This was a rearranged fixture through the Conference after Albury had to cancel our scheduled game after hooligans ruined their pitch and set fire to their pavilion. Needless to say we were delighted to face East Horsley again and after winning the toss on a beautiful Summer's day, The Mogs decided to bat and Furner & Hewitt soon put the Horsley openers (Tom Newman & Tim Drake) to the sword in an opening wicket stand of 44 in 8 overs. Hewitt was bowled off an inside edge for 28 however, which brought the form batsmen of the year so far, Andy Tharp, to the crease. Tharp was soon into the action with the majority of his boundaries being hit on the leg side and he brought up his run-a-ball 50 with another leg side wallop. Tharp went for 61, but David Martin kept the tempo going before falling to Horsley's 14-year old leg spinner Philip Drake (again!). Wickets tumbled quickly as the Mogs pursued a big total, though Furner would not be perturbed as he played a Boycottian innings of 58* off our 43 overs, with the Mogs declaring at 199-6.
After an excellent tea, umpire Frank Jackson had us promptly out and Abbott & Briggs opened our attack in slightly more overcast conditions. Briggsy, (celebrating his 50th birthday during the week) made an immediate impact with Tharp taking (another) magnificent catch at 2nd slip. Briggs soon had another wicket and Horsley were wobbling at 15-2. Honeyfield replaced Abbott at the pavilion end, but despite beating the bat regularly couldn't prize out Horsley's opener or Mark Proctor, their number 4, as the 3rd wicket put on 50. Hewitt replaced Briggs however and soon had Proctor LBW with one that turned, before bowling their No 5 and opener in successive overs & eventually finishing with figures of 3-28. Suddenly the Mogs had opened a door and with Pete Martin whirling away from the pavilion end wickets continued to fall at regular intervals (including a great run out by Lewis), with East Horsley - to their great credit - continuing to go for our total with their entire batting line up seemingly capable of hitting huge boundaries. Pete Martin took 3-40 and the Mogs had 5 overs at their No's 10 & 11 (father & son "combo" Tim & Philip Drake) - regrettably without success. East Horsley finished on 155-9 off 48 overs and the match was drawn.
The Mogs performed well again in this match with the only difference between a draw and a win being the 3 sharp chances that we spilled (one of which temporarily dislocated Abbott's finger). All in all it was another great effort against one of the better Sunday sides we play.
Report by: Alex Hewitt
MWCC Stats