"History is made in Normandy campaign"
Having only managed one game in the first 3 weeks of the season, a slightly undercooked Mogador Wanderer XI arrived at Normandy's glorious ground, though with the memory of our ruthless victory in 2004 fresh in the mind, we were in confident mood on a magnificent May afternoon.
Having lost the toss, the Mogs put the cool bags in the shade and took the field. Freeland opened the bowling and delivered an immaculate opening 5 overs, which saw him remove their opener via a thrilling slip catch by Tharp and only concede 4 runs. His Dennis Lillee like appealing was also much admired and it is such a shame that his genetic make up precludes him from being able to grow his hair and then sport a yellow headband to complete the look. Joseph Lewis opened from the pavilion end and also took a wicket in his spell of 6 overs, leaving the hosts at 47-2 after 12 overs of their allotted 45. Briggs and Matthew Lewis took over and kept up the good work though Normandy's captain Mark Hilsdon and no 4 Arnell looked slightly ominous and gradually the scoreboard started ticking over ever quicker. Despite Matthew snaring Hilsdon (71) via a Gary Owen, which was snaffled by Mossy, it was not until Hewitt's second spell that Normandy slammed their foot hard on the accelerator as his last 2 overs went for 29. Arnell reached an excellent 109 with his 5th 6 over Deep Mid Wicket, Hewitt returning the sleep deprived figures of 0-59 off 8 overs. Jo Lewis was rewarded with his second wicket in Normandy's last over and the hosts reached an imposing 244-4 off their 45 overs.
As in 2004, Normandy's tea ladies delivered the goods with hot sausages, warm quiche, fresh fruit, hot tea and cold squash being majestically accompanied by a variety of sandwiches, crowned by the remarkable sighting and subsequent tasting of smoked salmon & cucumber. An instant survey of XI experienced Mog tea-takers revealed that smoked salmon had never been seen before.
Alas the splendid tea did nothing for our batting and despite a strong line up we self-destructed against good bowling, though nothing that was out of the ordinary. Fairclough (3) wafted when he shouldn't have, Action Jackson (7) missed a straight one, Freeland (12) got a Sally Gunnell (ugly runner) which troubled his off stump, Hewitt (14) unnervingly picked out Long Off, Mossy & Frank Jackson failed to trouble the scorers (though the latter did at least have the comfort of getting something out of the game - a groin strain), Tharp (33) played around a straight one, Jo Lewis (9) ran himself out, which was a shame as he had just hit a glorious straight 6, Matt Lewis (8) was stumped by 5 yards and after 27 overs the Mogs found themselves at a pitiful 90-9.
It was an embarrassing scoreline to be honest and with William Parker and Keith Briggs at the crease, the home fielders foolishly started talking about an early trip to the bar. Mog legends come in all shapes & size and the beauty of our club is that any one of our starting XI can assume star status on any given Sunday. At Normandy both Colonel Cuzza and Briggsy stepped up to the plate with Keith actually "walking in the air" as he danced down the track and smashed 8 saliva-inducing boundaries. Parker was more Brearley-like combining our old favourite - the Parker Paddle with a new weapon in his armour - the Parker Push. Whilst victory was never really within their sights, our two heroes salvaged our pride in a glorious 10th wicket partnership of 83 and even Normandy's fielders were genuinely sad when Briggsy fell 2 short of a maiden Mog half century. Parker remained unbeaten on 21 and despite losing by 71 runs, the Mogs added another chapter to our glorious history with what is surely the highest 10 wicket partnership in our illustrious history.
MWCC Stats