Offley enjoyed a wonderful day out on Sunday as they took part in an enthralling contest that featured some exciting experimental rules.
According to the new rules batsmen were not permitted to be dismissed in any form unless their stumps were disturbed.
Admittedly this would have been a fairly useful piece of information to have been armed with before Offley took the field for the second innings of the game anticipating a conventional game of cricket.
But you live and learn.
Things did not begin well as Scott Boatwright lost the toss and his team were asked to bat.
By the end of the second over Offley were in a certain amount of trouble after slipping to 6-3.
Josh Hook steered what would have been a wide to gully. Adam Ward followed up a majestic cover drive by edging to the keeper and walking without waiting for the umpire's decision and John Davis had his stumps rearranged.
Ben Wiles and Josh Scott steadied the ship with a solid partnership before Scott was bowled for an enterprising 15.
Wiles went on to make 35 before gloving a catch to the keeper and walking but the story of the innings was 37 from the captain.
Boatwright was imperious as he more than doubled his previous league output for the season with a knock that illustrated just what can be achieved when a charity campaign is launched in your name.
Unfurling an array of shots that he had seemingly forgotten how to play - perhaps not surprising as he had been struggling in recent weeks to figure out which end of the bat to hold - Boatwright held the innings together, sharing a crucial seventh-wicket stand with a surprisingly mature Kaiz Ul-Haq that actually featured several defensive shots.
Kaiz finally reverted to type and had his stumps demolished in time-honoured fashion as he swung across the line and missed while Boatwright was run out in the final over coming back for a second run.
In the end a total of 138-8 was perhaps slightly below par but enough to give Offley a chance.
Offley began well when Jamie Cummins produced a pearl of a delivery that pitched on leg and clipped the top of off stump.
Cummins soon had his second wicket when he found the edge and Hook (deputising for a spectacularly hungover Boatwright) took an excellent catch behind the wicket.
Unfortunately the new law (37 B, Subsection D, which states "When a batsman hits the ball in the air to the fielder and the umpire does not feel like giving it out and the batsman doesn't feel like walking, the batsman shall be given not out") meant that Cummins went unrewarded.
James Barker claimed the second wicket with the aid of a magnificent diving catch by Kaiz on the deep square boundary.
Unfortunately the new law (43 A, Subsection Cii, which states, "When a key batsman is well set and he hits a full toss to the fielder, the umpire at sqaure leg is permitted to call No Ball after the fielder has taken the catch to allow the batsman to continue his innings") meant Offley were still searching for that elusive second wicket.
Wiles dragged Offley back into the contest with a fantastic spell of inspired pace bowling, culminating with vicious delivery that pinned his victim on the ankle in front of middle stump.
Regrettably under the new laws (72 E, which states, "An umpire shall have no obligation to give his player out if he can keep a straight face about where he claims his player was struck by the ball") the batsman survived.
While this was going on Hook was renewing acquaintances with his best friend who was multitasking at square leg as he combined umpiring with looking at his phone - presumably to make sure he knew all the new rules!
It's part of what makes village cricket fun, the chance to catch up with old friends and jovially share stories of previous encounters!
Wiles and Barker did finally succeed in hitting the stumps before Wiles claimed a further success with another LBW victim.
Sadly for Offley the new laws clearly state such an appeal is invalid (86 A states, "If the team's best batsman is hit on the pad when the game is in the balance and his dismissal may prove decisive, he shall be given not out by his umpire").
Wiles fell further foul of officialdom when he was given an official warning under Law 97 B.
"Should an umpire who has already called a phantom no ball and rejected two concrete lbw appeals mistakenly believe that he has the authority to issue an official warning, even though he can barely count to six without the aid of an abacus and flouts the traditional laws of the game, he is well within his rights to do so."
That just about covers it.
There was a fourth wicket but it was too little too late to make a difference (any dramatic collapse would presumably have been halted by a fresh avalanche of new rules and red tape) and by that stage of proceedings everyone had pretty much lost interest and Offley's players had long since given up trying to understand the new experimental rules they were supposed to be playing by.
All in all a cracking day out.
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