After torrential rain on Saturday night, the Mogs were delighted that the match went ahead against Newdigate, one of the nicest bunch of lads that we play against all year. After a quick pit stop at the Surrey Oaks, our moods were lifted further when we recruited local youngster Charlie Pankhurst to both keep wicket and swell our numbers to the full allocation of 11.
Hewitt lost the toss and unsurprisingly Newdigate chose to bowl first, hoping to take advantage of the wicket....which they did. Hewitt (5) chased a wide one and was caught behind, Kelly (18) did well to reach another even wider one and lobbed one up to cover, whilst Honeyfield (0) failed to appreciate the straightness of his 3rd ball and had his bails disturbed. After a rotten sequence of form recently, opener Furns was determined to play himself back into form and took full advantage of the skippers passing comment to "bat all day". Whilst Sachin Tendulkar was rendered scoreless by Ryan Sidebottom at Trent Bridge, so Furns showed every member of Newdigate's bowling attach with total respect. Despite spin twins Bowley & Penfold bowling slow high full tosses, half volleys, long hops and length balls, Furns reminded himself what it felt like to hit the ball, albeit not hitting them hard enough to get them actually off the square. His innings of monk-like denial lasted 123 balls, realising 39 runs, with just one boundary, albeit a decent 6 over mid-wicket. Fortunately Richard Moss (28) and Alex Halliday (55) were not taking pity on Umpire Hodge's boundary signalling, with the latter batsman hitting 10 boundaries in his 40 ball innings. New recruit Phil Arnold (12*) and Jo Lewis (6*) enabled the Mogs to declare at 172 for 6 after 46 overs.
A splendid tea was taken, with fresh sandwiches, warm sausage rolls, a selection of fruit, chocolate bars & strong tea reviving the Mogs and our many supporters. With the sun shining, the pitch was getting easier and easier to bat on and in an attempt to "keep things tight" the Mogs elected to open the bowling with Matthew & Keith. After 9 overs Newdigate had rushed to 41 - 0 and it was Jo Lewis, roaring up the hill, that bowled the dangerous Wickremasinghe (30) with a good ball. Neither Briggs nor debutant Arnold had much joy coming down the hill and the Mogs were really struggling to stay in the game as Betterworth & Pople took the home teams score to 81 - 1 with 25 overs still to play. After much encouragement from his team-mates Hewitt brought himself on to bowl from the top end and managed to put the brakes on the home team's scoring, as well as taking a few wickets, including skipper Callcut for 0. When Honeyfield snared Pople for 24, our hosts were suddenly 104 for 5 and the Mogs scented a surprise victory. Hewitt & Lewis continued the pressure, though Newdigate started to find the boundary at the same time and with 2 overs to go, Newdigate needed 29 to win with 3 wickets in hand. Hewitt's last over went for 10 but he claimed his last scalp to claim parsimonious figures of 13-2-34-5. 19 to win off the last, to be bowled by Matt. Although going for 6 off his first ball, he bowled Penfold (0) with the penultimate ball, giving us just one go at no 11 Bowley with all 10 fielders crowded round the bat. To his great credit the youngster played a Furneresque dead bat which found the middle and a draw was secured.
"PC" Brown administered some good-humoured fines (which most of the Mogs paid) and the Mogs enjoyed the glorious late evening sunshine to drink lots of Harveys & Fosters with our supporters and opposition alike. A good game against a good bunch.
Report by Alex Hewitt
MWCC Stats