Done and dusted

Jeeves would have disapproved of a cricket match being completed within three hours (although his master, Bertie Wooster, would have delighted in the excellent spread laid on at half-time), but the demands of work and school curriculum meant that there was only time for a Twenty20 match when the PG Wodehouse Society's cricket team (also known as the Gold Bats) played the Dulwich Dusters, or the masters of Dulwich College, Wodehouse's alma mater.

The annual fixture brings a good smattering of spectators to the pretty South London ground - where the name "Wodehouse PG" can be seen in the gold-engraved first XI for 1900 on a wall of the pavilion - but most of them come just for the tea, an obscene anthology of sandwiches, cakes, scones groaning beneath the weight of jam and cream, and at least 20 sausage rolls per person. No wonder the Gold Bats were slightly hesitant in the field as they attempted to defend a total of 114 for nine, and capitulated with five overs unbowled.

Your blogger (second from the left in the photo, click to enlarge) was denied the chance to bat by a lengthy ninth-wicket Gold Bats partnership that stayed together for four overs until being broken off the final ball, but made up for it slightly with a wicket on his debut and respectable figures in the context of 2-0-9-1 as well as some rewarding streaks of Dulwich turf up his trousers, suggesting enthusiasm if not ability in the field.

For more information on the Wodehouse Society, click here. (Picture: Peter Gooday)