Make no mistake about it, this was a match the Mogs wanted to win. Having suffered an embarrassing defeat at Tadworth's hands earlier in the season, the Mogs picked a good side in an end-of-season 40 Over limited overs game.
Hewitt lost the toss and the Mogs took to the field without Johnny Parker, still serving jelly & ice cream at a birthday party in London. The pitch was a John Mason special - it had pace & bounce giving batsmen and bowlers encouragement, whilst the outfield was as good as you would find at a county ground. Tadworth got off to an explosive start, reaching 100-1 off 15 overs, thanks to a steady supply of boundaries and extras from Roy Keane and his protégé Jo Lewis. At the other end Abbo, recently fitted with a prototype, NASA designed radar system, bowled 8 good overs, which checked Tadworth's progress and rewarded the newly-bespectacled Dark Destroyer with the wicket of Tadworth's captain, triggered LBW by the Mogs chain-smoking umpire David "Jonesy" Jones.
Hewitt decided that slow bowling was the order of the day and after 17 overs the quickies came off and the slowies came on. Chivvied on by Mog Motivator, Phil "Village" Goulstone at cover, Matt Lewis & Alex Hewitt began to turn the tide with the first spell of sustained pressure in the match. Lewis castled Tadworth's no 3, whilst Hewitt reeled off a pair of boring maidens. The match turned on its head however when Johnny Parker replaced Hewitt and bowled an 8 over spell of extremely slow in and away swingers, which rewarded the small, hirsute all-rounder with 4 wickets, the pick of which being a leg-side stumping by big brother and Playboy feature-writer, William. Lewis chipped in with another two, giving him three wickets for the match and an unassailable lead in the race for leading wicket-taker, whilst both Hewitt & Jo Lewis returned for 2nd spells, which rewarded them with a wicket apiece. Tadworth were reduced from 109-1 to 159 all out, a total which should have been 153 had Mog scorer Peter Martin known how to score properly. It had been a tremendous performance by the Mogs fielders, who worked as a unit and created the pressure that allowed the Mog bowlers to benefit from Tadworth's impatience.
After a shortened tea, Yoda and Village strode to the crease and put on 46 excellent runs in the first 10 overs before Goulstone chipped one to mid-off and Furner was caught behind from one that bounced. Roy Keane & David Martin steadied the ship in another good partnership and with 20 overs to go, the Mogs required 70 to win with 8 wickets in hand. It was at that stage that the wheels started coming off the Mogs bus. David was caught at midwicket, Freeland was bowled, Hewitt was caught at point, Tharpe was bowled, as was Abbott (quack quack) as was Matt Lewis. From a position of strength the Mogs were staring down the barrel at 121-8, requiring 39 runs to win with just 2 wickets in tact.
The two batsmen at the crease were the brothers Johnny & William Parker and slowly they set about chipping off the runs. Younger brother Johnny ignored his attacking instincts and showed excellent tip & run skills, honed by French cricket on different beaches around the world. Older and follicly-challenged brother William mixed studious forward defense with Fu Manchu-like Chinese cuts, nudges, nurdles and glances. In front of a huge crowd (nearly 25!) the runs required dropped from 39, to 30, to 20,to 10. Finally with 2 overs to go just 4 runs were needed. Long hop. Johnny Parker. Square cut. 4 runs. Cue wild celebrations.
It was a fantastic win with man of the match Johnny Parker picking up 4 wickets, a catch and an undefeated 27 not out. He will be sorely missed next season. Another great win on the back of another great team effort. One more is required at Headley next Sunday. 8 wins sounds so much better than 7......
MWCC Stats