White Collar Crime Cricket Club’s Post

With a shiver of excitement, it's time to kick off the 2024 White Collar Crime Cricket Club season, with the now-traditional winter net session at Lord's on 11 April. Link to sign up is in the comments below...looking forward to a stellar turnout!

Are you ready for the 2023 White Collar Crime Cricket Club season? We've got you covered, with an indoor net session at the Home of Cricket, 6 April 2023. Nets open at 16:00, so be there bright and early to take full advantage.

It's that time again: White Collar Crime Cricket Club will be hosting its final match of 2022 at Wanstead & Snaresbrook Cricket Club on 7 September at 2 pm. Come join us to close out the 2022 WCCCC playing season in style. Barbecue and refreshments provided, players and spectators welcome!

Would any White Collar Crime Cricket Club members be interested in picking up an extra match tomorrow for our playing member Charles Brown? Match is Sunday at 11:00 for an 11:30 start. Location: Queen’s Sports Ground, Oxford, Abingdon Road, OX1 4PP. Charles tells me: "The match should be great fun. The ringer would be playing for the (very casual) Savile Club vs the Chelsea Arts Club. The ground, situated along the banks of the Isis, will provide a charming setting for our annual grudge match/ battle for title of best London club for lovers of the arts and aesthetes (but not athletes)! The tea at Queen’s is also supposed to be very good."

MATCH REPORT: In a rematch to last the ages, the champion Accountants met the underdog Lawyers on 30 June at Totteridge Millhillians. The first innings saw the Lawyers' skipper Ali Naseem Bajwa QC lead from the front in a determined opening partnership with Quinton N.. The lower-order Lawyers were just settling in for a relaxing afternoon of a batting masterclass when Newcomb was spectacularly caught out by Robin Coakley on just 12, leaving Bajwa to battle on for 15. Guy Bowden at number 4 took command, loading 37 more runs onto the score board with a little help from his chambermate Faras Baloch and Addleshaw Goddard's James Byrne and Polly Sprenger (a collective 6 between them).   Things improved significantly for the Lawyers when Mohammed Saqib of 33 Bedford Row entered the fray at number 7, dropping a casual 26 onto the score before gracefully retiring. A lonely single from Max Hobbs of Macfarlanes, and a desperately-run 2 from Addleshaw Goddard's James Cooper finished out the Lawyers' innings with a comforting – though not impossible – target of 134 for the Accountants to chase.   And it looked as though they would handle it with ease, as Graeme Freeland opened strong, along with James Horrax. But just as with the Lawyers' openers, it was an impossible catch that changed the course, as Newcomb, arm outstretched, ended Horrax's hopes with a flying one-hander. Skipper Paul Edwards joined the fray at number three, retiring politely on 12 along with another polite retirement from Freeland on 28. James Motley and Coakley added a pair of 4s to the Accountants' total, along with a single from Sasi-Kanth Mallela, and the Lawyers were beginning to think that they had finally ended the Accountants' unbroken victory record.   Keen newcomer Constanza Cecchetti stepped up to have a go – only to be clean bowled first ball by Newcomb whose dead-eye for centre stump lost the battle with his gallantry. Umpires ruled not out, and Cecchetti battled on, to applause all round.   The Accountants' were nearing the finish line with an over to go, and the Lawyers' were ruing their earlier insouciance, particularly after 11th man Felix Vetter made way for the returning Freeland and Edwards. But in the final analysis, the run count couldn't match the available balls, and the Lawyers clung to a lead of 134-131 when the final ball was bowled.   Over heaps of Mexican food laid on by Chelsea Hannaford, and refreshing pints pulled by the cheerful staff of Totteridge Old Millhillians, the talk turned inevitably to a heated debate over Player of the Match. Plaudits were handed out for Newcomb's and Coakley's catches, Bowden's and Freeland's impressive turns with the bat, and Bajwa's all round performance, but it was newcomer Cecchetti who impressed all with her plucky first outing to take home the bottle of fizz.   We look forward to  welcoming you all to Wanstead Cricket Club on Wednesday, 7 September for another WCCCC outing!

Lawyers vs Accountants, 2022 "The Rematch" -- Match Report to follow soon, watch this space.

Who is ready for the return of the White Collar Crime Cricket Club? 30 June 2022 at 14:00 at Totteridge Millhillians Cricket Club, players and spectators welcome, as always. No limits or restrictions on experience (of playing or drinking). RSVP via our fancy link: https://lnkd.in/eYQrupAD

In a break with White Collar Crime Cricket Club tradition, yesterday's net session at Lord's didn't have the usual number of last minute dropouts, and instead we had more than 40 turning up to strut their stuff at the Home of Cricket's indoor nets. No match report of course, just huge thanks to Chelsea Hannaford of Addleshaw Goddard for organising a wonderful afternoon, and to all of the attendees, players and imbibers alike. The skills on show bode well for this playing season, and it was wonderful to see so much new blood. Roll on 2022, and a fabulous season of cricket. A separate thanks to Jason Court and Karl Pearce for helping feed the hungry cricketers when we unexpectedly doubled in number!