In line with the statement from the ECB (see link below), all cricket is suspended until further notice, so no nets at Edgbaston this Saturday, no outdoor nets which would have started a week today, and no games until the position changes. We will strive to keep everyone updated via email, social media and the website.
www.ecb.co.uk/news/1646355/ecb-statement-on-the-recreational-game
Our annual pub quiz this evening had a brilliant new question-setting team of David Lewis & Matt Dipple.
The 2020 champions, by one point, are the Competitive Streakers, led by Richard Lumb with George Lamb, Andrew & Rona Hickman, and club skipper Simon Lee.
Congratulations!
Dear Members,
It is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the sudden death of our dear friend and Vice President Caro McFarlan who died on Thursday 30th January, after a short illness. She started coming to the ground as a child when her father Bill was Chairman in the early 60’s and over the years became a valued member and friend of Middleton Stoney Cricket Club. With her warm and sociable personality and her willingness to help wholeheartedly, Caro will be sorely missed.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to Michael and to Caro’s mother and sisters; our thoughts and prayers are with them at this sad time.
When we have any information about funeral arrangements, I will ensure it is posted on our website.
Kind regards,
Peter van de Kerkhof
Chairman
And the winners are..
Young Player of the Year: George Williams
Catch of the Season 2019: Rob Barton, off the bowling of Elliot Barton v Simmons CC, 25 August
Fielder of the Year 2019: Tim House
Bowler of the Year 2019: Simon Pettit. 30 wickets
Batsman of the Year 2019: Tim Riley. 704 runs
All-Rounder of the Year 2019: Tim Riley. 704 runs, 10 wickets, 7 catches, 4 stumpings
Michael Martin Award 2019: Tim Cranston
Captain’s Cup 2019: Chris Greer
Champagne Moment of the Year 2019: Middleton Stoney CC v Melbourne Cricket Club XXIX, 9 August. Tim House’s game-changing catch, off the bowling of Tim Cranston, to dismiss MCC captain Sam Harper
President’s Cup 2019: Tim Cranston
We were unable to field a full cricket team for this year’s MSCC Golf Tournament.
In fact just 7 players limbered up at the 1st Tee, a multitude of genuine problems, from farming to housebuilding, and even work had caused problems this year.
Following a standard lunch of Guinness, soup, sandwiches and chips, we set out on a Kirtlington course in very good condition.
David Moorman was the first victor, scoring 14 points over the first 9 holes, retaining the Seniors trophy as his opponent George Lamb was unable to compete this year.
The rest of us enjoyed the views and our golf, which was of a high standard, with 29 points the lowest score for 3 of us.
Tim House was third with 33 points, and the Longest Drive (yet again), Nick Thompson was 2nd with 35 points and nearest the pin, and Howard Lancaster was the victor, also on 35 points, by virtue of a better back 9 holes.
Prizes were allocated, alcohol was imbibed and we resolved to meet again next year, with hopefully an increased turnout.
Nick Thompson
Imagine if Jesus had been born a couple of thousand years later, not in the Middle East but in Middleton Stoney.
I’m guessing that he would then have played cricket for us, Middleton Stoney Cricket Club. And because Jesus was brought up by Joseph to work with wood, their modern-day family business could well have been Joseph & Son, Bat-Makers.
In our world, it could then have been the Cricket Tea at Cana where his mother, Mary, thought supplies were running out but Jesus saved the day (John, 2.1-11). It wouldn’t have been a home fixture, since running out is not a problem for our teas, although it is for some of our batsmen.
The first hint of a cricket tea in the Bible is much earlier, in the First Book of Kings, where Elijah was revived by a scone. The prophet Elijah was in despair, much like Mark Ford-Langstaff after his duck against the Rainmen in 2017: (First Kings 19:4-8)
‘Yahweh,’ he said, ‘I have had enough…
‘He himself went on … a … journey, and sitting under a bush wished he were dead.
Then he lay down and went to sleep.
Then all of a sudden an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’
He looked round, and there at his head was a scone baked on hot stones, and a jar of water…
So he got up and ate and drank, and strengthened by that food he walked …’
The Old Testament foretells of cricketing folk elsewhere, as when a different Joseph wore a colourful, striped garment, the others were jealous (Genesis, 37.3) and the idea of a cricket blazer was born.
In the New Testament, we can imagine how the miracles and parables might be translated into our era and our club. For an example of a miracle, there was the problem of his fishermen friends not getting a catch or a decent total until Jesus was among them, said to put up the nets and suddenly the scorebook showed 153 (John, 21.11).
As for parables, Jesus spoke about sowing seed (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8) on (Middleton) Stoney ground and he captured the attitude of Middleton Stoney players perfectly in the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, when those who had been labouring under the hot sun asked, ‘Why, Lord, do the latecomers get to bat as high up as us?’ (Matthew 20, 1-16.)
And for Christmas, it’s the gifts of gold, frankincense & myrrh – gold ducks, frankly-incensed batsmen when given out LBW and people bowling like Muralitharan – which give rise to alternative carol lyrics about what we can offer (Matthew 2, 1-12):
We three Tims of Middleton are
Barbecuing, or behind the bar,
Fielding, waiting, Moorman mounting
One more century score …’
Thank you to all the stars of our club and of this church. As cricketers and as human beings, in and out of season, we ask God,
‘Guide us to thy perfect light’.
When Mark, out for a duck v Rainmen,
echoed the Prophet Elijah (who never got a duck v Rainmen),
saying, ‘I have had enough’, then ‘lay down and went to sleep’
We three Tim’s Of Middleton Are
Simon Lee
Dear Fellow Club Members,
John Deeley, our immediate past Chairman, died this morning.
Thank you to Caro McFarlan for passing on the news. Caro will also let us know funeral arrangements as soon as they are determined.
As Caro put it: ‘Some of you may already know but Joyce has asked me to let you know the sad, but not unexpected, news that John died this morning … A well fought innings to the end, methinks’.
I add a couple of photos of John below, at the President’s Day this year and playing on President’s Day in 2014.
The President, the current Chairman, John’s predecessor as Chairman and other longstanding members of the Club will have the opportunity in due course to reflect on John’s outstanding service and spirit, and I will be emailing members on other matters tomorrow, but we just wanted to make sure that those not in the immediate vicinity would hear this news from us today.
May John rest in peace.
With best wishes to his family and friends,
Simon Lee
Many thanks to Jim Watson, Social Secretary, and to all who came to the pavilion for two glorious events yesterday, the Thank You Tea for Tea-Makers and the End of Season Dinner.
Thanks also to the Chairman, Peter Van de Kerkhof, for presiding, and to Tim House, the club’s vice-captain, and fellow committee members, Simon Pettit (Fixture Secretary) and Tim Cranston (Treasurer), who all helped Jim and his Bruern Abbey team on the night. We missed the President, Ian Davenport, and the previous Chairman, John Deeley, who were not able to join us but we raised a glass to them.
Photos of the afternoon and evening events can be seen here: www.middletonstoneycc.co.uk/photos/2018/
2018 Season Awards – Middleton Stoney Cricket Club
Captain’s Cup 2018
Tim House
President’s Cup 2018
Simon Pettit
Michael Martin Award 2018
Mark Ford-Langstaff
Newcomer of the Year 2018
Rob Barton
Most Improved Player of the Year 2018
Mark Ford-Langstaff
Batsman of the Year 2018
Nick Moorman
555 runs
A Hat-Trick of Centuries
Nick Moorman in successive innings
112 v Blue Lion, 1 July 2018
110 v Banbury, 8 July 2018
119* v The Cricket Society, 22 July 2018
Bowler of the Year 2018
Simon Pettit
28 wickets
Fielder of the Year 2018
Mark Ford-Langstaff
12 catches & a run out with a direct hit from the boundary
Catch of the Year 2018
Tim Cranston
Run Out of the Year 2018
Tim House
Ground Fielding of the Year 2018
Martin Randall
Champagne Moment of the Year 2018
Middleton Stoney CC v Oxenford
Away at Keble, Oxford, 4 July
George Williams’s 6
George Williams is here presented by @paradoxbridge with his award for the Champagne Moment of the 2018 Season & is congratulated by George Lamb in front of the photo of earlier heroics by the two Georges in saving a game. Now George Williams can win a game in the dark with a 6.
George Williams is here presented by @paradoxbridge with his award for the Champagne Moment of the 2018 Season & is congratulated by George Lamb in front of the photo of earlier heroics by the two Georges in saving a game. Now George Williams can win a game in the dark with a 6 pic.twitter.com/sMFbsxiIxw
— Middleton Stoney CC (@MiddStonCric) October 1, 2018
Middleton Stoney Cricket Club Annual Golf Tournament
Kirtlington Golf Club was once again the venue for our Cricket Club to venture into the high pressure world of Golf.
Our annual tournament was blessed with wonderful weather, little wind and bright sun out of a clear blue sky.
14 brave souls turned up for a light lunch and then set off on 3 ball matches on a course that was in good condition.
Whilst 12 of us were competing for the SMIPLOSS trophy, 2 of our number were contesting a new MSCC Seniors match.
George Lamb and David Moorman battled over the first 9 holes and could not be separated at the end.
A tie with the trophy to be shared 6 months each !
For the rest of us, the handicapping worked reasonably well, with all scoring 26 points and over.
However Andrew Hickman with 36 points was third, Dan Simpson, second with 39 points and your author , rather surprisingly, had one of those days and returned with 44 points (double checked!) to win the trophy for the first time.
There were other prizes, Longest drive won by Tim House, and nearest the Pin won by Richard Lumb.
Discussion continued in the evening sunshine with the accompaniment of a drink or two, as we debated if our skills were required in Paris for the Ryder Cup!
Nick Thompson
Please join Groundsmen Nick Thompson and Alan Brooks for the MSCC pre-season clean up sessions. All ‘muscle’ greatly appreciated to help spring clean the pavilion and its surroundings.
The clean-up days will be Sat 7nd April (backup Sat 14th April) – both with a 10:00 am prompt start.
* * *
The Loo floors have been repainted and the frozen pipes that leaked have been repaired.
Simon Petit has already power washed the sightscreens.
Unfortunately, the sink water heater is non-operational at present but is being looked at.
The wet and cold winter has been dispiriting but the grass is growing and our first match is on 22nd April, just 2 weeks away!
Looking forward to seeing everyone this Saturday.
Nick & Alan
1. Sightscreens need powerwash clean (done courtesy Simon Petit)
2. Teak oil to Benches and slip cradle
3. Clear Gutters front and back
4. Brush leaves off Loo roof x 2 and strongroom roof
5. Hoover Bar area and 2 changing rooms
6. Clear path and undergrowth behind Pavilion
7. Cricket net – renew netting (done 2017)
8. Sweep artificial net surface
9. Put up MSCC Flag
10. Check and clean Scoreboard
11. Clean BBQ
12. Clean refurbished Loos (male and female)
i. Secure plastic seats
13. Check Tea Urn working
14. Glasses & Crockery cleaning
15. Consider laying plastic mesh sections over grass (en route to loos)
