The President’s Game – Saturday 10 July 2021

President’s Refreshers XI v Arcadian Casuals

With heavy rain overnight and an iffy forecast – and the Marlborough College groundsman muttering about irreparable damage to his beautiful square – we negotiated the use of another field higher up the hill, on an artificial wicket. In the event it did rain, or mizzle, during the morning but we managed to start soon after midday; the President won the toss and put the Casuals into bat. Silva and Spurr took the new ball; the latter bowled beautifully all morning with loopy dobblers that none of the Casuals could hit off the square. But with J Teflon making a solid 56 and receiving support from P Princess and T Voodoo the Casuals pushed their way to a creditable 213 from their 40 overs. Cannon, having been dropped at cover point on 0 by the easiest sitter that anyone present could remember, had looked to be on track for a hard-hitting big score but was eventually and dramatically caught in the slips by the President (at the fourth attempt) for 27. We all bowled well, Tom Francis taking 1 for 73 off his 13 and Henry Law 3 for 48 from 10.   Daniel Cayford’s fielding deserves special mention, his speed across the ground in striking contrast to that of his uncle (the President), J Cohen and P Stewart, whose combined ages comfortably exceeded 200. 

The chase began well with Ahmad (6) and Law (57) starting solidly, and on the loss of Ahmad, Francis (37), Spurr (17*), Tatton-Brown (15) and Silva (29) in particular chipping in with valuable contributions; for a good while it looked as though the Refreshers might just scrape over the line but sadly we lost wickets at crucial moments and despite Jerome’s heroics (using Rachel’s new wonder bat) fell 16 short. 

By close of play the sun had appeared and against the dramatic background of dark clouds and the Marlborough Downs the College grounds looked magnificent. It was a splendid day, so good to be among friends and playing live sport again.

Team: Philip Cayford, Jerome Silva, Harry Spurr, Tom Francis, Rachel Godschalk, Daniel Cayford, Paul Stewart, Jonathan Cohen, Akhtar Ahmad, Henry Law, Rob Tatton-Brown.