Whilst Wales were sadly exiting the world cup following an ugly game of rugby with South Africa in Yokohama the really beautiful game was being played in Newmarket, by the ten stalwart Philanderers who were prepared to put their bodies on the line at the second club real tennis day.

Well not quite ten, following an evil evening in London Henry found the journey back to Newmarket too great a trial,...

A new venue and new opposition as we welcomed touring side Gumley CC from Leicestershire to the picturesque venue of Exning Park, nestled within the Lackford Hundred of West Suffolk. Exning is reported to be the historic capital of the ancient Iceni tribe and the home of Queen Boudicca from where she launched her failed uprising against the invasion forces of the Roman Empire in AD60. Could the ch...

As the replacement Match Reporter I have a problem in that I missed the opening hour of the game. That aside I have to say that I am mightily pleased that our inaugural fixture with IZ, founded in 1845, actually took place as they were struggling to raise a side. However, we generously donated two of our superstars, namely Ben Cassels & David Pimblett, to complete their line-up.

IZ lost the toss in...

The Philanderers CC annual golf championship was fiercely contested this year. 8 Philanderers assembled for a Friday morning round brought forward to avoid inclement conditions in the afternoon. In the end, the only dark cloud we encountered was the 9th player David Pimblett arriving 15 minutes late for his group's tee time, just as Sherwin and Skinner thought they were able to sneak out as a two-...

"And of THAT district I prefer
The lovely hamlet Grantchester." - Rupert Brooke, The Old Vicarage, Grantchester (1912)

Don’t you just get tired of match correspondents writing loads of useless prose in the hope of catching the judge’s eye in the Best Written Match Report of the Year Competition?

Rupert Brooke’s association with, and attachment to, Grantchester is well known and he continues:

"For Ca...

So August comes round again, and it’s time for the Philanderers to make their annual late summer trip to the seaside (well almost the seaside - you can probably see the sea from the upper floors of Holkham Hall, at least when the tide is in). After some difficulty (geography and the holiday season being against him) our great leader had assembled an XI containing the customary mix of youthful vigo...

Our inaugural game with the Tech giants Arm did not get off the ground owing to inclement weather and which was our first such cancellation of the season. However, cricket legend David Pimblett made a secret visit to the ground and upon crawling under the covers disputes the amount of rainwater causing the cancellation which preceded his arrival. Mind you he was using flippers and a snorkel when d...

Arriving at Swaffham Bulbeck slightly late on the evening of the 24th July to see that Fraser Roebuck, a firm occupant of the number 11 spot in the 2014 Perse 1st XI, was fully padded up was not especially encouraging. The Philanderers were already four down after just six overs, and James Tilbury could be heard muttering in the background about a mix up between him and his partner, leading to him...

Most disappointingly this match, one of the highlights of the season, was cancelled as the Foresters were unable to raise a full XI. On their website fixtures section the annotation was abandoned rather than cancelled which is rather disingenuous or am I just being just a touch bitter! 

A Philanderers’ midweek XI, that featured surprisingly few crusties, gathered at Fitzwilliam to take on the Remnants for the second time this season. Having suffered a shock defeat to Camden as the light faded the week before the team was to take some of the England ODI side’s aggressive cricketing mindset into this long running fixture.

Captain Pimblett got off to a much better start than CKD had...