|
|
Home |
1996 SeasonWith much talk of coats being cut according to the cloth, RedBat kicked off the 1996 season with the usual visit to Cokenach. Familiar surroundings perhaps, but this match was anything but commonplace. Maybe it was the weather, maybe the Cokenach groundsman had sold his soul to the devil; for whatever reason, this previously inert 22 yard stretch of Hertfordshire suddenly sprang to life, allowing the home side to rack up 180-4, after which they doubtless enjoyed their tea with a feeling of casual superiority. Rather unexpectedly, the visitors batting lineup failed to quake in their boots in the face of this total. After an early wicket, Matt and Phil took charge, bringing up the 100 in the 16th over and proceeding to 122 before Phil left the scene. A brisk 30 from Peter took the score to 169-3, and the job was all but done. The final total of 181-4 is still (writing before the 2009 season) the best score we've ever made to win a run chase, and was a spectacular start to a generally high-scoring season. A narrow defeat to Red Star and an authoritative victory over the RCS sandwiched a winning draw against the MOB XI on the Corpus Christi ground in Oxford; lessons had been learned since last year's debâcle, and the trip from pub to ground was accomplished without risk to life and/or limb. After a close-run match against Nuxley (lost by 5 runs with only 10 players), we were back at Corpus Christi for a rematch with the Oxford University Servants XI; sadly revenge was not taken, OUS running out comfortable winners by 6 wickets against a 9-strong RBCC side. An unbeaten 69 from occasional RBCC ringer Pete Hulbert was the central feature of the draw with Libri which acted as a warm-up for the notorious Nottingham tour. Nottingham doubtless has many attractive features. However, our hotel was not one of them, and neither on this occasion was the weather. Two rain-ruined matches on bleak muddy grounds led to some tricky issues of team selection for the final match. We awoke to blazing sunshine, and found our way with the usual degree of inefficiency to the rather plush John Player sports ground to feast our eyes on acres of well-tended greensward sweltering in the belated heat. Sadly, mindful of the monsoon conditions of the previous few days, the groundsman was determined that we were not going to get our studs onto his precious lawn, and the match was cancelled without further ado. With many muttered imprecations against the East Midlands in general and over-protective groundsmen in particular, a few of the more competitive tourists made their way to a nearby bowling alley to while away the rest of the afternoon. The arrival of a tropical deluge a few minutes later showed the benefits of local knowledge, and brought the worst tour in RedBat history to a wet and miserable conclusion. Happily, this wasn't the end of the season, and an undaunted XI came together the following week to record a comprehensive victory over Battersea Ironsides to see out the summer on a positive note.
The season by numbers
1996 Fixture List
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||