"There once was a short man called Furner
Who was given a bowl on a "turner"
To all our surprise
And amidst Tadworth cries
He became a 5-wicket earner"
Eleven Mogs positively brimful of burgundy arrived at Tadworth's beautiful ground on a sunny Spring day only to find that the Tadworth team had changed dramatically over the last couple of years. The majority of their team were parents of Chinthurst boys and captain Hewitt, sniffing a slightly weaker opposition that expected, won the toss and elected to bat first.
Furner & Tharp opened the batting in Aesop fashion, with Tharp hare-like, straight driving, upper cutting & hoicking a smorgasbord of loose deliveries. Furner played the tortoise role to perfection and these 2 took our score to 40 or so before Furns was out. Hewitt batted at 3 (as all of our proper batsmen were still in the pub) and he & Tharp put on a further 50 or so before Hewitt (37) lost his off stump & Tharp (54) was caught at fine leg. Honeyfield was wheezing like Vanessa Feltz climbing a butter mountain and despite not being able to run anything faster than very slow singles, he & Freeland kept the scoreboard ticking over until a moment of madness saw Jamie back in the hutch, run out after a mix-up. Mossy, Matthew, Abbo, Joseph & Will all kept the scoreboard ticking over and the Mogs declared at 220 for 8 off 37 overs.
We enjoyed a tremendous tea that achieved 7.66 on the Richtea scale - it gained points for delicious sandwiches, warm quiche, fresh fruit & chocolate crispy cakes but lost points for "only one type of bread", a "lack of processed chicken products" and "slightly weak tea".
After a 35 minute tea, the Mogs roared on to the field and Abbot took 2 quick wickets in an excellent spell down wind. Joseph did not bowl a consistent line from the "David Marin fell down the bank a long time ago" end and when Freeland, Lewis & Hewitt had had an unsuccessful attempt at luring the Tadworth stalwarts into an indiscretion and with time running out, desperate measures were called for. Hewitt summoned Peter Furner, safe in the knowledge that Tadworth's boundaries were larger than most Test grounds and the Mogs cars were all hidden behind dense woodland. Not impenetrable from a Furner assault but unlikely enough to warrant giving him a spell.
The little master bowled slower than the Major into a Force 9 and, with an equal measure of astonishment & delight, the Tadworth batsman showed acute mental frailty as they charged slogged and were caught, bowled & stumped as Peter returned masterful figures of 9 overs, 0 maidens, 5 wickets, 63 runs.
He had ripped the heart out of Tadworth's middle order but could not quite finish the job but Freeland returned from the top end and took 2 wickets and it was left to Hewitt to claim the 10th wicket and wrap up a great victory with 4.5 overs to go...
We enjoyed hot sausages & Timothy Taylors "Landlord" afterwards with Furner completing a magical day as he kept everyone's glasses full (after a visit to the bank)
Report - Alex Hewitt
MWCC Stats