As is tradition, the Mogs made their way up to Coldharbour's pretty ground on a pleasant June afternoon for a pre-match picnic, though not before several Mog husbands had helped their better halves negotiate the testing 4 x 4 course, which had become a good deal more "extreme" over the cold Winter. The first sentence shared by Mrs Hewitt & Mrs Parker were "that's the last time I'm ever coming to this ground" but I am pleased to say that the day improved considerably from here on in with the many wives & children enjoying themselves greatly. The Parkers (3 generations), Hewitts, Freelands & Faircloughs were all out in force early, joined by Camilla & Oscar, Charlie & Ali, Joseph, Mike & Amy and the picnics on show were worthy of any great quintessentially English sporting event.
A timed game was agreed and upon winning the toss, the Mogs elected to bat first, much to the delight of Mog wives, happy in the knowledge that their offspring would be entertained by the Mogs, both on and off the pitch. Furner (1) went early but Fairclough and Freeland played beautifully in a boundary-strewn partnership of 120, with Fairclough in particular looking in plum form. Jamie fell for 58, Tharp for 11 and Abbott for 7, but Honeyfield (24) rediscovered a little bit of form, before Stevens (44*) upped the boundary rate again as he joined Fairclough who was still motoring along and reached an excellent 100 with another cover drive, which clattered into the fence. Ben played quite beautifully although his daughter plainly did not agree as she fell sound asleep just after her dad had reached his 50. The Mogs declared on 270 - 6 and were greeted by a truly delightful tea which would have graced any 5 star hotel in London. Freshly made sandwiches, cheese scones, cocktail sausages, Quiche Lorraine and a selection of 4 home made cakes (carrot cake, Victoria sponge, chocolate chip cookie and brownies) all had the Mogs smiling, except Honeyfield who was disturbed by the addition of spring onion to the egg mayonnaise on granary. He will be begging for that quality of sandwich come day 5 at Glastonbury this week....
Fortified, we took the field with Lee & Lewis opening up. Both bowled well with Joseph unlucky not to get any wickets and Charlie possibly flattered in picking up 3. Both had a rest with Hewitt replacing Lewis and picking up 2 courtesy of good catches by Fairclough & Freeland and when Tharp, Honeyfield & Fairclough all snared quick wickets, the Mogs were confident of victory with 12 overs to get the 2 wickets needed to secure victory with a home run chase out of the question.
The bowling was shared around with Freeland, Furner & Stevens all having a bowl without success. Lee & Lewis came back for a last throw of the dice in the briefest of return spells but Numbers 9 & 10 played exceptionally well in their unbroken partnership of 65 which secured a draw. As usual the Mogs supporters far outweighed the home support, but particular thanks should go to Oscar & Camilla who lasted the whole match, which finished in the most beautiful sunshine...the Mogs should be very excited at Oscar's desperation to play his first ever game for the Mogs as soon as possible....thanks also to Briggsy who umpired again for us.
Despite the disappointing result it had been another great afternoon and Rory Mcllroy's victory in the US Open later in the evening was reward for any Mog who sacrificed their 8 hours sleep to see a potential sporting superstar pick up his first Major....
MWCC Stats