To continue my marathon trip around the Oxford colleges during the Wandering cricket teams festival of 2000 I can pick up the threads in Abingdon, where the first match of the day was The Sunday Barbarians versus the Gloucestershire Gypsies at Abingdon School which produced a fairly easy victory for the Barbarians. Just down the road however there was a further attraction with Abingdon Vale cricket club hosting the full Essex county side in a benefit match. Stuart Law, the Australian, provided the major entertainment with a quickfire century and after the home side looked like getting somewhere near the Essex total of 244, Ronnie Irani took matters in hand with 6-25 to give the county a win by 50 runs.
Still time to call in at nearby Radley College for two more high scoring games between more of the festival sides. The big match of the tournament however took place the following day at the Christ Church College ground with possibly the first ever meeting between two of the most distinguished of the striped blazer variety sides. Free Foresters and I Zingari had both been going for over a hundred years without a previous meeting. The Christ Church ground with it's very modern pavilion had staged first class matches regularly at one time, particularly when touring sides played Oxford University here.
The reason being that no admission charges were allowed at the University Parks, whereas Christ Church were able to charge for admission.
It certainly proved to be a high scoring encounter with Free Foresters making 295-2 of which R. Jones made 200 not out. I Zingari came very close, but finished 25 runs short on 270-9. By this time I had of course left to take in three more grounds at Jesus College, Brasenose College and Queens College. After this fascinating but exhausting schedule it was off further south the next day to Northlands Road, Southampton to see Hampshire taking on Leicester in a county championship game. The main interest in this game, which Leicestershire won, was the performance of Alan Mullally who had just returned to Hampshire for a second spell after a period with Leicester. He took nine wickets in the match, which proved a match winning performance.
After an Under 19 game between Hampshire and Middlesex on the Friday, in which a young Nick Compton scored a century, it was a day of league cricket in Hampshire on the Saturday, clocking up another half dozen grounds including Beaulieu, Bolton's Bench, Lyndhurst and Pylewell Park. More club cricket on Sunday with a touring team from Bombay at Lymington, followed by Reigate Priory from Surrey at the same ground on Monday.
The rather roundabout route home then took in two days at Hastings for a second eleven game between Sussex and Kent, a day at the Saffrons Eastbourne for Sussex v Northants and finally two days at Colchester for Essex v Gloucestershire. The game at Horntye Park, Hastings was notable for three relatively unknown wicketkeepers taking part two of whom went on to play for England in Geraint Jones for Kent and Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose for Sussex. In a low scoring game at Eastbourne, Sussex were bowled out by Northants spinners for just 65, the visitors winning by 162 runs.
The final game at Colchester's Castle Park was more high scoring, but strangely enough the highest individual score of the four innings was only 58 by Stuart Law one of four fifties in the game. Gloucester won that one by 104 runs. So a long haul home but no further cricket until well inside the boundaries of Yorkshire where I managed to see the end of a couple of league games.
So a wonderful fortnight's holiday in all with some excellent cricket and a long list of beautiful grounds to add to what was already a rather substantial number over the years.
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