Debut: Peter Harmsworth
In relative terms the weather had abated over the last few weeks and the Mogs came into the game on the back of 2 wins in the previous 10 days. This confidence was enhanced by a strong side, including a Kiwi ringer, Steve Hirst, and on seeing the Priory's (primarily) young side. A few of the Mogs had infiltrated enemy lines the night before to enjoy their bar-based hospitality and in the hope of trying to pick out a few of the following day's opposition and inflict a heinous hangover on them. Sadly the plan backfired somewhat and whilst the aforementioned Mogs enjoyed pint after pint of Kent's finest, their potential prey were all wrapped up in bed having correctly conjugated the pluperfect tense of "Amo" for their homework.
The weather looked set fair and on the win of the toss our skipper elected to bat. The Kiwi ringer was sent out with his amigo, Jamie Freeland and the innings began promisingly. With Steve Hirst in particular spreading his wings and easing into what was a sprightly young attack. However just as he was set fair, Steve was out (26) and quickly followed back to the pavilion by Jamie (9), leaving us 43 - 2.
This brought to the crease another ringer in the shape of Peter Harmsworth a young guy who is AOK and Ben Fairclough. Whilst it would be reasonable to say that Ben took a little while to get acclimatised to the pitch, the ball, the weather...his partner soon got into his enigmatic stride, and, had it not been for the fact he was right handed, I would have sworn he was the love child of a certain David Gower, such was the nonchalance of his cover drivers and the mop of blond hair.
The partnership began to flourish just as it was time for lunch, with Ben and Peter having increased the momentum and leaving us 95 - 2 at the break. Luncheon was a fine fare with succulent turkey, jersey royal potatoes and salad, gloriously followed by rhubarb crumble.
On resumption, the score continued to grow steadily as Ben began to play some fine shots and Peter continued to caress the ball elegantly through the in field to all parts of ground. Ben was finally dismissed for 22, bringing Andy Tharp to the crease. Since lunch the clouds had begun banking up from behind the pavilion with an ominous depth of colour. The score continued to tick over until Peter was finally out having made an excellently crafted 59. Very soon after Richard Jones made his way out to the middle the heavens finally opened and play was delayed for 45 minutes.
This put a new complexion on the game, with some time lost; we needed to up the rate. Richard was out shortly after the rain break and this new pressure resulted in the loss of 2 more quick wickets as he was quickly followed back into the hutch by Andy and Darrell.
This brought Honeyfield to the wicket and he managed to land a few lusty blows in quick time but was finally out for 32, caught in the deep. Alex Hewitt was 15 not out at the end, and in partnership Matt who hit two spanking boundaries, helped guide the Mogs to a respectable 214 all out.
It was a quick turnaround and with a spring in the step, Darrell and Jamie took the new ball. Both bowled with great passion and hunger and had both the Priory's openers in all sorts of trouble. Jamie had them both playing and missing on countless occasions with deliveries which were just too good but it was Darrell who did the damage with three quick wickets in two overs including an lbw, a sharp slip catch by Honeyfield and the last of the three, clean bowled. This had the Priory in early trouble at 30 - 3.
The Priory's Captain came in and steadied the ship with a good little partnership with the No.5 but the Lewis boys were on at this point and whilst Joseph struggled a little with consistency, Matt bowled an exemplary spell starting off with four maidens on the bounce. It was he who deservedly claimed the next wicket and began a purple patch where we decimated the Priory's middle order with Matt picking up 2 further wicket and Alex Hewitt claiming one which left them on the brink at 73 - 7.
John Gale was in at No.8, a position in the order that we knew belied his ability and, whilst he was somewhat fortuitous with a number of airborne shots that just fell short of the fielders, he began to increase the score and the rate. Still no real concern for the Mogs as there was much time left and they needed over 100 more runs and the batsman at the other end didn't look too secure.
Honeyfield and Hirst were on at this stage and John Gale found them to his liking as he started opening up and took the score past 150. By this time the Mogs were beginning to get concerned, with some of the fielding getting quite wragged.
Matt and Darrell was back on and continued to bowl well but Gale was in full flow and
as the total passed 200, the tension on and off the field was palpable.
Matt continued to bowl with great variety and finally picked up the wicket of Gale with a fantastic diving catch at fly slip by Darrell for an outstanding 95. The game was going down to the wire and the Priory needed 4 off the last 4 balls. There was renewed hope with the new batsmen in but that hope instantly turned into heartbreak as he straight drove the ball back past Matt for the match winning runs.
So for the spectators, a great and thrilling match with an excellent run chase by the Priory rescuing victory from the clutches of near certain defeat; for the Mogs a very disappointing end to a great day and a useful reminder to never take victory for granted, whatever the situation. We all remember 1981.....
Report by J Honeyfield
MWCC Stats