Report by Daniel Mortlock:
After a winter of torrential downpours and enthusiastic net sessions, the season proper had finally come around. We returned to our home ground - Fitzwilliam College's playing fields in Oxford Road - as visitors, however, today's oponents being said college. Fitzwilliam, which had apparently "not won a game for three years", fielded a predictably young side, with the notable exception of one Dave Norman: Fitzwilliam groundsman, captain of Granta I, and sometime Remnants ringer. Alas today he was pitted against us and, as will be seen, was the dominant influence on a match that, like the ground, was rather damp.
We batted first and new club captain Dave Rowson immediately led by example: bowled by Dave Norman for a duck on the first ball of the season. Things then settled down with Phil Marshall (24) and new vice-captain Dave Williams (44) combining some excellent square shots with a few airier drives (well, it was our first outing since last year). Fitzwilliam's fieldsmen were also a little rusty, with one poor sod (who'd been erroneously placed at square leg) complaining that ``the ball almost hit me in the face'' after missing one of several straightforward chances that came his way. The second half of the innings had fewer boundaries but excellent running between the wickets by Andy Owen (36*) and Rich Savage (6*), who eventually took us to a creditable 120/3.
Our defence of the above total seemed doomed right from the start, with Fitzwilliam always able to score one or two bounaries an over (generally pulled behind square leg off our looser balls, hopefully another artefact of the lack of match practice). Remnants debutante George Speller (1/18) opened the bowling, impressing both with his pace (actually forcing Andy Owen to stand back from the stumps) and, after a few waywayrd deliveries, his accuracy (getting the star wicket of Dave Norman, bowled for a beligerent 42). From the other end Rich Savage (1/28) and Russell Woolf (1/20) both troubled the batsmen with their length, and were rewarded with the wickets of the two openers between them and Daniel Mortlock (1/33) also managed a dismissal in between the numerous loose balls. If Fitzwilliam had not been presented with such gifts Anton Garrett might not have been presented with the near-impossible task of bowling a maiden over to finish the game (although if he'd succeeded then surely the season's champagne moment would have been his for the second year running).
Alas, the result was never really in doubt and Fitzwilliam headed to the bar with a comfortable first-up victory under their belts. We headed to the bar with the shadow of a fee-evasion scandal hanging over our heads - last time I play treasurer . . .