Mogs past, present and future gathered together at the Seven Stars on a day that was the definition of "muggy". After decamping to the ground for the main event, Captain Hewitt lost the toss and the Mogs were sent out to field in humid conditions. Pilau and Lewis, J. opened the bowling on a skiddy track, with the ball failing to reach knee height from just short of a length on several occasions, and the agile Will Parker doing exceptionally well behind the stumps to prevent a heftier amount of byes. The track proved the downfall in the fifth over of the Leigh no.1, who spooned an attempted pull off a wide long hop from Rice to a bemused yet grateful Furner fielding at point. Joe was unlucky not to hold onto a sharp caught-and-bowled effort, but overall the openers didn't do enough to threaten the stumps, and the Leigh 2nd wicket partnership threatened to dig in. Their progress was steady, with only a large six off Honeyfield threatening to lift the batting display out of the unspectacular. All Mogs could offer in return was Joe "It's only banter" Lewis' carping at the mannerisms of the Leigh no. 3 and a series of dropped catches, with Joe, Alex and Pilau all spilling off the unlucky Briggs and Honeyfield. The advent of Hewitt's spell, however, slowly changed the game around. He embarked on a display of the medium-paced line and length that the pitch was crying out for, and broke the 84-run partnership with the removal of the no. 3 leg-before-wicket. Lewis, M. also dislodged the increasingly aggressive no. 2, who was finally held by Charlie Lee at mid-off. Hewitt continued with the nagging line-and-length and was duly rewarded with airborne bails and a two raisings of the finger from the umpire heralding the demise of a further five Leigh batsmen, who had been struggling in vain to encourage the ball off the square. Tharpy collected the final wicket, leaving the clammy-skinned Mogs facing a tricky total of 179 to chase.
After sampling the enlivening sausage sandwiches and jam-filled cake at tea, Furner and Tharp opened up the Mogs' reply, confronted by a challenging spell from Leigh's opening left- armer. Furns survived an early shout before being given out lbw by umpire Joe Lewis, who decided, in spite of concerns over the height, that "on average" the Leigh opener had deserved his wicket. This brought Charlie Lee to the crease, who pessimistically declared on his arrival that his confidence was "at rock-bottom". Nevertheless, it was Andy who perished next, admirably trying to take the game to the oppo but in doing so lofting a pea-roller off the other opener to cover, leaving the score on 22-2. Charlie, meanwhile, was gradually finding the middle of his bat more regularly, and Dave Stevens hit some elegant strokes until the latter fell lbw, with the score at 45-3. The Mogs then suffered the same difficulty as the opposition, as they tried to generate the power to move the total on in the face of some wily bowling from the home side, the only difference being the Mogs ability to make contact with the ball. This resulted in some impressive boundaries, with the partnerships between Hewitt and the Lewises in particular offering hopes of a victory. However, it also resulted in a series of catches being presented to the Leigh fielders, and Honeyfield, Hewitt and both Lewises all fell in the same way, leaving the score at 104-8 and a draw the best result the Mogs could hope for. Will, however, was caught attempting an ill-advised sweep on his first ball, and Briggsy fell with 6 overs to go, ending the game with the Mogs all out for a disappointing 120.
Report by Pilau Rice
MWCC Stats