Champions! For the first time in our existance we finally won something this year! Well actually we were joint champions of division 3 with Ridgeons, but we won't worry too much about that! Well done everybody! But the downside is we'll be in division 2 next year. At a highly prestigious award ceremony and the Vue the annual awards were given as follows: Players' Player of the Year - Bob Newton Players' Player of the Year - Bob Newton Best Batting - Martin (122 runs at an average of 40.6 with 6 not outs) Best Bowling - Bob (16 wickets at 14.0 average) Most Memorable Moment - Jez's 73 on Parker's Piece Best catch - Brian's catch on the mid-off boundary at Fitzwilliam Check out the full season's averages

Tuffnel: "Well done lads"

Match Reports

Robert Sayle (League), Monday 11 August at Fitzwilliam

Robert Sayle won by 15 runs

A disappointing end to the season as we were beaten by Sayles again. Bob and Mark took 2 wickets each as Sayles made 139/4. We only managed to make 124/5, with Bruce the top scorer with 31 and Graeme 19 not out and Corne 18 not out. Martin bagged his first duck of the season.

All Saints (League), Thurs 31 July at Fitzwilliam

RVCC won by 26 runs

Bruce skippered the side for the second time this season and weighed in with an excellent 63 as the Vue did the double over All Saints. We made 129 batting first thanks almost entirely to Bruce's excellent knock - the second highest scorer was Buster with 11 mot out and Bob, Corne and Critchers all got quackers. Buster was the star of the bowling taking season best figures for the team of 6/34 as All Saints were dismissed for 103.

Robert Sayle (League), Thurs 24 July at Pembroke

Robert Sayle won by 8 runs

Our third league defeat of the season was again caused by a poor batting performance chasing a decent but not intimidating score of 123 by Robert Sayle. After winning the toss and deciding to bowl for a change we did well to keep the score down in the early overs as we had to start with only 7 players due to traffic holdups. However Phil Orvis was in good form, anchoring Sayle's innings with 48 as we struggled to get the early wickets we needed to get into Sayle's notoriously long tail. Buster bowled tight and picked up 1-27 in his first appearance of the year, and Bob managed to pick up 5 wickets late in the innings, thanks to a stumping by Alex and two excellent deep catches by Buster. Thanks to an 18 run last over Sayle's finished on 123/6.

Our innings started well with Jez playing some excellent shots on his way to 47 after surviving a couple of loud LBW shouts. However the rest of the batsmen failed to make an impact apart from Graeme with a stylish 23. The wickets began to tumple when Phil Orvis came on to bowl and he eventually got 6 wickets including 3 LBWs, a good reward for bowling straight on this the deadest of wickets. Eventually Chuck was called on to bat at number 11 and managed to survive 1 ball while at the other end Corne game us a glimmer of hope by hitting 3 big fours. Alas when he was caught at mid off for 13 we were all out for 115, 9 runs short of the win.

Beehive (Cup), Tues 22 July at St Catherines

Beehive won by 9 wickets

A good old fashioned Vue collapse for the first time this season meant we were never really in this game after only making 98 runs batting first. Dave Norman was looking set for another huge score but was out caught behind just after bringing up his 50. Jez had already gone for a duck in the first over, then after Dave got out Martin went for 1, Bruce for 12 and Graeme for 0 before Brian and Nicky both got golden ducks. Bob (6 not out) and Mark (12 not out) halted the collapse and saw us through to the end of the 15 overs but it would have taken a fantastic bowling performance to win any game with just 98 runs, let alone against a very good team like Beehive.

Beehive reached the total required in just the 10th over, Bob being the only bowler to pick up a wicket, after some excellent hitting from their opener. So out of the cup for another year, at least we can now concentrate on getting promotion in the league!

Bayer (Cup), Mon 14 July at Fitzwilliam

RVCC won by 80 runs

Thanks to a superb innings of 110 not out by our friendly groundsman Dave Norman we made probably our highest ever total of 180-2 batting first, just beating the 170 we made against All Saints, although we declared with an over to go in that game. Dave smashed 6 sixes in his great knock and was well supported first by Jez (20), then Bruce (29) and Graeme (10 not out).

Bayer's batting lineup proved not to be as strong as we had suspected, and once Bob had removed a couple of early wickets with 2 good catches by Nicky and Brian they never looked like threatening the massive target. Nicky swept up the tail with 5-9 and eventually bought his first ever jug in the pub after the match! The ninth and final wicket fell controversially with Graeme taking a disputed catch behind the stumps with Bayer on just 100. So through to the next round, we don't know who we've got yet.

BAS (League), Thurs 10 July at Fitzwilliam

RVCC won by 87 runs

This game saw the strange spectacle of BAS making just 50 runs from 15 overs, perhaps a record low run rate in this form of cricket?! We made 137 with Bob (37) and Jez (36) and extras (29) the top performers, and after BAS's top 3 were dismissed for 6 runs they just seemed to give up on going for our total and just blocking out their overs, and we could only take 2 more wickets during the bizarrely uncompetetive rest of the innings. Corne had the best figures - 3 wickets for 3 runs in 3 overs.

Comberton (League), Tues 8 July at Comberton

Comberton won by 2 wickets

No report for this game I'm afraid I wasn't there. What I do know is we only got 93, and Comberton made it in the last over with a couple of wickets to spare.

Ridgeons (League), Thurs 19 June at Fitzwilliam

Ridgeons won by 9 wickets

Back down to earth with a bump - after 4 straight victories we finally met our match in this game. After winning the toss again we batted but were restricted in the early overs by very tight bowling from the Ridgeons openers. After 8 overs we only had 33 runs, though the only man out was Nick G for 11. After his exploits in the previous game Jez struggled to 16 before being bowled. Graeme then ran out Bruce for 5 with a classic piece of non-calling before being bowled himself for 13 and Bob soon followed for 4. The innings finally got a bit of momentum when Nicky smashed a six but was soon bowled for 11. Martin and Brian then managed to pick up the pace and haul the total over the 100 barrier picking up 33 from the last 3 overs as we finished with 103/6, Brian unbeaten on 14 and Martin on 16.

Bowling was always going to be an uphill struggle with such a small total to defend, and unfortunately for us Ridgeons proved to be a pretty good batting side as well as a good bowling side. The opener J Carr made 57 not out although he got a let-off when he was dropped by Brian when he had about 20. The only wicket was a catch by Martin off Jez's bowling as Ridgeons cruised home with 9 wickets and 12 balls to spare despite our best efforts in the field. The best bowling figures were Steve (0-21 from 4) and Jez (1-23 from 4).

All Saints (League), Tues 17 June at Parkers Piece

RVCC won by 57 runs

A record batting performance by the Vue gave us a handsome win over All Saints by 57 runs in this match. After losing Nick Grey for 4 in the first over, Jez Major and Neil Midgley shared a superb partnership of 115 in just over 7 overs! Jez was hitting everything and making the most of friendly bowling and slack fielding by All Saints, although both batsmen survived close run out decisions which left the fielding side exasperated. Jez's 50 came up in what seemed like no time at all, as he hit 11 fours and a six on his way to 73 before finally being dismissed by smartly taken caught and bowled. Neil continued to play well and also reached his 50, eventually finishing on 62 not out, and Martin on 18 not out. With thunder in the distance and the threat of rain in the air, Martin declared on 170/2 with 1 over left, the first time we have ever declared!

All Saints lost a couple of early wickets, Martin taking a high catch off Mark (1/30 from 4) and Corne Grobler (1/8 from 3) getting an LBW decision, before their number 3 and 4 put on 100 for the third wicket. The number 3 in particular played some excellent shots in his innings of 57. The middle of the innings saw the unusual sight of Bruce (0/32 from 3) bowling as we tried to get through the overs quickly as the light faded. However they never looked like getting anywhere near the target and eventually 2 wickets fell in the last over - Nick Grey getting a run out with an excellent throw in from the boundary (making up for a simple dropped catch earlier!) and Alex getting a smart stumping to end the innings on 113/4, as the weather in fact stayed dry.

BAS (League), Weds 11 June at Girton College

RVCC won by 7 wickets

After losing the toss for the first time this season we put in a fairly indifferent bowling effort and allowed BAS to get a respectable score of 124-4 off their 15 overs. Nicky (1-18) and Critchers (1-24) were the best bowlers on the night, as we held them to 40-1 off 7 overs, but then the scoring rate increased when the other bowlers came on. Anyway 125 seemed pretty gettable on a superb batting surface and so it proved to be.

Our innings was started in great style by Nick who smashed a quick 34 runs in his first proper innings for the Vue. An opening stand of 54 with Bob gave us the ideal start and meant we were always up with the required run rate. After Nick was bowled and Bob out for 15 to a fantastic one-handed catch by the bowler, Graeme (28) and Martin (27 not out) kept the scoring going nicely with lots of easy singles, eventually Martin hit the winning runs with 5 balls to spare.

Comberton (League), Thurs 5/6/03 at Fitzwilliam

RVCC won by 24 runs

A really solid team performance in this game gave us another fairly comfortable win, but it somehow felt much better than the performance in the previous game against Robert Sayle. For a start we had 11 players thanks to Chuck turning up who stood in for the injured Citchers. Despite an accurate bowling attack (only 4 extras) we managed a respectable 118-4 after winning the toss again. Graeme led the way with a stylish 41, with Martin (31 not out), Bob (22) and Alex (18 not out) all contributing. Only Bruce and Nicky missed out - Nicky getting the first quacker of the season thanks to a disputed LBW decision by Brian (disputed by Nicky that is!).

Our bowling was possibly the tightest ever seen, only 2 extras given away must be the club record! Nicky made up for his failure with the bat, getting 3 wickets, Bob getting 2 including the dangerous opening bat with a towering caught & bowled. The fielding was good despite a couple of dropped catches (step forward Bruce), as we resticted their run rate, and even got a rare run out. So a great start to the season, lets keep it up!

Robert Sayle (Cup), Thurs 29/5/03 at Fitzwilliam

RVCC won by 24 runs

A solid if unspectacular victory to start the season in glorious warm sunshine at Fitzwilliam. Batting first we made a smallish total of 107-7 on what was a beautiful batting surface. Graeme top scored with 22 and Martin hit 16 not out late in the innings. Robert Sayle's never really goy going and we picked up wickets at regular intervals as they slumped to 83-9 off their 15 overs. Top wicket takers were Graeme and Nicky with 3 each, despite 4 or 5 good chances being dropped. Not a bad affort considering we only had 9 players after Critchers went to the wrong ground!

2003 Fixture list

All fixtures are in Division 3 of the Cambridge Business House League unless stated otherwise. Home games played at Fitzwilliam College sports ground on Oxford Road. (Map).