The Mogs recorded a tremendous win against our old friends on a glorious late Summer afternoon. Our hosts prepared a splendid lunch of Black Velvet, roast chicken & Camembert and home captain James Midmer asked the Mogs to bat first. Furner & Cooper made a cautious start with both batsmen struggling to time the ball and the score was 30 after 16 overs when Furns was caught off a leading edge. Tombs joined Cooper at the crease and upped the boundary count before Paul Taylor (formerly of Northants & England) trapped James plum in front with a quicker ball. Paul Fisher came in at 4 and smote one beautiful straight drive before being in the centre of an unsavoury incident, involving home captain Midmer who later apologised over a pint and a sausange sandwich. Fisher was out soon after and when Debutant Wood followed for a 4 ball duck, the Mogs were in great trouble at 64-4 after 28 overs with only an hour or so to bat. Hewitt joined Cooper at the crease and took the attack to Headley with a run a ball 38 but when Hewitt had his leg stump removed by Taylor off an inside edge and with Cooper also following, the Mogs were 120 - 6 with little time to bat. James "Brownlee" Freeland and Andy "Paddle" Tharp embarked on a glorious half hour of boundary hitting with both batsmen clearing the fence with Freeland favouring the straight and offside boundaries whilst Tharp an area between Deep Mid Wicket & Deep Backward Square Leg. Hewitt declared at 188 for 6 and although our slow start ensured that our total was perhaps 30 short of where we needed to be, we had at least given ourselves something for the bowlers to defend. Tea was a delight with hot pizza, scones with jam, homemade cake and pork pie fortifying the players and the Mogs took the field in front of a large crowd, made up of mostly Mog supporters.
Jamie opened the bowling in tandem with his nephew Barnaby, who had recently left Bristol University where he played a bit. On a different pitch they would have had more joy (though Freeland was convinced he had a stonewall LBW turned down by Umpire Pickering) and Headley got off to an absolute flyer as Jamie, Barnaby & Dave Tharp saw the ball fly off in all directions. Hewitt & Cooper came on and Headley got to 102-0 off just 14 overs before Cooper struck twice removing their excellent opener & No 3. Thoughts of victory were still a long, long way away but Hewitt then struck twice including the wicket of Midmer who hit a filthy long hop straight Andy Tharp at deep mid wicket in front of a silent Headley pavilion. With 16 overs to go Headley required just 55 runs with 6 wickets in hand and the Mogs shelled 4 chances running as Headley edged cautiously towards the total with Barney in particular playing well. Cooper got them 5 down before the defining moment of the innings came when Hewitt removed Paul Taylor via a wonderful, back-peddling catch by Barnaby Dunn at mid wicket. Hewitt bowled their Number 7 and removed their dangerous No 9 via an excellent catch by Cooper at Long Off and when Cooper bowled a now hobbling Barney, there were 13 balls left, with just Alan Clarke & Grant Waller at the crease. Clarkey just survived the last ball of the over, before Hewitt bowled to Grant, who would surely go for victory. The pitch however was now a spinners paradise with sharp turn and variable bounce making it hard to play any shots unless you got to the pitch of the ball. The first 5 balls of the over were dots but the 6 was tickled down to fine leg where Tombs fumbled and Alan Clarke changed his call of "No" to "Yes". As quick as a flash, Tombsy recovered the ball and whistled it in to the excellent Parker who removed the bails and the Square Leg Umpire's right hand index figure pointed to the heavens.
It had been a remarkable comeback with Hewitt (5-48) 7 Cooper (4-36) both benefitting from some fantastic catching by the Mog fielders. The last of the Black Velvet helped wash down the traditional sausage sandwiches and the Mogs go in to the last 2 games of the season in the knowledge that our record of P18, W8, L6, D4 ensures that our season will not be a losing one. If we can raise a side, it's next stop Horsley & Send.
Hewitt
MWCC Stats