An advance party of Mogador Wanderers arrived at Coldharbour's amazingly picturesque ground soon after 1300 hrs. Bravo for picnicking purposes and this cheery group comprising of your correspondent, Captain and Mrs. Hewitt, Camilla and Oscar plus Vice President Parker and Mrs Parker, enjoyed an excellent lunch in the bright but slightly chilly conditions. Before the game the sound of Junior Mogs playing football on the outfield echoed around the clearing and there was general contentment. An important pre match ceremony also took place when the stolen box, so wretchedly taken from his cricket bag last week at Rottingdean, was returned to Peter Furner and the official handover was recorded for posterity in the Mogs annals.
On the pitch the Mogs, having lost the toss were put in to bat. Furner and Larke, returning to the scene of his debut 100 last season, opened the batting briskly as is usually the case at Coldharbour's ground and was notable for a 6 from Furner which he denied was the first one he had scored since Purley in July 1976. Both perished before really having got going scoring 13 and 21 respectively but the run rate was sufficiently brisk to give the Mogs a strong forward momentum. Moss delivered a couple of elegant, laconic drives driven with the aplomb of a 1950's Hollywood film star before he unfortunately feathered one to the keeper. Hewitt and Honeyfield assaulted the new bowlers and there was plenty of searching in the bracken for the ball before the skipper skied one and was out for 39. Honeyfield was joined by Fairclough who paraded his full array of shots in front of admiring girlfriend and family and both batsmen powered to 50's. There was no let up for the beleaguered Coldharbour fielders as Lee came in and was soon pulling and cutting the bowlers to all parts of the field and beyond. Tharp, having waited for some time to enter the fray and conscious that time was moving on towards the mandatory 1700 hrs. tea interval, drove hard at his first delivery and sadly it found long on instead of the boundary whence it was surely headed. Hornsey scored one and Lee remained on 42 not out as the Mogs wrapped up their innings on 283-7 after 35 overs.
Tea at Coldharbour is always something to be celebrated, especially given the logistics of getting it up to the top of the hill, and this year proved to be no exception. Fully replete the Mogs took to their fields and the assembled multitude who were enjoying the warmer late afternoon returned to their seats equally sated. From a journalistic perspective the Coldharbour innings could perhaps best be described as bizarre, at least as far as the opening 5 batsmen went. A little bit of investigative work revealed that had been a 21st Birthday party of truly Bacchanalian proportions the previous night which saw a number of their team in bed well after fiery Phoebus had risen over the horizon. This may have reduced their patience for crafting a deliberate innings or indeed the lure of bed and the threat of dehydration may have been too great. In any event the Coldharbour top order smashed the ball with the kinetic energy of the 120 mm primary weapon of a Main Battle Tank which resulted in some sore Mogs fingers and a couple withdrawn attempts at stopping the ball. Unfortunately it also meant that they were 5 wickets down for well under 100 as runs were either rapidly scored or the batsmen were out. The Mogs opening bowling partnership saw the muscular swing of Coxon bowling from the north end and the in form Mogs bowler, Charlie Lee hurrying the batsmen from the Gatwick end. Coxon's 30-4 off 6 overs were instrumental in ruining the Coldharbour response whilst Lee's 2 wickets would have cost him a few less runs had not an injury to his side allowed the batsmen to plunder a few boundaries which previously had eluded them. Larke bowled some spin replacing Coxon and picked up a wicket although he was bowling enough buffet to have satisfied the steward on a Network South East commuter train to Brighton whilst at the other end Hornsey was tidy enough and snared a couple of wickets in his 3 overs. Andy Tharp, keen to avoid the Thanks For Coming prize for the day, picked up the final wicket and thus ended the day with the Mogs winning by 154 runs and some solid catching by Fairclough and Moss with 3 and 2 victims respectively meant it had been a good afternoon in the field for the visitors. We then retired with our hosts to the Plough Inn to enjoy the evening sunshine and partake of locally brewed hop based products.
Col William Parker
MWCC Stats