My fellow Pilgrims in cricket. It gives me great delight to give my annual sermon on the joyful reclamation of the Cinders.

However, as with all pilgrimages, it was not without its tribulations. An early morning thunderstorm had threatened a day of enforced shopping or some such burden in the – albeit delightful – company of the Lady Bishop. Fortunately the climate at Oakley is clearly regulated by a higher authority which saw fit to beam down upon us cricketing mortals with beneficence. Last year’s endeavours saw a seemingly insurmountable total of over 200 by TPCC wiped out by a flawless innings by one of the Oakley players, so the Pilgrims went forth to bowl with some determination, under the captaincy of the valiant Bumpy. What a bowling performance they undertook. Juggs and Clarence made a stunning start to proceedings bowling 16 overs between them for less than 40 runs, with Clarence picking up two and Juggs making it impossible to score off him. His generosity in not taking a wicket but letting his successor reap the rewards of his labours was received gratefully. Last year’s danger man threatened with flashy strokes but was unsettled in one over and smartly caught behind by Moggy the next. The wickets continued to fall, although we should apologise to Egon for letting cricket interfere with his scintillating conversation, leading to the dismissal of one of the players. Oakley’s captain showed admirable restraint and grace to accept the wicket as standing. The innings was eventually wrapped up for 80 with nine of the selected players bowling. Tim Rider picked up his first wicket for the Pilgrims, after which he was baptised into the congregation as Peggy.

Tea was bountiful in its delivery and sublime in its consumption: a surfeit of sandwiches and sausage rolls; a plethora of pies and pizzas; a cacophony of crisps and cake. It truly was a top tea.

There was a dark cloud looming over the Pilgrims innings, not the threat of rain – in the end a light sprinkling during the tea interval was all we got – but the knowledge that the team lacked any established batsmen. Admittedly there were a few biffers, swishers and nurdlers but these are usually deployed when all hope is lost or there’s 190 on the board. The innings began and continued at a languid pace as the top order biffed, swished and mainly nurdled their way towards the total, all the time leaking wickets due to some tidy bowling from Oakley. Cus-Cus made some neat shots and promptly lost his wicket to a child. Said child went on to remove another three Pilgrims in all, including a cracking yorker to our beloved leader. The only person who remained unmoved was Peggy. The only setback was his determination to attempt to beat Egon’s record of consecutive balls without scoring. It proved too superhuman an effort to surpass, but with an average of 15 dot balls per run, it was not far off. Perhaps the use of a bat that was fashioned in the latter half of 20th century might help improve the flow of runs. With 28 to go, a flurry of boundaries finished things off – analogy involving Bishop and bashing removed for the Brians who may inadvertently stray onto this report. The Cinders were reclaimed after two years! There was a final moment which took a touch of shine off an otherwise splendid day, involving a refusal to concede fault after an on-pitch transgression (see above) and make amends to an opposition of sporting gentlemen, when offered the opportunity to do so. A shame but as the old adage goes: to err is Egon, to forgive divine. Let us go in peace to love and serve Lord’s.