Nomadic clubs celebrate successful Oxford festival

56 matches in four days enjoyed by several hundred cricketers from 28 nomadic clubs from three continents - and this tells nothing of the sheer atmosphere and spirit of Oxford 2000.

From the germ of an idea by Geoffrey Hartley two years ago and organised for the Millennium by The Cricketer magazine, the full flower of old-fashioned amateur cricket blossomed throughout Oxford.

Of the 56 games only ten ended as draws, while successful run-chases outnumbered bowling the opposition out as the route to victory. Of the draws, the Free Foresters/Band of Brothers first-day match could not have been closer - both teams reaching 239-7, with a top individual score for both teams of 74!

There were plenty of other exciting finishes, perhaps none more heart-stopping than the Day 4 encounter between the Band of Brothers and the Frogs, who needed four off the last over but only managed two extras and lost a wicket to the last ball!

The batsmen generally held the upper hand, with 24 centuries, the highest from the former Cambridge Blue Rob Jones - 200 for the Free Foresters against I Zingari - in the first meeting of these two famous clubs since 1878.

The bowlers managed five or more wickets just 14 times - the best was 7-61 by R.Medforth for the Yorkshire Gents against the Wiltshire Queries.

Oxford has witnessed attractive cricket, performed by players in caps, sweaters and (off the field) blazers in colours of the entire spectrum of the rainbow. Ben Brocklehurst, the former Somerset captain and Chairman of The Cricketer, now says he is considering another festival for the year 3000. The players would happily be back even sooner!