Match Report: vs Badshot Lea CC, 9 August 2009

After venturing out of London for only the second time this season, Not the MCC returned with their fourth successive win. The video from the match can be found here.

As has become customary, the captain strode out for the toss confidently and promptly lost out to his opposite number. The unluckiest man in the world? No, that’s still Jobbers. And anyway, you don’t need to win the toss when you’ve got opening bowlers like David ‘Duracell’ Beacham and William ‘The Big Unit’ Watson.

Ordered out to field, Not the MCC started solidly with a wide from Beacham, followed by six consecutive dot balls. Meanwhile The Big Unit trundled down the hill to deliver a Harmison-esque over off which rather a lot of runs were scored. Beacham struck in the next over though, Menzies caught assuredly at mid-off by Whiting from a mis-timed drive. Watson also had success in his second over, the other opener crunching the ball hard to mid-off where Alex Laugharne took a superb diving catch.

The away side were on top and rarely relinquished their advantage from this point on. Acres and Jennings steadied the ship for Badshot Lea but found runs hard to come by, Beacham weighing in with three maidens in a row and Watson’s bowling looking remarkably tidy too. The fielding was also looking sharp, the trio of Boot, Jobling and Muttukumaru patrolling the short boundary with a combination of speed (Muttukumaru), luck (Boot) and raw athleticism (Jobling). Whiting, clearly preparing himself for a stint in the Foreign Office, was posted on the long boundary after it was discovered that he could throw the ball about three times as far as anyone else.

As the innings progressed, Jennings got the dreaded scorebook entry of “bowled Watson” and trudged off disconsolately. Gray Senior quickly showed the way forward, smashing a six into the tennis courts off his first ball and piercing the previously impervious field. However, the introduction of the original ‘Spin Doctor’ (Az Mostofi) brought the wicket of Acres off his second ball to put the home side on a precarious 26-4.

Gray Senior was joined by Gray Junior and the 12 year old displayed great poise in batting against both Mostofi and Tomlinson. It took good catches to dismiss both of these batsmen, Gray Senior getting a brutish delivery from Tomlinson which caught the bat handle and flew over wicketkeeper South’s head. Turning quickly, South ran back and took a looping catch. Tomlinson’s vicious side came out again soon afterwards, Gray Junior suffering as his father had done at the hands of the savage Celt, as he was hit on the hip by a bouncer. Nasty stuff. Gray Junior is clearly made of strong stuff and came straight back after the drinks break to face the music. Unfortunately for him, his sweetly timed sweep shot was plucked out of the air on the square leg boundary by the ever-alert Jobling.

Stenning played all round a straight one from Tomlinson and the innings looked like grinding to a halt. However, Minassian put the change bowling to the sword, hitting a belligerent 45. With his favoured leg side packed with fielders, he even started experimenting with reverse sweeps off the luckless Whiting.

Muttukumaru picked up the slow bowling baton from Mostofi from the Pavilion End and found almost instant disappointment, whacked for six by Morrison. The home side’s number 9 got unlucky not long afterwards, chopping a wide one onto his own stumps. Holloway went in similar circumstances, hitting a boundary before being dismissed, South taking a sharp catch off the skipper’s bowling, Beacham was reintroduced to try to wrap things up but it was Muttukumaru who struck first, Dubbins missing a delightfully flighted off break and being bowled for 0. Minassian ended up on a very fine unbeaten 45.

An excellent tea was enjoyed by all and after several rejections, the captain finally found two men prepared to open the batting - Boot and debutant Laugharne.

Chasing 125 looked a tricky prospect after a very probing first over from Stenning, Laugharne only just keeping out several fast, straight ones (Boot had bravely decided to bat an number 2). As for rest of the Not the MCC reply, it was brief and fairly brutal. Boot set the tone by hitting Dubbins’ first over for 12. Laugherne soon joined in, hitting some crisp boundaries straight down the ground.

The home side (and most of the away side too) were taken aback by the sheer ferocity of the stroke play. Many boundaries were hit straight back past the bowler and the short boundary was targeted with a clinical precision rarely seen by any of Not the MCC’s batsmen. Gray Junior’s figures of 2-0-11-0 were probably the most impressive of the lot, entering the fray as he did when the batsmen were in full flow. Stenning and Acres both produced a number of excellent deliveries which beat the outside edge.

14.4 overs into the innings, Boot launched the ball high over the leg side boundary for his fourth six of the innings to bring the score to 127. Form player Boot ended up with an undefeated 70 and Laugharne capped a highly auspicious debut with an unbeaten 53.

The ‘scoreline’ rather flatters us but it was an impressive performance. Defending the short boundary wasn’t easy but the bowlers rose to the task. Beacham’s figures of 6-3-7-1 are especially noteworthy. Brian’s frankly reprehensible attack on a minor rather distracts from the truth that he actually bowled a very solid spell too. Looking at the scorebook, the record shows no byes, which confirms what we already knew about Ali’s excellent wicket keeping. As for the batting, both the openers played in a similar style, forcefully striking anything in range. They were making things look very easy by the end but deserve a lot of credit for getting themselves into that position in the first place. It was highly effective and the partnership of 127* is the highest of the season.

Fantasy Cricket Points

A Laugherne: 58 (58)

H Boot: 70 (240)

W Jobling: 5 (51)

T Regis: 0 (124)

T Muttukumaru: 60 (458)

A Mostofi Snr: 40 (120)

A South: 10 (10)

W Watson: 40 (81)

B Tomlinson: 40 (129)

E Whiting: 5 (5)

D Beacham: 20 (442)

Club Man Points

A Laugherne: 0

H Boot: 3 (lifts both ways, taking/bringing kit)

W Jobling: 3 (scoring, providing lifts back)

T Regis: 2 (lifts to and from grounds)

A Mostofi Snr: 0

A South: 1 (vociferous complimenting of teas)

W Watson: 2 (umpiring)

B Tomlinson: 1 (umpiring, albeit briefly)

E Whiting: 0

D Beacham: 0

Supporters Points

S Watson: 3 (providing lifts to grounds, watching both innings)

V Wood: 2 (watching both innings)

+ Messrs Jobling, Regis, Muttukumaru, Mostofi, South, Watson, Tomlinson, Whiting and Beacham receive a supporters point each for watching the second innings patiently to see if they'd get a bat!