One of the bright spots of the 2023 campaign has been the arrival of lower middle order stalwart and perpetually enthusiastic fielder Bradley Lyons.  Bradders - never Bradley and rarely Badly - has enjoyed a mixed start to his Offley career and is yet to taste victory in a league match. Bradders bears an uncanny resemblance to former Offley star Josh Hook, both in terms of appearance, physique and a slightly dubious taste in tattoos. His finest piece of art is of Spiderman, a work that appears to pay homage to a Fathers 4 Justice protestor rather than the original Marvel superhero. His batting is improving like a toddler taking its first steps. You can't but help admire his enthusiasm but know it's only a matter of time before he falls over. Or gets out. After finally getting off the mark, Bradders doubled that with a nifty 2 and this weekend struck his first boundary.  Hurrah! He was stumped next ball. Hurroo. Readers of a certain vintage will remember the good old day...

  OSCC, 74 all out, lost to Cranfield, 236-8, by a shed-load Sometimes, so they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  And, really, what is there to say about a doomed run chase where the scoreboard read 8 for 6 after 9.1 overs? Thus, rather than dwell at length on the unfortunate trip to Cranfield, let a single picture offer silent testimony to a day that ended in another defeat. It is the battered helmet of a warrior of Offley. It is the helmet of a warrior brought low in battle, a warrior who demonstrated his passion for the cause by reacting to his dismissal (and, surprisingly enough, his first duck of the year) by venting his frustration on his helmet. If only he had thought to strike the ball with the same passion, rather than, yet again, missing a straight one. Matty Taylor, we salute you.

 OSCC, 110 all out, lost to Broxbourne, 171-8, by 61 runs Marc Ward made his debut for Offley in 2007. For 16 years he avoided having to keep wicket. On Saturday he took the gloved for the first time and proved a natural. Ward allowed a mere four byes, took two catches and a stumping and looked totally at ease behind the stumps. Guess what? Offley lost. With the latest defeat relegation from the Saracens League was officially confirmed. To be fair it was always a little difficult to see us winning four in a row while Baldock picked up less than three points from their remaining games but there you go. Hoddesdon's outstanding ineptitude will probably ensure we only drop one flight (pending potential regional reorganisation) but it still means we're going to have dropped four divisions in three years on a Saturday. The game started well when Josh Scott won the toss and elected to bowl. Steve Denton and Darren Lunney combined to send down 16 miserly overs as Broxbourne failed to m...

  Offley, 193 all out, lost to Eggington, 205-7, by 12 runs Jamie C Not since Richie Barker ran out four team-mates in a single game at Wardown Park in 1998 has one man stamped his signature on a defeat with quite such aplomb as Rose West lookalike Jamie Cummins managed against Eggington. Despite finishing with figures of 3-27, Cummins is unlikely to quickly live down the memory of delivering 14 wides and five no-balls. Not to mention dropping a catch. Or being run out without facing to end the game, a dismissal admittedly that the aforementioned Barker was somewhat complicit in. Matty Taylor deputised for Ben Wiles at the coin flip and won the toss and elected to bowl, a decision based on necessity and past experience as much as anything else. Cummins took the new ball and opened up with an early barrage of wides before making the breakthough when he surprised the batsman with a straight ball. Cummins gave way to Wiles who struck with is first delivery before repeatedly beating th...

  OSCC 219-5, beat Hoddesdon, 65-7, by 62 runs (Rain) Offley kept their slim survival hopes alive as they recorded their first league win of the season against still-winless Hoddesdon. It was Offley's first Saracens League win since August 6th, 2022. A club-record sixth wicket stand of 109 between Dan Goord (65*) and Josh Scott (54*) set up the victory, as the dynamic duo caused chaos in the closing overs before the bowlers just about got through enough overs either side of two rain breaks to seal the win. Captain Scott lost the toss and Offley were inserted. They suffered an early blow when Marc Ward played a textbook cut shot to a delivery that required a text book forward defensive. Steve Bexfield joined Richie Barker and the pair displayed different techniques and approaches, with Bexfield content to survive and pick up the odd single and Barker looking to find the boundary whenever the opportunity presented itself. Nonetheless it was Barker who went next, bowled for 26, after ...