Old Woking vs Frimley Green Cricket Club - Sunday 28th June 2026, 13:00

We won the toss and chose to bat first. After weeks of playing in extreme heat, the weather was finally pleasant and we wanted to enjoy it before British summer changed its mind again. Unfortunately, the main Old Woking Cricket Club ground was booked, so we were exiled to the council pitch, a surface clearly prepared by someone who last rolled a pitch during the Roman Empire. The ball either bounced like it hit a trampoline or rolled like a ball in a Ten Pin Bowling alley. Amit and Pinang opened, tip-toeing through the minefield. Runs came steadily at 5 per over, which on this pitch was basically the equivalent of scoring at IPL speed. Pinang fell in the 10th over at 48, and Shiv joined Amit for a sensible partnership until he was caught in the 16th. Mahendran arrived, played 4 overs, and then got stumped immediately after drinks, proving the point that hydration break is not always beneficial. Balaji walked in next and decided the pitch was fine for six-hitting. He smashed a few glorious boundaries before Amit fell one run short of his fifty, which will surely haunt him until next season. Swaroop joined Balaji, but their partnership lasted about as long as a Sunday-league warm-up. Balaji was LBW, Swaroop left soon after, Senthil came in, and then left even sooner. It was basically a batting conveyor belt. Fortunately, we were continuously adding runs on the scoreboard, so there was no need to panic. Our skipper Manoj arrived and, as usual, started scoring runs at a lightning pace. Rohit supported him well for 8 overs before departing. Naren and Manoj held the fort in the final overs, and we finished at a respectable 220/8. Manoj made his half century and also crossed 2000 runs mark for his contribution to the club. Rohit opened the bowling and immediately produced drama. On his third ball, a clear nick by the batsman, brilliant catch by Pinang, umpire gives it out… but the batsman refuses to leave, claiming it hit his pad, which was approximately in a different postcode. In true Sunday-spirit, we let the umpire reverse the decision. No worries though as Naren clean bowled him in next over. Batsman briefly considered appealing that the wind blew the bails off but then wisely walked away. Rohit struck again in the third over, and suddenly the opposition decided runs were optional. Our fielding was unusually tight - hardly any drops, hardly any misfields. Pressure mounted on the opposition. By the 9th over, Rohit had another wicket when they were crawling at 21 runs. In 12th over, Balaji took two wickets in two balls, giving us a hat-trick moment. We surrounded the batsman like a pack of wolves… but he survived, ruining Balaji’s dreams of instant fame. At 30/5, the opposition entered a philosophical phase: Should they score runs or save wickets? They chose latter. For next 10 overs, nothing much happened. No wickets and hardly any runs. Wickets finally came in the 22nd and 24th overs. They were now dragging at 60/7, and the game was comfortably in our control. Their run rate was so low that the grass grew faster than their score. We could have ended the game early but we let our part time bowlers have fun, and the opposition eventually finished at 127/9 in 40 overs. We won by a massive 93 runs.