The Mogs completed a fine victory over the Pilgrims yesterday and retained the Peter Martin tankard in the process, (not that any of the Mogs knew where the tankard was!) Our all day game ended up being a 2pm start due to the heavy rain of the week before and much thanks must go to home grounds man Julian, for his sterling effort in getting the pitch playable. Whilst he was out rolling the wicket, the Mogs were in the Red Lion and 3-4 pints of Doombar were consumed over a splendid lunch provided by our hosts with Simon Arnold donning the chef's whites. It was a good toss to win and Hewitt duly lost it resulting in Furner and Simon Rivers going out to bat on a pitch that would offer plenty of help to the bowler. Both batsmen played excellently with Rivers throwing caution to wind and trying to smash everything whilst Furner was more watchful, though using the sweep to excellent effect. Furner went LBW for a good 24, replaced by Freeland who played excellently for 34, made up of 2 x 6's and 22 singles. With an hour to go the Mogs were 98-1 but we collapsed to 132 - 7 with Brown, Honeyfield, Lee & Hewitt all going cheaply. Rivers fell for a splendid 52 but Richards & Tharp A smote a couple of boundaries and we were bowled out for 152 on the stroke of tea.
Whilst our total looked meagre, the more seasoned Mogs knew that it was a pretty decent score and although the Pilgrims had a stellar batting line up, it was all about taking the opportunities that the pitch would help throw up. James Brooker and Dave Tharp opened the bowling with James snaring 3 quick wickets with a terrific spell of swing bowling (3-25). Dave Tharp bowled a marathon spell up the hill (1-39), which got better & better and when Andy replaced his stepson and struck twice the Pilgrims were in trouble at 65-6 with the Mogs excellent fielding contributing to our hosts progress. It was however a small target and Pilgrims skipper Saika and old friend of the Mogs Guy Mitchell, brought the game back to life with a terrific stand of 65 and with 10 overs to go, the Pilgrims needed just 24 runs to win with 4 wickets in hand. Hewitt was bowling a miserly spell up the hill and persuaded Saika to play on and with this wicket brought renewed chances of victory. Hewitt then ran out their No 9 who attempted a suicidal second run to Hewitt's newly bionic right arm. 8 down. Mitchell passed 50 and if he stayed in surely the game was up for the Wanderers. Honeyfield replaced Rivers down the hill and immediately found a good length. In his second over a length ball was smashed by Mitchell towards the Extra Cover boundary, only for Dave Tharp to run round, leap and take a quite magnificent two handed catch inches from the ground, which brought celebration from the players and vigorous applause from the watching President (Martin) and Three Wise Men (Honeyfield, Southgate & Hewitt). Honeyfield then bowled Simon Arnold with a pea roller and the after match pint tasted that bit sweeter with a fine win secured. Everyone played their part but catches win matches and Tharp's "special", combined with a great performance by Lee behind the stumps and all of the fielders giving 100% was the main reason for us restricting our hosts after our top 3 and laid the foundations earlier in the day.
Hewitt
MWCC Stats