The first of a new series of pieces recalling the joy we used to have every summer weekend.

Lyndon Jones recalls playing against the V&A at Stonor Park:

I’ve played this fixture, on a fine ground looking towards the magnificent grounds of Stonor Park, only once. As so often in life, something apparently straightforward, like a game of cricket, presented substantial ideological challenges. I’m a socialist; so I didn’t feel entirely comfortable visiting the most secure Tory seat in the country: dripping with affluence and assurance, and radiating luxuriant home counties charm, it really is a world away and apart from quotidian south Wales. On the other hand…  as so often with Bushmen games, it was a glimpse into another world, another culture, another insight into life and how it is lived.

‘The thing was, he didn’t just want a swimming pool’, said Ted, recalling a particularly well-heeled Henley client. ‘He wanted a swimming pool with a f*****g vintage Rolls Royce at the bottom of it. T**t’.

Ted’s presence in a Bushmen teamsheet never fails to improve the occasion.