At one point this was shaping up to be like an England tour match: 12-a-side to give more people a game, batsmen to retire on 50...There the resemblance ended, however: Walmley's 3rd XI ground, for all the sunshine and the adjacent golf course, is not Barbados.

In the end, it was only 11-a-side, but batsmen were asked to retire at 50, and Olton had to take about 15 wickets to earn the right to go home as Walmley's many youngsters got a second bite at the batting cherry.

Olton batted first by agreement, and despite the presence of a Warwickshire Ladies' left-arm seamer, Dan Maycock and Chris Joiner proceeded to add 90-odd for the first wicket without undue alarm. Dan's 50 will set him up nicely for the start of the league season. Chris has now added some power to his excellent technique, and that elusive half-century will surely not be long in coming. You already know precisely how Andy "Sponge" Spowage's rapid innings of 30 was compiled, so I won't bother you with any details. Pete Suthons quietly added a comfortable 50 (it was like watching, er, Larry Gomes, only with significantly less hair), before Matt Ceillam, Charlie Suthons and John Bosworth provided a valuable lesson in how to score runs right up to the end of the innings, Olton closing on 261 for 8 from their 50 overs.

Joe Moore was probably the pick of Olton's bowlers, probing away for the most part with his usual nagging accuracy. Wickets were shared around as all the bowlers were given a workout thanks to Pete's thoughtful captaincy. John Bosworth, in particular, surprised the batsmen with his pace on occasion, and Charlie Suthons produced the occasional jaffa, while Ken Paver displayed his usual early-season "mixed-bag" rustiness, beating both senior batsmen via the inside edge as well as inducing several boundaries. Pete Suthons also rolled back the years with a terrifying display of ultra-slow off-spin.

In the end, Olton had technically won the game well before the close. The Saturday 4th XI looks set for another excellent season under Pete's stewardship.

Honourable mentions are due to Charlie Suthons for a terrible Australian accent (although obviously it is very important to encourage Chris Joiner with cries of "Bowling Shane"), and for inadvertently controlling the ball with the peak of his cap in the field; to Tim Joiner, for not touching the ball in the field for about the first 20 overs (nice work, Tim, you must tell me the secret); and to Sponge and the lower order for a bizarre discussion about male and female cricket bats during the Olton innings (honestly). Here's to the new season!

Kennedy Paver - 27/04/2009

An excellent win by a combined 3rd/4th XI at Peugeot in Coventry on Saturday served as solid preparation for the coming league season.

The day started in inauspicious fashion, with Olton's "captaincy axis", Pete Suthon and Phil Miller, tossing a coin in the pavilion to see who was going to go out for the toss (stay with me, it gets worse). After some discussions of a "best of three?" nature, Pete eventually went out to the middle with the Peugeot skipper. Soon enough, the message came back to the dressing room, "we've won the toss, but we don't know what we're doing". Following a mercifuly brief committee meeting, Olton decided to bowl on a wicket most charitably described as "normal for April".

Peugeot got off to a slow start, thanks to some tight bowling from Matt Ceillam and Ken Paver - the latter bowling his allotted overs straight through to finish with the slightly odd figures of 8 overs, 6 maidens, 2 wickets for 3 runs. The home side recovered somewhat, however, thanks to a number of reprieves for their top scoring batsman. Despite some accurate bowling from Charlie Suthon in the middle of the innings, and neat keeping from Scott Danter, particularly when standing up, Peugeot managed to post 126 all out, a nasty little score on this wicket.

Olton's reply began slowly but steadily, with Chris Joiner looking largely untroubled on a wicket that favoured the larger batsman, and Dan Ceillam scoring a neat 22. A flurry of wickets soon brought numbers six and seven, Pete Suthon and Paver, to the wicket, with 70-odd still needed. Pete belied his fifty-odd (what? sorry Pete, forty-odd) years by scampering quick singles and punishing the bad balls. The pair posted a solid partnership, before Pete lost his wicket. When Paver was out for 40 soon after, with only 10 needed, the stage was set for a hero. Windy Miller was that man, blocking a seemingly unending series of good balls, and turning down an easy single (to Pete's dismay) before finally slamming a Carl Hooper-esque straight six (it's all in the unfeasible shoulders, obviously). An off-drive for three, and yet another drive, for four this time, saw Olton to 130 for 8 with a couple of overs left.

Thanks to Tom Cullen for helping out the opposition, and for contributing to the good spirit in which the match was played.

A good workout for all, with everybody getting involved - bring on the league season!