The Mogs made the short journey to the picturesque Coldharbour ground on Sunday looking to get back to winning ways after their loss to the Cavaliers last week. Skipper for the day Andy Tharp was happy to have secured 11 players (or so he thought) late on Saturday night with the inclusion of Simon Rivers courtesy of James Brooker.
Coldharbour won the toss and decided on a 30 over game (???) and put the Mogs into the field. It wasn't until the players took the field that it was realised by Andy that instead of the 11 there were only 9 players ready to play. The whereabouts of Dave Stevens and Matt Brown were unknown! This did not faze the Mogs, as most readers will be aware, the Coldharbour ground is not the biggest.
The 2 J's, Joe and James opened the attack and were very unlucky not to take a wicket in their 6 over spells. Joe had a catch dropped by Peter and James beat the outside edge regularly for no avail, and the Coldharbour openers found the gaps regularly (easier with only 9 fielders!!!) and put on 76 in the 1st 12 overs. Dave Steven arrived having taken a slight scenic detour to get to the ground, and with 10 players the skipper was confident of making a breakthrough. Andy and Will replaced the 2 J's, and Andy struck in his first over, and in the next 2 conceding only 1 run in the process. Will was turning the ball square and he also picked up 2 wickets in his 1st three overs to leave Coldharbour 89-5 after 18 overs.
Phil "The Power" Davies replaced Andy and in conjunction with Will bamboozled the Coldharbour batsmen with viscous turning deliveries and they took wickets at regular intervals. Andy came back on after Will had bowled his allotted 6 and took another wicket, and Phil wrapped up the innings with his third to bowl Coldharbour out for 127 off 26.1 overs. As usual the Mogs enjoyed a fine tea in glorious sunshine, and looked forward to scoring the required runs.
Simon Rivers opened with the ever reliable Peter Furner, only to see the little master hit the first ball of the innings straight to short midwicket where the fielder took an excellent catch. 0-1 off 0.1 overs. Dave Stevens joined Simon at the crease and took the score along to 43 before Dave hit a long hop straight to square leg and was out for 9. Ben joined Simon, and the pair of them put on 89 runs to see the Mogs home by 8 wickets with 16 overs left, Simon ending up on 94* (9x6 and 8x4). It was a powerful display by Simon, and he was well supported by Ben.
A few pints were enjoyed at the Plough, and the Mogs can now look forward to a week off in preparation for Newdigate on the 30th June. Thanks as always to John for umpiring, Allan and Pat for supporting and apologies to David and Pippa who arrived just as the game ended...
AT
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