Gnomes beat Checkendon by 67 runs on Sunday, our first victory over the Oxfordshire side for as long as anyone can remember. Ed Sellwood was unluckily run out when in sight of a century and Pete Gillman had his second 5-wicket haul of the season.

Gnomes had seven players present when Matt Cannon won the toss and elected to bat in a 40-over match. Ed Sellwood and Andrew Ramroop opened and while Andrew dug in, Ed scored freely from the start, particularly with his effortless lofted flicks to the square leg-side boundary. He reached his 50 in the 16th over and when Andrew was bowled for 15, Ed had scored 67 out of the opening partnership of 93.

Ed looked odds-on for a ton but a fierce drive by new partner Matt Cannon was deflected on to the stumps by the bowler in attempting to make the catch. Ed had backed up too far and was run out for 88, including 10 4s and 2 6s. This was the first time he had been dismissed this season, giving him an average of 171 from three innings. Gnome were then on 144 in the 27th over and a high score was looming. Matt hit Checkendon stalwart Matt Wickens over the clubhouse for 6, taking him to 29, but was bowled next ball aiming to repeat the shot.

Mike Vandrau (13) and Mark Feltham (2) were both bowled in a bid for quick runs but Tom Godfrey was batting with great panache. He and Dave Straker put on an aggressive 30 in the last 4 overs. Tom was undefeated on 56, Dave on 16 when the Gnome innings closed at 214-6 off 40 overs. It is fair to add that Checkendon were weaker than during past seasons, as they now play league cricket on Saturdays. Three of their front-line bowlers were playing but half a dozen catches were spilled.

Gnome had an early success when Checkendon opened their innings, Anton having their no 1 bat caught off a lifter by Tom in the first over. Checkendon consolidated for a while and after 8 overs were just 20 for 1. Pete Gillman had the no 2 bat caught behind in his first over and bowled two of the younger Checkendon players in his second. He had a generous lbw in his seventh but the Checkendon skipper P Holland (dropped before he had scored) hit him for 14 in the next over.

Matt brought on Chris Gill, making his return from a thumb injury sustained in June, and Ollie Dunthorne, back after six weeks of hedonism in the US. Several more catches went down before Chris bowled Holland for 21. Pete came back for his tenth and final over and had a second lbw off his last ball (that one was plumb). Matt Wickens had reached 76 when he was caught by Chris Gill at midwicket off Andrew Ramroop - one of only two catches to be held in the entire game. Andrew took his second wicket when he bowled D Manning, Checkendon's second-highest scorer with 24.

Matt resisted several calls from other team members to be allowed to bowl, contending that as retiring captain only he was allowed to both bat and bowl. The innings closed on 177-9, Gnome winning by 67 runs. Pete's figures were 5-36 off 10 overs. Andrew had 2-14 off 4, Anton 1-21 off 8, Chris 1-39 off 8. The records will be searched to reveal when Gnome last beat Checkendon but the victory was Gnome's 19th of the season, a new team record, overtaking the 1989 figure of 18 wins with two games still to play.

Umpiring note: For the second time in successive weeks, Gnome umpires did not spot that the opposition had three leg-side fielders behind square. Gnome umpires had made the same omission against Oz House the previous Sunday.