The Mogador Wanderers secured a heroic draw against all the odds and retained the Peter Martin Cup in front of a good crowd on a lovely Summer's day.
Hewitt won the toss and elected to bowl first with a strong Mogs XI bolstered by 2 Chipstead imports & 1 from Merstham. Leigh Padfield and Joseph opened up and both bowled very well with Padfield snaring Reigate's shot a ball opener, caught behind, having seen his first ball nearly decapitate the Butcher at 3rd slip. The Llamas made steady progress however, with The Mogs shelling 4 catches pre-lunch helping them greatly, but Charlie Lee took out their number 3 and the Butcher persudaed Will Irvine (51) to hole out at Deep Square Leg from a waist hight full toss in the penultimate over before lunch.
A splendid lunch was taken and Hewitt's port had the desired effect after lunch with Tharp (4-35) and Hewitt (2-35) reducing Reigate Priory from 122-3 to 165-9. Llama skipper and occasional Mog, Andy Hoad batted beatifully with Reigate's number 11 and they put on 49 for the last wicket which steered Reigate to a competitive total.
The Mogs had 48 overs to get the runs and despite losing Lee early, Fairclough & Hewitt batted sensibly with Ben in particularly good form and we took tea at 65-1. The Mogs motored to 104-1 before embarking on a quite catastrophic collapse which saw us capuitulate to 139-9 in the space of 8 overs. Hewitt (42) top-edged a pull, Robbie (1) ran himself out, Browny (0) missed a Hoad slower ball, Fairclough ran himself out (albeit very unfortunately), Jez was bowled, Tharpy was caught at slip, the Butcher at gulley and when Lewis was bowled the Priory had 17 overs to remove the Mogs last wicket, defended by Leigh Padfield and Phil "the Power" Davies.
The Mogs have put up many a rearguard over the years, with Parker & Briggs' effort at Normandy standing out in recent times, but this matched, maybe even surpassed that. Whatever the Llamas threw at them, it was repelled and slowly but surely the genial chirpiness of the home tean turned into frustration, particulalrly when the ball beat the bat. Padfield kept the scoreboard ticking over with a series of crunching pulls and drives, whereas Phil nudged, nurdled and caressed. The pair put on 48 beautiful runs and whilst the win was out of the question, the roar that greeted Phil's staunch defense of a last ball bouncer was loud and long.
The Peter Martin Cup was retained by the Mogador Wanderers and both sides enjoyed similarly large amounts of ale and Indian food, with The Butcher of S'Algar taking curry responsibilities on a short term basis in Parker's absence. All in all a top, top day.
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