20 Questions with...Adam Lambert!

Adam is now a crucial member of the 2nd XI, and still taking loads of wickets with his metronomic line and length - taking a sensational 7 for 9 as recently as Sept 2017. He's also still a valuable middle order stroke-maker! Here's everything you need to know about Adam:

1. Date of birth & star sign?
15th May 1976 - Taurus

2. Occupation?
Civil servant

3. Favourite meal?
Fillet steak cooked medium rare with triple cooked chips.

4. Hobbies other than cricket?
Travelling, watching Spurs (amazing stadium), keeping fit. Middle aged stuff like walking and gardening. Still enjoy going out from time to time when I can drag Jack and a few of the others out!

5. Football team supported?
Spurs and Oxford

6. Imagine your partner has left you - who is your dream date?
I’ve only been married six months - so I will have to say my wife. Plus she’s watching me fill this in!

7. How did you first get into cricket, and who did you play for when you first played junior, and then adult cricket?
When I was about 13 I used to walk up to the playing field and watch Stonesfield play cricket. One day they were short so Sid and Mike Ogden who were both playing asked if I wanted to make the numbers up - and I have been playing ever since! This was about 30 years ago which I think currently makes me the longest serving player. Sid still talks to me about it now while he’s having his usual load of beers while watching us play! Very sad to hear the news about Oggy - he was a real Stonesfield Cricket legend and used to dedicate a lot of time to the Club.

8. Favourite ever professional cricketer?
I've always like watching fast bowlers - so Alan Donald and Glen McGrath have been favourites.

9. What do you regard as your most memorable innings?
I’ve managed to score a couple of 50’s, but neither were particularly memorable.
So I guess the most memorable innings is playing against East & West Hendred about 15 years ago. We needed about 30 odd off the last 3 overs and I was batting with Mark Wheeler as the last pair. Phil Slatter who was captain at the time obviously didn’t fancy our chances as he went off and had a shower while we were still batting and then came out to find we had won! Wheels and I kept hitting it about and we managed to win it with a few balls left. Successful last wicket partnerships seems to be a common theme when we play Hendred!

10. What brand bat do you have?
It’s a County bat, a bargain buy from Neville Bainbridge. He got a very expensive new bat as a leaving present from his old work then subsequently gave up playing (actually, no he hasn't, Nev's just been injured!).

11. Most memorable bowling performance?
Probably getting seven wickets for not many against Kings Sutton about ten years ago. If only because of the headline in the following Monday’s Oxford Mail which said ‘Lambert is in seventh heaven’! I still have a copy of the newspaper. There's a photo of Burnsy under the headline - not sure how he managed to get in there!

Another memorable bowling performance that sticks in my mind, although I didn't get many wickets, is when we won the Telegraph Cup Final about 15 years ago in front of a large crowd, including a big Stonesfield contingent, at Watlington. I only got two wickets off my 12 overs, but only went for about 20 runs and didn't concede one boundary, and then Rob Garrett smashed off the runs. It was memorable as it was the biggest thing we had won as a club for a long time.

12. Favourite away ground?
I've only played there once - but I enjoyed playing at Challow and Childrey in a Sunday friendly. Great location looking with the Berkshire Downs as a backdrop. When we played, half our team including me, were still drunk from a house party at Stew and Jack’s the night before and it showed in our performance! Funnily enough they never invited us back to play there again!
I've also always liked playing at East & West Hendred and Hook Norton. Good batting pitches, but they also have a bit in it for the bowler if you can bowl in the right areas.

13. Least favourite away ground?
Never bowled particularly well at Broughton - good batting pitch and short boundaries. As many others have said, Risinghurst is terrible.

14. Which Stoney batsman do you most enjoy watching bat, and why?
Rob Garrett - when he played we knew if we kept the opposition to score to under 200 the chances are we would win. I also enjoyed it when opposition bowlers tried to sledge him!

15. Which Stoney bowler do you most enjoy watching bowl, and why?
I used to enjoy bowling with Phil Slatter, particularly watching him work out how to get opposition batsmen out. We used to bowl well together. I was quicker then and he used to swing it around so we were a good combination and we used to get quite a lot of wickets.

16. You've taken the first 9 wickets of a game, and the no11 hits the last ball of your spell 'straight up the chimney' - which fielder, past or present, would you least want under this crucial catch?
This has got to be Jack! He only played a few games last year, but still dropped enough catches, including two guys who went on to score centuries, to win the bucket!

17. What do you consider your best attribute as a cricketer, and why?
Probably my fitness which means I can bowl long spells even when the weather is hot.

18. Which weakness in your game / technique would you most like to improve?
I've always been able to get the ball to seam around but I've never been able to swing it very much. This has meant that when we play on flat, slow and low pitches I sometimes struggle to get wickets especially as my pace has dropped over the years.

19. Funniest memory in cricket?
Neil Grant dropping a catch at Watlington sticks in my mind for being funny but I can't quite remember why, I think he fell on his face after he dropped it!
Another would be a long time ago playing at Steventon, Stewart Moss fell into a ditch surrounding the ground chasing a ball to the boundary and came out of it wet and covered in crap!

20. Greatest remaining ambition in the game?
I would like to help the second team get promoted this season. We have some good young players coming through and a with few older experienced veterans playing we have a chance!