When one has played cricket in the same county from boyhood to (comparative) old age, most of the grounds and pitches have a certain history attached to them. This history is comprised of an interesting amalgam of past performance and present expectations, memories (good and bad), friendships forged, disagreements, disagreeable umpiring decisions, the weather, and the opposition players. Looking down the list of fixtures at the start of the season, one can tick off the things that happened at any given venue and create a mental checklists of what to expect, how to play and what to put to rights this time. Oh yes, one of the most delicious aspects of a new season and a visit to an old haunt is that there is always a this time! Even if the last visit was twenty or thirty years ago.

This week’s visit to Stratfield Brake, the home of Kidlington CC, was no different: I had last visited there circa 2004 and had mixed memories of playing them in Cherwell Div 1 for our seconds, then captained by the venerable (and venerated) Ross Buchanan. Two memories abide from that encounter: the intense cold (the address was/is Frieze Way), and Mali Richards, son of the Master Blaster himself, Isaac Vivian Alexander. Even in those days, pre-Cherwell League exit, Kidlington had not exactly endeared themselves to the League but had somehow procured the services of Mali, who was studying in Oxford. We batted first on a bitterly cold afternoon and when it was my turn to bat, I nearly walked in wearing a hoodie over my whites. I had sat and watched Mali stalking the cover area, cutting off singles by running in. It was the first time that I had seen anyone run in as opposed to simply walking in with the bowler. It made sense on such a cold afternoon and I secretly hoped that we would see some flamboyant Caribbean stroke-play when he batted and absent-mindedly scanned the square boundaries. Especially the leg side. I also felt nervous and a little bit sorry for him. Having a father as illustrious as Viv would cast a tremendous shadow on anyone and unfortunately, Mali was just a decent club cricketer. Nothing more, nothing less. However, everyone filed up afterwards and shook his hand cordially, hoping for a bit of Viv’s magic to rub off and Mali shook, being a well-mannered young man. If he inherited anything from Viv, it was the magnanimity with which he offered his hand, knowing that he was obliging lesser mortals.

So these then, were my last memories of Kidlington CC and Stratfield Brake. We lost that match back in the day but that memory had been cast aside due to the cold. And Mali. Snapping back to the present, my main concern was getting there. It is just one mind-bending place to get to, sitting on a shortish dual-carriageway that connects Kidlington to the Pear Tree roundabout (more or less). If you miss the turning you would have to go around again. I used to wonder if that was one of the reasons for the league to banish Kidlington. Anyway, my fears were totally unfounded as my daughter decided to drive and we managed to get there in good time despite my best efforts to get her to take the A34 exit towards Bicester! She merely swatted away my earnest entreaties to go the wrong way in as casual and dismissive a manner as Viv flicking Derek Pringle’s pesky away cutters to the square leg boundary.

The freshly-mown grass, the stumps standing in the middle, meeting old friends, and the sun. Yes the SUN! It all suddenly made me aware of why we play the game. Why I decided so long ago that choosing to spend almost an entire Saturday in the company of ten like-minded individuals was infinitely more preferable to, say, watching Grandstand or World of Sport all afternoon. In spite of the undoubted “attraction” of those two moustachioed commentary titans, Des Lynam and Dickie Davies. Cricket it was, on summer Saturdays, and so it was this day as well. A new bat, a new season, a new captain. To borrow a line from Abba, a sense of expectation hanging in the air. Voulez-vous indeed. And the fact that on this visit to Stratfield Brake (still located on Frieze Way), I did not need to remove icicles from my nose in arctic conditions was an added bonus. Let the game commence!

Fast forward to the early evening and Oxford’s veteran all-rounder, Alf Symons had just put paid to Kidlington hopes by castling their last batter with the home team still 48 runs adrift. It was a glorious end to the day with the remnants of the second team present after their easy win at Chipping Norton earlier. Chasing a respectable but under-par 179-8, Kidlington had had a couple of decent partnerships before hitting the doldrums in the middle overs despite a welcome cooling breeze drifting across the grounds to offset the warm sunshine.

In near-perfect batting conditions the Kidlington line-up focused on defence rather than attack. Oxford kept up the pressure with miserly bowling backed up by dedicated fielding in the expectation that the home team would start attacking soon. The attack never materialised and over by over, the 179 total started to look more and more unscalable. And so it proved. As well as the bowlers bowled, the fielding was exceptional with the veteran Steve Cootes standing out with his leisurely swoops to stop certain fours and Akul (AKA AK) haring around the covers, the boundary and everywhere else helping out other veterans (mentioning no names!).

The pick of the Oxford bowlers was Adnan Khan with four but it was a real team effort with good back-up from Alf Symons and Joe Ward picking up a brace each. Had Kidlington not lost so many wickets, it would have been an interesting last five overs or so but the end came swiftly.

Earlier in the day, in ideal shirt-sleeve weather, captain Steve Hurt had won the toss and batted, his early intuition paying off as he and Steve Cootes enjoyed the conditions in a stand of 28 that was very easy on the eye. Thereafter Oxford lost a couple of quick wickets before Hurt was joined by the Big Fella Mark Sheehan in a typically robust 41-run stand that promised so much more, considering the form that both have shown in Oxfordshire Seniors colours this season. It was not to be however, with Sheehan tamely lobbing one up to cover.

Hurt then forged a telling 45-run partnership with Numa Shah, playing her first Cherwell League match of the season. This was to prove decisive in the context of the game as well as being the highest stand of the innings, indeed the match. As Numa nurdled and rotated the strike, Hurt was able to pounce on anything loose to hit valuable boundaries. Useful runs were then scored against a tiring Kidlington side by the lower order, with Alf Symons batting bravely whilst battling with a summer cold. His hard-hit 31 not out at number 8 was another deciding factor against the hosts.

It had been a pleasurable return to Stratfield Brake, with more memories forged and a wistful look back as well as an expectant eye to the future, for another this time!

Ali Shah.