So, let me tell you a little story...it was 6.53pm on Bank Holiday weekend Sunday, the British weather had already threatened to spoil the day, but the Mogador Wanderers and travelling support had braved the drizzle and were brimming with excitement and anticipation as Charlie Bruce Dairy Lee started his run up....
...6 hours earlier...
This day always holds a lot of promise, and Merstham never seem to disappoint. The signs were not good though as Benjamin Fairclough (aka BBQ Michelin starred chef extraordinaire), was unable to extract the required tools to show off his culinary skills from the cricket club shed. Thanks to Merstham captain Bobby Sharp (aka the deepest voice in world cricket), this issue was not to last long...BBQ on, 6 pints of Fosters and a bar tab negotiated, the day had well and truly started.
The Mogs players and supporters began to arrive and set up picnic chairs, blankets and the obligatory cool boxes. The Merstham members also began to appear and took little time in recognising the format of the afternoon and joining the Mogs warm up tactics at the bar. Sharp and Tharp strode, sociably to the middle of one of the most visually pleasing cricket grounds in Surrey, and quite aptly both returned looking content in the result of the toss - Mogs to bat first. The beers continued to flow however, with 2 or 3 minutes to the allotted kick off time, this was indeed a weekly standard for the Mogs team, and did not phase them at all, in fact acknowledgement must go out to the Merstham team who also quite comfortably managed the relaxed approach to the start of the match.
There was however small rumblings of concern and a little distraction as the hour of two o'clock fast approached; the absence of the Mogs opening batsmen Richard Turner was causing a mild discomfort for captain Tharp. It was never in doubt as Tina Turner arrived with a massive 4 and half minutes to spare. So it was then, that Turner, hastily kitted out, joined Furner at the middle to embark on the 40 over journey to stardom and success. Unfortunately, the score was a little past 20 when Turner drilled one to cover and was caught for a promising 9?. Out to the centre strode a confident captain Tharp. Plenty of gusto and feverish running between the wickets, with the odd Tharp 'death' paddle thrown in took the score to 50?, before rather unfortunately <Tharp out>. Into bat came Cooper Trooper to join the Furner who was now nurlding successfully and had accumulated a solid 30?.
Unfortunately, the Mogs batsmen didn't seem to successfully master the uneven and slow'ish pitch. In complete contrast to the Merstham bowlers who were accurately exploiting the conditions and bowling with varied pace and annoying accuracy. Cooper had come and gone with a powerful, but less than accomplished <Cooper out>?. Lee joined Furner, who continued to trundle along, encouraging the scoreboard to tick over. There was a brief respite from the line and length, with the introduction of Jez Gray who very generously served up a few full tosses for Lee to unattractively hack over extra cover for a boundary or two. When the bowling wasn't quite so generous, Furner and Lee scampered (good scampering from a 60 year old...that's Furner, NOT Lee) a few two's and even three's. It appeared that Lee had run one too many three's as he lost patience and tried a 'head in the air hoyk' over cow corner, only to miss the resulting straight delivery - out for a one eyed 17. Furner continued to support each Mogs batsmen and with the help of some lusty blows (super 7 iron onto the 18th tee box) from Benjamin Fairclough and David Tharp; the Mogs managed to raise a non-dramatic, but solid 170.
Tea was presented in the clubhouse; arguably one of the best bits about cricket!! I must make a special mention to the facilities and staff at Merstham cricket club who kept the Mogs and swarms of family and friends very 'well oiled' with Fosters and Pinot....standard.
Merstham CC is indeed one of the more beautiful grounds in Surrey and with the new clubhouse, super patio area and backdrop of Surrey Hills and golf course, the mid innings break of sandwiches, home-made cakes and breakaway (caramel for extra bonus point) biscuits was enjoyed in perfect surroundings.
With the Mogs bar tab suitably increased further during the tea break, eleven finely tuned athletes took to the field, accompanied by two Merstham batsmen, Peter Tharp at one end and David Loader at the other. The standard opening partnership of messes Lewis and Graham opened the bowling attack. Lewis bowling a very fine spell of 6 overs for 1 wicket, and was possibly not justly deserved, as Patrick Graham to ok the plaudits with a better spell from the other end; picking up 3 wickets in 8 overs, and limiting the opposition to only 35 runs. In spite of feeling confident that 170 could be defended, the Merstham number 6 had very different ideas. It was a strong start from Lewis, Graham and Cooper; the latter picking up wickets at crucial times, but the Merstham middle order began to accelerate finding the rope, and simply ignoring the rope as the ball sailed on to the 17th green at Reigate Hill golf course on a few occasions. The positive for the Mogs was that wickets continued to fall at the other end, and although the new Merstham recruit continued to blast the ball to all corners, there were not many runs coming from the other end. Both the Tharp boys were brought into the attack, in an attempt to confuse the big hitting Merstham 6 and also try and utilise family ties in the officiating position. Unfortunately Peter was not interested. Junior Tharp immediately implemented a piece of Brearley magic field configuration, bowling to a 8 / 1 leg side field, with cow-corner setting up a coffee bar and seating arrangement for all the Mogs that were out there. Unfortunately the ball continued to sail over the coffee bar, or fall short of the fielder on the off side...Even young, brave Oscar had seen the importance of the moment and put his body on the line by stopping one of the blunderbuss drives from the bullying batsmen.
In all the excitement of complex fielding matrices, injured Mogs in the line of duty and a plunder of wickets falling at one end, the Mogador Wanderers had almost failed to see that Merstham were now only 6 runs from victory - one single blow from their middle order matriarch, who had 'bludgeonly' moved to 68 not out. With plenty of overs left for Merstham to achieve victory, but now with their number 11 at the crease. Andy Tharp, Mogs Captain, seemed to realise a moment of genius or had simply failed with every other strategic move, acceptingly threw the ball to Charlie Lee, and asked him to bowl from the pony grazing end. Joy was written all across Charlie's face.
So we return, the time 6.52pm and Merstham, in particular their number 6, had all but taken the much sought after victory. Charlie Lee, having been asked to bowl by Captain Tharp just two overs before, with a middle order batsmen smashing sixes left, right and centre, with the opposition 9 wickets down and the pressure of the 2483 strong crowd and a trophy on the scorer's table, began his second over. The crowd's anticipation, excitement and inability to deliver a coherent sentence, was exceeding recognised safety levels, as Charlie forced the Merstham 6 to an inside edge down to fine leg, and a single run taken...the Merstham score now 170...the Mogs score 170.....Charlie now had his sights set of the cowering Merstham number 11, confident in the fact that he had not scored, he had not hit or even seen the previous 5 deliveries.....dot ball, as the Mogs fielders groaned and cried as the ball seemingly bisected the off and middle stump....a motivating shriek was audible from the Colonel and the supporting office. Charlie Lee bowled further deliveries of unimaginable tension and varying accuracy: Yorker - dot, wide off stump - dot, short of a length, tittering down leg side - dot, rapped the pads, huge appeal - dot..... and still the Merstham number 11 was at the crease, safe in the knowledge that his colleague and batting partner needed only one ball and only one run the next over. He needed to dot one more delivery. Charlie Lee started his run up for the final time - left foot, right foot, right foot (avoiding the uncontrollable force to fall over), bowled another Yorker, with a little in-drift...the batsmen unable to trap the bat down on the ball, and a rattle of timber, the stumps were ejected into the air. An Australian tinged yelp came from Golden, fielding at silly mid-off, followed by a hug and kiss, and Charlie was held aloft. The scenes uncannily similar to September 2005 at The Oval. The crowd went berserk, there was cheering from the Mogs faithful, beer sent flying and people falling off bicycles in delirium.
Then in a moment of calm, after an excited Mrs Lee had bought the jug of beer, the trophy was tightly held by an exhausted but both proud Andy Tharp and Bobby Sharp; together beautifully acknowledging the day, the theatre, the friendship and the wonderful day's cricket.
MWCC Stats