Debut: Matt Brown. No 5 bat changed from William Brown to Matt Brown because the match report names him twice.
Peter Furner, 2 May 2021
After enduring 2 washouts in the first two fixtures, the Mogs were pleased to have a dry Sunday to kick off the season at Maori Oxshott. As usual our host's skipper provided a free pint of Doom for all the Mogs prior to the game, and this was happily accepted by the majority of Mogs (yours truly was still trying to work out how he had got back home from The Stoop the day before!!).
The toss was won by the Mogs and the decision was made to insert our hosts, more in the realisation that hardly any of the team had picked up a bat since Headley last September than in an attempt to utilise the green pitch!
Joseph and Charlie opened the bowling and both bowled tight opening spells, Joe taking a wicket in his first over clean bowling the unfortunate opener with a great in swinging yorker. Andy replaced Charlie after he had bowled 6 overs and had had enough, Jamie replaced Joe one over later and both continued the excellent work started by Charlie and Joe and after 24 overs the hosts were 72-4, Jamie taking 2 and Andy 1.
Baden Wilton and Will Cooper then took the ball, Baden a dreadlocked Kiwi who currently plays for Chipstead bowled an excellent 8 overs taking 3 wickets for only 27 runs. The highlight was Peter Furner's comment of Baden having a hand in all 3 11yr olds dismissals.... Will Cooper also bowled a great spell, taking his 1st Mog wicket and conceding only 22 runs from his 7 overs . Ben and new boy Matt Brown bowled the last 5 overs, and Maori Oxshott declared after 44 overs with 166-9 registered on the board.
Tea was as always a grand affair with pizza, warm sausages and a great selection of sandwiches, and the Mogs were also treated to the most amazing finish to the Premier League season on the big screen. The barman was very happy as he was a City fan, the Man Utd fans on the other hand were left bemused!!
Peter and Ben opened the Mogs reply, and Peter was the first to go with the score on 24 being bowled by Dupree (who guested for us 2 years ago!). Ben was next out having scored 16 (all boundaries) and the Mogs were 37-2. JD had scored 9 before being bowled by Junior, and when debutant Matt Brown was dismissed in the same manner the Mogs were 54-4 off 16 overs. Baden Wilton and Will Cooper then put together a wonderful 80 run partnership to take us to 134-5. 8 overs remained and it was looking good for the Mogs, however the return of Junior soon put pay to any complacency that there might have been. Jamie went for a duck 136-6, Andy and Will took the score to 158 before both were dismissed without adding to the score, the equation was 9 runs to win and 2 overs to get them. Joe was clean bowled for a duck, 6 runs needed off 8 balls and 1 wicket left. Will and Charlie managed to get it down to 2 runs to win off the last ball, and in an attempt to get the runs Will was bowled by Steve Saker, meaning the Mogs lost by 1 run.
A great game to start the season, however the Mogs were left rueing the fact that they had not actually won the game.
Report: Andy Tharp
MWCC Stats