The MWCC Expeditionary Force to the South Coast, under the command of General Sir Matthew Lewis, met at The Plough rallying point for a few pre-match sharpeners and to watch the Ireland Spain game in the World Cup.
The wet weather over the previous few days forced the use of the matting track which was quite slow but true and did not offer a huge amount of encouragement for the bowlers. The skipper won the toss and elected to field.
A pretty tight opening spell from Briggs bowling from the Pavillion end and HMS Abbot, steering zero four five, restricted Rottingdean to 80 odd after 30 overs for the loss of three wickets, one caught brilliantly by Jackson, diving forward at square leg.
At this stage the skipper decided to open things up by introducing Peter Martin and Tharpe. The latter bowled tightly and kept the run rate down but the wicket did nothing to help Martin and later Peter Furner who both bowled valiantly but without success and had a few of their flighted deliveries deposited in the corn field. The skipper brought himself on and stemmed the run flow but did not succeed in dismissing Rottingdean's centurion and they eventually declared at 175-3.
After an excellent tea the Mogs set off in pursuit. Jackson and Furner's partnership showed signs of blossoming but was prematurely curtailed when Furner was run out. Jackson and Tharpe continued the pace and the Mogs looked to be cruising towards the target. Regrettably, once again before the partnership could fully engage the opposition, it ended prematurely.
Jackson fired a massive straight drive with all the power of a naval artillery piece which impacted with a loud crack on his partner's cranium. Tharpe, hitherto known as Egg for his bald pate demonstrated the inaccuracy of this name and showed that though bald his skull was as actually as tough as the 14 inch armoured steel belt around a German pocket battleship.
A hospital visit confirmed that no injury was done but the Mogs' impetus had been lost, Martin D, Moss and the skipper all sparkled briefly and the runs flowed but they were unable to drop anchor for long enough. Parker W held up one end for the final session but his array of shots were never going to be enough to close the gap and the Mogs ended 20 runs short with 3 wickets in hand.
Report by: W Parker
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