See how our boys are doing in Division Three of the 2011 Morrant Four Counties Cricket League...

The tour only succeeds with the devoted tourists and only survives by new tourists joining, with some players giving up their Tuesday afternoon to drive up to Enderby to discharge the last fixture. This year it was excellent to have Basil, Shan and Nik with us for the first time for part of the Yorkshire phase of the tour, and Sardar for his first time at the Tuesday fixture. The tour also heavily relies on behind-the-scenes work by many, other than myself, for player recruitment (a number of OUCC members), organising kit (Roger), organising website coverage and scorebook (Alex) and initial financing of hotel accommodation (Mahesh, aided by Peter) - thanks to them all for their valued contributions.

Sadly the first two days of the tour were blighted by the weather. I think Basil and Shan were being jocular when naming me 'the Rain Devil' - nevertheless, both contributed to reducing Druids to 9 for 5 on what started as a mud pie and, 8.3 overs later, after further rain, became a near paddy field on which we conducted the first bowl out in which any of us have participated: a 2-all draw after 24 deliveries per team - Shan and Tom hitting the stumps for the OUCC. Other noteworthy aspects of that day were Marion's catch and Mike's captaincy/keeping - sadly his only cricketing activity, as Sunday was called off by the club hiring the ground to our opponents - something to do with mud.

On Sunday, with early notice of cancellation, Marion and Steve stepped in as the Entertainments Department (think "Hi De Hi"!) to fill the void with an extended tennis session in which Alex demonstrated remarkable powers of recovery from the 'drowning of his sorrows' the previous evening on hearing of the cancellation. Basil dazzled us with his 'king of spin' racquet technique on the court and Shan instantly acquired the skills of a new game. A spell of 'soft cricket' in the local park that afternoon allowed some players to 'feed their addiction', whilst other tourists simply enjoyed some of the many attractions Harrogate and its surroundings have to offer. Thanks must go to Basil and Shan for recommending the Jinnah restaurant - home of the giant naan - which, after a long and fruitless wait in the Sartaj, became the successful venue for our annual Tour Dinner and is now marked down for future use.

WHEN?
*FIRST SESSION* Saturday 21 January 11:30am - 1:30pm (TBC)

WHERE?
Oakgrove Leisure Centre
Brickhill Street
Milton Keynes
MK10 9QJ

WHAT?
Practice your batting & bowling skills. Chat cricket whilst queueing up to bowl.

HOW MUCH?
One whole English Pound (for which, all kit provided)

WHO?
Tom Argles (t.w.argles@open.ac.uk). A nice chap.

Subscriptions for the 2011 season are now being accepted. The rates are as follows:

Full waged membership £40
Full unwaged membership £15
Midweek only waged £20
Midweek only unwaged £10
Occasional player £10

Following the 2010 AGM, the categories have been stretched to include Midweek League & Friendly matches only. Waged includes those receiving a pension. Occasional players are deemed to be those playing in no more than 4 matches in one season or who join the club towards the end of the season (subject to the discretion of the OUCC Treasurer).