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Berkshire v Lincolnshire

Taplow United v Wright and Unity Sports

A day at the pinnacle of minor counties cricket, with the possibility of some bonus local football afterwards, dependant on what time the cricket finishes.

The game was being held at Wormsley, so I’d spend the night at chateaux Swindon, and it was off there the following morning.  I always take a photo of the station as living adjacent to the railway, for the last four years I have had letters off Network Rail saying that they will shortly be installing the electrification masts, so the view will all change.  I keep the letters and this is now my twelfth, but still with no sign of any work.

Into Reading with the festival site just about to open, and behind the train depot, final touches being added to the main stage.

At the station and the festival goers were already amassing outside.  When I was a teenager and living in Reading I used to get day tickets.  My overriding memory is in consecutive years in the 1990s, I watched the first song of Nirvana sets, and then went off to watch firstly Flowered up, and then the next year, Frank Skinner in the comedy tent, safe in the knowledge that Nirvana would be around for years to come if I wanted to watch them again.  I regret that less than leaving on a train, a disposable camera with the only known photos of the stand at one season Wessex League members Welworthy Athletic.  I’d be like a one ground Bob Lilliman if I had those.

Wormsley is located in the middle of no-where.  Well, as much as somewhere ten miles from High Wycombe can be in the middle of no where.  I had previously got there by public transport but this involved getting a National Express coach to drop me off on an M40 motorway junction, and afterwards an eight mile walk to Watlington.  So today my dad was giving me a lift as he was also in attendance.  We followed a vintage Volvo into the grounds.

Berkshire 246-6 (40.3) bt Lincolnshire 245-5 (50)

Berkshire has a very long history with cricket.  Formal versions of the game have been played in the county since the 1700s, with Berkshire being one of the top sides up to the 1800s.  However, a spell of losses saw the county side on a downturn just as the championship was being formed, so did not gain first class status.  However, they did join the minor Counties set up where they have always been amongst the top teams.  This has led to Berkshire being one of the few counties to be invited to apply for first class status, but it has chosen to remain at its current level.  It is currently the leading minor county side, winning the cup and league last year, and qualifying for both finals again this year.  It's strength comes from it having a decent catchment area for both public school part timers, cast offs from the surrounding first class Counties, and strong participation in the Asian areas in the east of the county.

Lincolnshire's involvement with cricket emerged a lot later, in the 1850s.  This was based on interest by those close to the Nottinghamshire border, and the two counties have had close ties since.  Lincs have not been that prominent in the minor Counties, with just a couple of league wins.  However, they are currently enjoying a strong spell, based mostly on a decent spread of club cricketers, and they were league play off runners up last year to Berkshire, and this year have qualified for both the cup and league final, both against Berks.

Wormsley is an estate owned by the Ghetty family.  John Paul Getty II was introduced to cricket by Mick Jagger, and did what anyone does who has just been shown a new hobby by an international rock star, by building a full sized pitch in a spare part of your garden.

The centre point is this mock-Tudor thatched pavilion.

This sits is prime location above the levelled pitch.

With a similarly thatched scoreboard.

  
This fella keeps an eye on proceedings.

Berkshire won the toss and put Lincolnshire into bat.

The minor Counties Cricket Association was formed in 1895 by clubs who didn't have first class status.  Almost immediately Essex, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Hampshire and Leicestershire – joined the County Championship, followed by Worcestershire in 1899, Northamptonshire in 1905, Glamorgan in 1921 and Durham in 1992.  The league was always pretty strange in that you choose who you fancy playing against and then just have to have played the required number of games.  So Norfolk and Cambridgeshire played all there games against each other, and as the latter were full of students playing for the spirit of the game, always got tanked so Norfolk were always champions.  These days it is a bit more organised with the Counties split geographically into two leagues, six three day games are played, and the top of each league play off for the title.  Staffs, Bucks, Devon and Berks are the big teams, and also a really good law firm.

Lincs started off reasonable well, reaching fifty in under ten over and only a wicket down, before moving on to 115-3.

However, a bowling change saw Berks bowl out their three spinners which seemed to bog down Linconshire, who had a 100 run partnership, but coming at just four an over.  The ever unusual action of Slough CCs Waqas Hussain, who always to appear to go through two bowling actions before finally releasing the ball.

A late spurt saw Lincs hit out, but lost a wicket.

The Minor Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983.  Its original sponsorship tied in with the quintessential image of the sound of leather on willow on a leafy village green, as it was known as the English Industrial Estates Cup.  As ever, the format has been dicked about with, as at various times the first class Counties second teams have been allowed in, the Channel Islands, and the ongoing cricket dilemma that is the argument of if Huntingdonshire actually exists.  The big teams are Devon and Norfolk with five wins, and Berkshire with four.

In the end, Lincolnshire got 245 off the full fifty overs.  A bit of a target but probably a bit low considering they had five wickets in hand.

The lunch break and a lot of old men look for any signs of who the statue might be.

I went for more meaningful sights, namely an inspection of the groundsman's mini tractor.

And the emergency services presence seemed to consist solely of Ghostbusters.

However, people were heading onto the field.

So it was an inspection of the wicket.  My dad got into quite a competitive conversation with a QPR supporter about whether they or Reading would achieve least this season, with both participants adamant it was their own side who wouldn't do anything.  There had been overnight rain so the field had been wet at the start of play, but had dried out by now.

Berkshire then started their innings, with the top three in the bowling line up also the top three batsmen.

Berkshire lost an early wicket in Middlesex reserve Ollie Wilkin, however Hussain then stuck on a quick 49.

The crowd was about 500.  Which was 498 tory voting pensioners.

The view from the players, which was more heavily occupied with committee members.

Berkshire were scoring well but also losing wickets, and were 79-4 with the Morris brothers in together.  The older sibling is county captain, though strangely they both play club cricket for Bashley in the new forest.

Still a required form of transport to get to a game for me.

The demise of younger brother Richard, saw former Reading FC and current Bognor Regis goal keeper Dan Lincoln come into bat. 

Having missed last weeks minor counties league game due to being in action in Bognor's 6-2 Conference South win over Whitehawk, Lincoln added a quick 42 as John Morris also got a half century.

This took Berks to 205 for 6, whereby former Middlesex palyer Chris Peploe came in and scored 35 off 14 including successive sixes in the last two balls, to win the game in 40.3 overs.

It's a bit of a crap trophy so we headed off before the presentation ceremony. 

However, the day wasn't over as it was a quick leap down the motorway and then over the Thames at Cookham.

Somehow resisiting the temptation of the Stanley Spencer gallery.  Probably because I'd never heard of him until that moment. 

Back over the Thames at Maidenhead, with my photo managing to be timed so the central pillar completely blocks out Brunel's famous flat-arch railway bridge.

Instead, we were heading in here.

Taplow United 1 v Wright & Unity Sports 3, Thames Valley Premier League - Premier Division

Old Paludians sports club were formed in 1925 by pupils of Slough Grammar school.  The name is Latin for a marsh which is apparently what a slough is.  Public schoolboys, will their creative wit never cease?  I would say that football perhaps was not their prime focus, as this is the timeline of the different branches of sport within the club;-
 - 1925 Chess Club active 
 - 1925 The Paludian Players Amateur Dramatic Society active 
 - 1925 The Opals (Costume Concert Party) active 
 - 1927 Table Tennis Club formed 
 - 1928 Boating Club active 

Anyway, in the 1930s they got round to 'soocer' and played in the East Berks League before rising up to non-league, joining the Chiltonian in 1994.  This was always one of the poorest leagues in the pyramid, and was put out of its misery by being taken over by the Hellenic in 2002.  They imposed stricter ground grading, which the by now renamed Taplow United did not meet, so they dropped down to the Reading League.  This became the Thames Valley league in 2014, trying to breach the gulf that east Berkshire had with no county senior league.  

Unity FC are from Central Reading and started in 1980 as a church team.  They were founded members of the Reading League in 1989, and four successive promotions saw them rise to the top Senior division.  They have stayed at that level since, becoming one of the prominent local sides in the Reading area.  They too moved up when the Reading league became the Thames Valley.  Over the summer, they have acquired the addendums Wright and Sports, from where and why, I do not know, as any searches result in details of why Ian Wright thinks Arsenal will benefit from greater unity amongst its supporters.  I have history with Unity, as playing in goal for Burghfield Sports against their reserves, a clearance in a howling gale at Cintra rec, bounced once and then went sailing over the keepers head for the only goal of my illustrious career.  I was rewarded at the next corner by being pushed over and having my hand stamped on, breaking two fingers.  If it hadn't been for that, who knows what might have become.  Possibly even Burghfield Sports first team.

The Old Paludians originally played at Lascelles Road playing fields in east Slough, but acquired the land here in 1955, and development it as the Stanley Jones Memorial Ground, though no one seems to know who he might be.

The pitch is railed, and there are also these tiny, joint dugouts.

The main pitch is located right in the corner of the complex.

Unity had scored an early goal.

An eclectic assistants combo.

Not easily confused with each other.

An equally mixed crowd of, well I counted eight.

My dad watched on from behind the goal, before heading off citing more pressing things to do.  This is from a man who willingly watched Reading Town until their demise.

Good to see an @keepers_towel in residence.

The low sun looking out towards Buckinghamshire.

Half time found the club house shut.

And now having no car to take advantage of the generosu spectator discounts.  Especially to fin out what 'More advance reairs' were possible.  I didn't make an earlier appointment.

However, the reason for my visit was the proximity of @nonleague_train, with the ground adjacent to the Great Western main line.

So first off a brand new electric class 387 on 2P73 1818 Maidenhead to London Paddington.

The keeper prepares for a goal kick as 1A26 1700 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington nears its destination.

However, no train was around to witness the spectacular Taplow equaliser, with a shot from outside the box ratlling in the top corner.

More mundane play as a pair of turbos form the 2R59 1746 London Paddington to Reading all shacks.

Exactly you want in the evening peak, a very late running freight train trundiling along at 45mph, with Mendip Rails 6C83 1330 Whatley Quarry to Dagenham Dock ARC terminal takes a bit of Somerset hillside to Essex for the locals to pave their gardens with.

More class 165 action, this time a single unit on 2P75 1818 Reading to London Paddington.  Token bellowing action from the Taplow centre half.

The luxury of an HST on 1P69 1732 Moreton-in-Marsh to London Paddington, normaly formed of a turbo but upgraded for the day due to a revised timetable with there being engineering works on the South Wales route.

Unity took the lead.

More class 387s on 2D61 1757 London Paddington to Maidenhead.  These can only operate as far as the new CrossRail terminus at Maidenhead, as the electrification to Reading is so many years behind schedule.

  
The second half starts with the passing of 1A91 1602 Plymouth to London Paddington.

A nineth spectator arrives in time to see 1A28 1800 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington, running late due to it only having one working engine.

The goalkeeper handles outside the area but only gets a yellow card, and a two car turbo on 2P78 1807 Oxford to London Paddington.

Because the line is not electrified to the depot in Reading, the electric trains have to be hauled there by a diesel loco, so an ECS 387 forms 5D61 1845 Maidenhead to West Ealing Emu Sidings, for a drag back home.

By now the Kennet Valley services should have gone electric, but this is some way off and instead 1K83 1853 Newbury to London Paddington is a turbo and will be for some time.

A zulu headcode means that 1Z81 1915 London Paddington to Swansea is diverted from its normal route, and witnesses the aftermath of a bit of an on-field fracas. 

Which ultimately resulted in a third Unity goal.

The ground is also right under the Heathrow flightpath so there was also some @nonleague_plane. 

The game ended 3-1 in the impending dusk.

I headed to the railway.

And the nearby Taplow station.  Notice on the right the right the remains of the station footbridge.  This was too low for the electric wires but was listed so was causing Network Rail issues about what they could do as they couldn't lower the tracks because of platform heights.  However, one of their calamitous cowboy engineering sub-contactors didn't lower a crane gib that was being moved, and it smacked into the footbridge, which was hastily declared unsafe and hastily removed, leaving the rather unsympathetic remains on the right.

But this architectural masterpiece has replaced it.

My journey onward was on one of the new eight car electrics.

Which going against popular London rush hour myth, was completely empty.  

With the players now warming down.

It was a four minute ride into Maidenhead.

With the new depot lying in the old car terminal.

The Marlow branch platform historic overall roof also now having been taken down to make way for the wires.

My move was the one train a day that goes direct from Maidenhead to Swindon.  This is one of only two a day that stop on the main line coming out of London.  As people like to jump off that platform infront of trains, it is kept locked apart from when a train is due, and I joined the queue of passengers awaiting access.

Bang on time my Worcester via Cheltenham service arrived.

Approaching Swindon and a very photogenic red sunset.  Unless of course you are in a very brightly lit train carriage with tinted windows which just reflects the interior.  So here is part sunset, part Mk 3 FO seating, and part 1991 Reading away shirt.  I still have no idea who Hat Painting are.