Rusty is an adjective normally associated with the Drambuie-based cocktail (Nail) or the 80's TV Chef (Lee), but at Brook's sloping ground last Sunday, it was the Mogs who struggled with post-Winter lethargy.
To be fair we were stitched up by our charming opponents who arranged a 1pm start back in the Winter but then did not turn up until 1.45pm. By this time The Mogs had spent 75 minutes in the Dog & Pheasant consuming ale whilst reacquainting ourselves after the 7 month lay off.
The consumption of ale had an adverse effect on our bowling and fielding, whilst also ensuring that we only had 10 players on the field for the first 15 of our allotted 38 overs, with a steady stream of Mog fielders disappearing to the pavilion at the end of each over for urgent bladder relief.
Our streamlined opening bowlers Abbott & Lewis J enjoyed steady spells with Abbot removing their opener with an off cutter, Joseph got in some good, early season, gameshow-host "ooohing" and "aaahhhing" but it was the introduction of James "The Cabbie" Honeyfield and Matthew "Toys R Us" Lewis that steadied the runs and increased the wickets tally for the Mogs. Jimmy snared 3 good wickets, 1 of which sent a leg stump cartwheeling and matt took 2 and with 4 overs to go Brook were on 181-6. Unfortunately Hewitt decided to bring himself on to try and close out their innings only to concede 37 runs from his 2 overs including 5 quite enormous 6's. Tharpy managed to stop the rot from the other end however Brook posted a stiff target of 231-6 from their 38 overs.
After a good tea (rated at 5/10) the Mogs confidently set off in pursuit of our target with a good set of supporters cheering us on. Unfortunately openers Freeland & Jackson were out cheaply, with Furner following soon after. Halliday went for 25 and when Tharpy was caught behind the Mogs were 80-4 requiring 152 from 18 overs. Hewitt & Honeyfield were at the crease by this time and slowly set about reducing the target with a combination of boundary hitting and lucky escapes. Both batsmen made 50 and had reduced the target to 40 runs from the last 6 overs but Hewitt was deceived by a slower ball, Abbo was caught in the deep and then, crucially Honeyfield went in similar fashion next ball. Suddenly we needed 19 off the last 2 overs with just 2 wickets in hand and then 12 off the last over with brothers Lewis at the crease. Jo had the Mogs off their seats with a big 6 into the tennis courts but off the penultimate ball Matthew (who thought we still had another over to go) lost his middle stump and with 4 needed to win the match, Colonel William G Parker only managed a single seeing the Mogs lose by just 2 runs. A great game and a good start to the season.
Alex Hewitt
MWCC Stats