“Pyrahtechnics Sweep the Board”

Match: 26 / 674

Lost by 13 runs

Team	Total
Headington Quarry CC	124 - 8
G. Timms 3 - 16, D. Shorten 2 - 12
FFTMCC	111 - 8
J. Pyrah 20, J. Pearson 17

Stanton St John welcomed our motley crew to its pristine carpeted cricket ground on a hazy warm pre-summer Friday evening. Each blade of grass had just been cut by a teen on a sit-on lawn mower which by any measure must be an unusual occurrence. Meanwhile, her mother and father busied themselves with boundary ropes and flags and snipping the odd untuned blade of grass with their scissors. Their attentiveness did not go unnoticed as The MAD trundled in to meet their adversaries Headington Quarry. 

Apparently, the mother, father, daughter and her 18 siblings all live under the ground in a warren of well-maintained spaces. Cricket memorabilia adorns walls, floors and ceilings. Their love of cricket knows no bounds. Look carefully and you will see a periscope rise from mid-wicket, gully and third. Watching the game, tracking scores and monitoring grass length is what they do. It is them. 

Above ground a cricket match began. The Quarry batted first with Todd biffing a quick 28 before falling to Pyrah’s first of 2 wickets with R Turner taking a solid catch that, had he not caught, would’ve messed up his face right and proper. Their innings was dominated by two not outs – Salim and Jacob – and either side The MAD did a good job at restricting the Quarry to 124. 

G Timms (3-16) used his whizzing doosras, flippers and googlies to snag 3 wickets with two bowled and one caught sharply and calmly by J Pyrah. The very same successfully feasted on his own bowling buffet with a performance of 2-28. D Shorten (2-12) snared a couple while Rundle and Pearson successfully kept the run rate down to give our batting gladiators a chance. Not forgetting Vermaak who rolled up his sleeves to show off his bulging biceps and snare one quarry victim. 

Mr Awards here giving it a biff a few weeks ago.

A special mention to Matt Stanbury taking The MAD field for the first time, adorned with keeping gloves and sharp reflexes. He didn’t tire of whipping off the bails and then putting them back on again. While to no avail it felt satisfying to watch a pro at work.

Refreshments were taken and fags lit up as R Hadfield-Lucan and J Webster strolled out to the middle and struggled to connect with anything! Skiddy, sharp bowling kept MAD at bay as both openers were bowled by Qasim for 11 and 3 respectively. R Turner (16) and J Pyrah (20) steadied the ship nicely with some whacks and wains. J Shaw (1) came and went, and J Pearson (17) briefly lit the ‘hope bonfire’ hitting 3 lovely fours one after the other. M Rundle (7) struggled to get the ball away as did D Shorten (12) and the embers of the game fizzled out as we needed a little too much in the final over. 111 was not a bad effort with some good bowling and we must also thank our friend A.L.O.T Extras who were just pipped to top scoring by J Pyrah.  

Library footage of Lucan and Webster walking out to the middle.

Hands were shaken and smiles exchanged as we packed up and headed back to the Talkhouse for some shandies, small talk and awards. It was at this point that our esteemed skipper, R Turner, deployed full scale manipulation tactics as J Pyrah was ‘strongly nominated’ across all 4 award categories. His excellent catch picked up Champs Moment, his footballing skills picking him up MAD Moment, his wicket and runs picking up MOTM and buffet that followed.

We didn’t win but a rare award sweeping feat had us clapping and laughing all the way home. Meanwhile, the ‘beneath the grounders’ had a lovely game of Vintage Test Match Cricket while sipping butter beer and eating leftover grass. 

Everyone was happy. 

’Lord Lucan’

*

Statto Scorecards

Far From the MCC versus Headington Quarry CC Played at Stanton St John, 22 May 2026 Far From the MCC won the toss and elected to field Headington Quarry CC won by 13 runs Far from the MCC debuts: Matt Stanbury (173)

26 / 674 20 over match

Team	Headington Quarry CC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	D. Todd	c Turner b Pyrah	28		5	1	1-24
2	Sreesan	c Pearson b Pyrah	2		-	-	1-29
3	S. Khan	retired	33		5	-
4	J. Jeffries	retired	35		4	1
5	L. Eadie	b Timms	0		-	-
6	Asif	c Pyrah b Timms	0		-	-
7	J. Frederick †	b Timms	0		-	-
8	J. Todd	b Vermaak	7		1	-
9	Qasim	c Rundle b Shorten	7		1	-
10	S. Warner	c Webster b Shorten	1		-	-
11
	Extras	NB3, W3, LB3, B2	11
	TOTAL	(for 8 wickets, 20 overs)	124

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Pyrah	3	0	28	2	9.33
2	Vermaak	4	0	21	1	5.25
3	Rundle	3	0	13	0	4.33
4	Shaw	2	0	18	0	9.00
5	Timms	3	0	16	3	5.33
6	Pearson	3	0	10	0	3.33
7	Shorten	2	0	12	2	6.00

Team	Far from the MCC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	J. vdG. Webster	b Qasim	3	(15)	-	-	1-23
2	R. J. T. Hadfield	b Qasim	11	(18)	2	-	2-24
3	R. P. Turner	c Frederick b Warner	16	(25)	-	-	3-66
4	J. S. Pyrah	run out	20	(20)	3	-	4-67
5	J. A. Shaw	b Warner	1	(2)	-	-	5-73
6	M. S. Rundle	run out	7	(14)	1	-	6-95
7	J. W. Pearson	c b Jeffries	17	(10)	4	-	7-95
8	C. J. Vermaak	b Qasim	1	(4)	-	-	8-97
9	G. J. Timms	not out	2	(3)	-	-
10	D. Shorten *	not out	12	(11)	1	-
11	M. Stanway †
	Extras	NB3, W10, LB2, B6	21
	TOTAL	(for 8 wickets, 20 overs)	111

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Sreeson	2	1	2	0	1.00
2	D. Todd	2	0	10	0	5.00
3	Khan	3	0	11	0	3.67
4	Qasim	3	0	13	3	4.33
5	Eadie	1	0	15	0	15.00
6	J. Todd	2	0	16	0	8.00
7	Warner	3	1	4	2	1.33
8	Asif	2	0	14	0	7.00
9	Jeffries	2	0	18	1	9.00

MOTM: J. S. Pyrah Champagne Moment: J. S. Pyrah’s catch at square leg off a rank Timms’ full toss Buffet Award: J. S. Pyrah’s steak and kidney pies with potato sides (extra gravy) MAD Moment: J. S. Pyrah’s booting the ball an extra 50 yards when attempting to field it with foot….

Opposition: V101 / 016 Ground: G009 / 012 Captain: C016 / 052 Match No: 20 / 204