since 2009, the Ambush was oversubscribed for this game forcing Ben McPherson, Stewart Moss and Baz Floyd to step down (thus losing the only 100% attendance record). That's very, very good news.    

The team we lost to are a tight outfit who are last years champions and have yet to lose to anyone this season. West Witney is a big pitch and difficult to score a lot of runs on and Ducks have a very, very good group of bowlers. Difficult for the batsmen to do much against that.

And lastly, our bowling performance tonight was outstanding. Three bowlers' extras are a testament to the amount of effort that went into keeping a line and length.

So well done SpecialEffect Tigers. We salute you!

Click here for Ducks batting and Tigers bowling

And click here for Tigers batting and Ducks bowling

Swinbrook put a dampener on Tigers' hopes of a win

The Ambush v Swinbrook (12th June 2013)

Back row (l-r): Chris Grain (cpt), Baz Floyd, Mark Westaby, Tim Lowe, Stew Moss, Will Hook

Front row (l-r): Robbie Mills, Huw Neyroud, Hass Olympia, Ed Juszczak, Bill Donegan

Swinbrook CC

l-r: Joe Parker, Liam Walker, Joel Graham, Nigel White, Richie Parker, Graham Shrive, Lewis Stayte, Mark Read, Ryan Hunt, Evans Bolland, James Dover

The Ambush travelled to picturesque Swinbrook for this weeks' midweek league tie but despite some beautiful scenery and excellent batting and fielding performances, the real feature of this game was the rain. A constant, miserable drizzle that game from a leaden sky; what happened to flaming June then?

So it was a soggy Ambush that took to the field, hoping for a first league win after their encouraging batting performance at Uffington in their last outing. Tigers skipper, Chris Grain, won the toss and elected to bat. A popular decision amongst the Tigers who, looking at an early downpour, must have been expecting the game to finish early.

One of Tigers' young batting technicians, Tim Lowe opened with debutant Stewart Moss. The two looked comfortable as they took advantage of the short boundary on The Swan public house side of the ground. While Stewart dug himself in early, Tim looked to take the fight to the home side with some deft but aggressive strokeplay. The youngster's innings was cut short at 13 however when he found the hands of Shrive off the bowling of Boland.

Tim Lowe opens up to crash one through mid-wicket on his way to 13

With the departure of Lowe, skipper Chris Grain entered the fray hoping to build on an excellent 37 not out against Uffington in the last game. And so he did. As the Swinbrook bowling attack toiled away in the heavy drizzle, Stew Moss and the skipper set about them with gusto. By the time the second opener lofted to Walker off the bowling of Lewis Stayte for 25, the pair had put on over 50 for the second wicket and looked to have the home team on the ropes. 

New Tiger, Stew Moss, drives through the covers on his way to 25

As the Tigers' captain continued to carve himself another decent innings and the overs ticked by however, the Ambush batting began to falter. Mark Westaby, earning his first stripes for the Tigers tonight, looked to move the scoring on quickly. But, in his quest for quick runs, our Mark misjudged one from Swinbrook's Reid and heard the rattle from behind him as he walked for 8. 

A brief break in play as Swinbrook search for the ball in the brook

Next out for the Tigers was one of last weeks' batting heroes, Hass Olympia, who must have felt confident before the game following his knock of 41 against Uffington. However, his stint at umpiring and the fall of Westaby's wicket left Hass struggling to get himself to get padded up in good time. The rush to get his gear on and the desperation to add quick runs caused Hass to swing big and miss big as the first ball he faced from Stayte found its way under his bat to hit middle and off. Hass gone for a golden duck.

Tigers' skipper, Chris Grain, flicks through square leg on his way to 55

Next to leave the crease for the Tigers was the skipper as, on 55, he drove a straight one from Stayte directly back into the grateful bowler's hands.

Stayte's hat-trick ball would be at the third of the Tigers' debutants, Will Hook. Will was not in the mood for the walk back to the pavilion however. He wasn't in the mood for running between the wickets either as he decided to smash Stayte's first ball at him for 4 through long off. The young bowler's earlier jubilation at two successive wickets dissipated quickly as Hooky crashed a six and another four before running a quick single to let the other new batsman, Huw Neyroud, have a go. Not having had a chance to get his eye in however, the last ball of the innings was marked with a dot. But the Tigers had once again amassed a very competitive total of 128 and the Swinbrook batsmen would need to be on their game to knock the runs off.

As Hass Olympia and Bill Donegan opened the Tigers bowling, it looked for all the world as if the home side were heading for defeat as opener, Shrive, drove Hass into deep cover only to be smartly caught by Tim Lowe. And Shrive's opening partner, Graham, joined him on the long walk for just 1 as he hammered Bill Donegan into wide deep mid-wicket to be snapped up by Will Hook. Well a rugby player was hardly likely to drop a ball coming at pace was he?

With the openers gone, batsman Reid and Hunt looked to steady the wobbly Swinbrook ship. Hunt got off to a promising start by hitting Bill Donegan for 4 but misjudged the same shot on the next ball and skied one to Mark Westaby. Mark had a lot to do but the outcome never seemed to be in doubt as he grabbed the catch at a jog. Swinbrook were now decidedly shaky at 13 for the loss of three wickets.

Despite the Tigers' early success, Reid got himself on the front foot and in a legside assault began to amass runs at an alarming rate. Tigers' Juszczak, Hook and Robbie Mills tried to break Reid and his partner Walker but the runs continued to pile on. Even as Robbie Mills and Will Hook combined to dismiss Walker with another fantastic Hook catch at long on for 27, the battle was as good as won. Swinbrook skipper Nigel White would need to play a simple cameo as Reid powered Swinbrook over the finishing line with another mighty four.

It might have been another league defeat but an excellent batting and fielding performance by the Tigers meant that most of the Ambush came away feeling at least encouraged by those aspects of their night's work. And we should remember that both Uffington and Swinbrook are both league teams thus having players that play week in, week out. 

All things considered, we're doing pretty well in our first midweek league season and Baz and Chris Grain, as always, would like to extend their sincere thanks to each and every Tiger who braved the drizzle to play a game of cricket at the end of the working day. Tigers, we salute you!

Click here to see Tigers batting and Swinbrook's bowling

And click here to see Swinbrook's batting and Tigers' bowling

   
Earning their first stripes for the Tigers v Swinbrook ...

Stewart Moss (63) opened his Tigers batting account with an excellent 25

Mark Westaby (64) hit a quick eight and took an excellent catch in his debut

And Witney RFC's Will Hook took two smart catches, smashed a quick 15 and turned in bowling figures of 4-0-43-0 as he became the 65th Tiger to don the orange and green since we were formed in 2009

New SpecialEffect video on Youtube

After a fantastic AGM at SpecialEffect this week, full of inspirational stories of the children and young people our amazing charity has helped, here's the latest SpecialEffect video.

Featuring young footie fan, Jordan, and our Gavin the video will take just over a minute of your time. But it will give you a good feeling before you carry on with your Friday evening ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZlkZKkzks8

TIGERS BATTLE BRAVELY BUT UFFINGTON HAVE THE FINAL WORD

The Ambush v Uffington CC

Back row (l-r) Hassan Olympia, Tim Lowe, Simon Copperwheat, Baz Floyd, Ed Juszczak, Chris Grain (capt)

Front row (l-r): Huw Neyroud, Robbie Mills, Tony Winstone, Ben McPherson

We're lucky to live in a part of the country where we play cricket at some really beautiful grounds. The Ambush's first ever trip to Uffington proved to be another postcard venue as we played out the league fixture in the shadow of the famous White Horse.

Uffington CC

Both teams suffered late withdrawals for this game and fielded only ten players a piece but that didn't dampen either side's enthusiasm in this well fought league encounter.

Tigers' skipper Chris Grain won the toss and elected to bat, much to the disappointment of the opposition. Openers Tim Lowe and Baz Floyd were sent out to launch the Tigers innings and looked as though they might get some joy as the Uffington bowlers struggled to find a line or any great speed from a very green wicket. Floyd however was fooled as he watched Uffy bowler Shephard send four wide balls harmlessly down legside then produce a peach of a ball that went straight through the gate and took the hapless opener's middle and off stumps.

Wicketkeeper Huw Neyroud took to the crease next and must have felt confident after some fine recent knocks. But as the Uffington bowlers worked their home advantage, both Neyroud and Lowe continued to struggled to find the momentum the Tigers needed to set Uffy a decent target. A frustrated Neyroud was sent on the long walk back to the pavilion when he played through a ball from Jones and became the second Tiger of the evening to have his stumps broken. A conservative eight for Huw this week but on a track that definitely seemed to be favouring the home side bowlers.

Tigers skipper Chris Grain replaced Neyroud in the centre and, seeing the fates of Floyd and Neyroud before him, decided to take a little time to play himself in and get the measure of the wicket. With Lowe  on 17 and on strike however, the Tigers lost their third wicket of the night as he was given out leg before wicket to a straght one from Uffy's North. An unhappy Lowe tapped the inside of the bat to demonstrate to the umpire he had caught an inside edge but the decision stood and the Tigers batting looked to be floundering.

Chris Grain with another text book drive on his way to 37 not out

Hass Olympia, earning his first stripe for the Tigers with this appearance, had other ideas. With Grain now finding the middle of the bat more regularly the powerful Olympia joined him in redressing the balance of the battle. The two top order batsman amassed a partnership of over 80 before Hass finally went for a big heave off Painter and was smartly stumped by Uffington's Wallbridge for a spectacular and often audacious 42.

Hass Olympia cutting his way to an excellent 42

Time for another debutant to take to the crease. Having taken some punishment from Grain and Olympia, the Uffy bowlers wouldn't have relished the prospect of man-mountain Simon Copperwheat striding out to meet them. And, with the overs fast running out, Simon didn't hang around in piling on more runs. Smashing his way to a quick-fire 13, including a huge six, Copperwheat was removed from the crease after being caught by North trying to hit Shephard out of the ground.

Tony Winstone joined anchorman Grain for the last ball and, as Grain watched on with satisfaction as it streaked off to the boundary, he could have felt pleased with his personal knock of 37 not out amongst a very competitive total of 136-5.

With a run rate of 9.06 (6.8 in 20 over format) to chase, the Uffington openers set about their work.  Ben McPherson and Tony Winstone tried to thwart the Uffy batsmen in their hunt for runs but after a decent first over, Tony struggled to find a line and length in the second and was subsequently punished.     

Ben however had some success, breaking up the partnership with 59 on the board. A neatly taken catch by Chris Grain in the covers and first blood was drawn. But it was a solid start by Uffy and they had plenty more batting to come. 

Ben McPherson breaking up the Uffy openers 

With the opening bowling partnership back in the field, Ed Juszczak and Hass Olympia took up their bowling duties. Both bowlers kept it tight and picked up wickets, Hass and Huw Neyroud joining up to have another Uffy batsman neatly caught. Simon Copperwheat and Hass Olympia also joined in the catching practice and it became clear that the game was going to have a pretty tense ending.

With Ed and Hass all bowled out, the final bowling duties were handed over to Simon Copperwheat and Robbie Mills; the latter bowling with an injured hand. Sadly for the debutants, by this point the long Uffy batting line up had already pretty much secured victory. Robbie was denied the wicket of big-hitting Lane at the death as Floyd rounded off a thoroughly wretched personal performance by putting down a routine catch he would have normally snapped up. And it was Lane who put the final touches to an accomplished Uffington batting performance, securing with victory with a crisp straight drive for four.

Robbie Mills bowling in difficult circumstances

A great bunch of lads on both sides and a cracking game. No victory for the Ambush again this week but we certainly showed Uffington we're in the league and fighting our corner.

Thanks to every Tiger who turned out for us on Wednesday night and to all the lads from Uffington for being great opposition and a good laugh too. As soon as Uffy's Jimmy Wallbridge gets back to me with their scorebook entries, I'll get the Uffington batting and Tigers bowling in the match report. Watch this space, eh?

Earning their first Tiger stripes in this game were ...

Simon Copperwheat (61): A quick-fire 13, tight bowling and some excellent banter    

Hass Olympia (60): A superb 42, an excellent bowling performance and a catch

Robbie Mills (62): A superb fielding performance and unlucky not to have picked up a wicket

Full Ambush for league clash with Uffington

 

 A full Ambush this week? As EMF once sang ... unbelievable!

Well, that's how it looks at the moment anyway.

The Ambush for tomorrow night's away clash with Uffington is as follows (not the batting order):

• Chris Grain (Captain)
• Baz Floyd
• Tim Lowe
• Hassan Olympia
• Huw Neyroud
• Mike Gale
• Steve McGregor
• Simon Copperwheat
• Tony 'Postie' Winstone
• Ed Juszczak
• Rob Mills
• Ben McPherson

So at the moment, we've even got a twelth man. Let's see what tomorrow brings, eh?

Carry On Collecting as SpecialEffect take over Eynsham Toll Bridge

It looks like an oldies' stag night gone wrong. Nick, Baz and Grant looking really stupid

No, it's not Kenneth Williams, Bernard Bresslaw and Sid James. Its Nick Streeter, Tigers' Baz Floyd and our mate Grant Heyward larking around on Eynsham Toll Bridge on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon.

The three were part of a fantastic team of SpecialEffect volunteers who manned the bridge all day to collect for our brilliant charity.

The collection raised almost £2,000. The money will go towards helping young people with disabilities to enjoy computer games and achieve a better quality of life.

Baz Floyd looking more like the troll that lives under the bridge than a Tiger

Massive thanks to the owners of the Toll Bridge for kindly donating it to SpecialEffect for the day and to all the drivers who cheerfully dug deep in their pockets for the charity ... specially those who handed us £5 and £10 notes as donations.

But to the guy who asked for 45p change from the 50p he gave to Baz ... you're sad. And the chap in the Porsche who wanted £4.95 change from the £5 he gave to Grant ... you're really sad. And to those very, very, very few people who drove past without paying anything. Well, lets hope you never need Dr Mick or any of the SpecialEffect team to help your youngster's eh?

To everyone else though, THANKS again for your wonderful generosity.   

'Almost £2,000 on the day Bazza .. who cares how daft we look?'