Format: 40 overs
The Mogs arrived at a sunny Sunbury ground in good spirits following last week’s successful start to the new season after adverse weather had delayed the start to cricket in 2023. Bowling first the Mogs opened with Will Loft, playing his second game for the Club after debut the previous week and Neil Coles. After the unseasonal level of rain it was no surprise that both the track and particularly the outfield were quite slow. Nevertheless, Sunbury’s openers made steady progress and had notched up 35 runs after 7 overs on what was clearly looking like being a relatively low scoring pitch before Coles struck removing both openers in consecutive overs whilst Calafato removed their no. 3 in the over between and with the score at 45-3 after 10 overs the Mogs were back in the game with the run rate down at a manageable level and the top order back in the hutch. However, over the next 8 overs Sunbury’s middle order consolidated somewhat and the score pushed on to 93 before the skipper removed the increasingly confident Subhankar for 24 and then snaffled a smart caught and bowled the very next ball. Operating in tandem with “Daddy†Pullen, who was being enthusiastically encouraged from the boundary by his son, the Mogs bowlers proceeded to work their way through the home side’s lineup with regular wickets, finally bowling them out for 122. Cooper put down an early marker for the Bowling , finishing with an excellent early season Five For conceding 15 runs in 6.4 overs, well supported by Pullen and Coles.
The Mogs then retired to the Clubhouse and to watch some of their 1st team game against Portsmouth on the main pitch during tea and, it is probably fair to say, feeling fairly pleased with their fielding performance and with a sense of some optimism about not having a very high target to reach. Tea itself was exceptional and very worthy of mention in its own right as an equally early contender for Tea of the Season. Apparently the array of really very fine victuals on offer were actually left overs or nearly out of date party food, some even from an event at Windsor Castle a couple of days before and also BA catering. It is possible that we may have overindulged ourselves a bit, such were the temptations put before us!
After this slightly elongated tea break the Mogs started the chase with Methuselah Furner, ever fit and present, now into his 700th season of cricket, and Dave Risk opening the batting. Furner, as always was circumspect and watchful while Risk scored more freely from the other end. After 7 overs we were on 28 before Furner was bowled by Hope for 4. Risk was joined at the crease by Daddy Pullen and Hope then went for 10 runs in the remaining 5 balls of the over, which represented over 25% of the Mogs’ runs to date. Although we had lost a wicket the momentum appeared to still be on our side. However, with the first ball of the next over Dave Risk was caught behind very smartly after which followed another one of cricket’s inexplicable paradigms, a Mogs collapse! Admittedly, the arrival of a bespectacled and studious looking leg spinner took everyone by surprise. His deliveries kicked up from the track with the ferocity of a donkey who had been given a slap in the undercarriage and between him and Chadha, who had bowled very tidily and unchanged from the River End, the home side took 5 Mogs wickets for 1 run in 15 balls, leaving the complexion of the game very much changed at 39-6 after 11 overs. There was some much needed resistance from Magic Johnson, Coles and Loft but when your correspondent arrived at the crease half way through the 20th over with the score at 65-9, even the most deluded and optimistic pundits could only see one outcome which duly happened three overs later when a slower straight one from the wily Price was missed and the last man departed for a duck, one of 8 Mogs who did not reach double figures in the afternoon. However, the Mogs’s spirit remains undaunted over these 75 years and we retired to the elegant terrace to watch the final stages of the cup game and consume some hop based products.
MWCC Stats