Match Report vs PSB Casuals, 7 June 2009

Not the MCC suffered their first defeat of the season against long-term rivals PSB Casuals.

After a deeply inauspicious morning which had seen a torrential downpour over London, the weather brightened up considerably by the time the game started at 12:10pm. As usual, PSB brought a limited supply of players and this necessitated them batting first. Beacham and the returning Virus opened up, Beacham quickly finding a good length and the Virus exploring all potential avenues for infection. Their openers hit some clean shots early on but Cyrus finally found a delivery to which the batsman had no antidote, succumbing with the score on 30.

Malcolm replaced Cyrus shortly afterwards, finding some steep bounce on a pitch that was still in the process of drying. He got his reward for some tight bowling with the score on 50, Goff spooning a catch to Mahapatra at point. Beacham then got in on the act himself, Duff cutting loosely to Cyrus at cover for 20. The rather agricultural (in terms of dress and style) Drummond then clouted a few boundaries, the Beckmanator suffering particularly. However, the Prince of Poetry was soon back on form, bowling both Drummond and Hunt. Roaring his approval of his own bowling (and staring menacingly at the dismissed batsmen), the Beckmanator was truly on song. He nearly had a fourth wicket when a catching opportunity fell to the offside. Unfortunately, a communication malfunction in the extra cover region (Messrs Menace and Tomlinson involved), resulting in the poleaxed Labour PPC writhing in pain on the floor as Menace trotted off to collect the ball.

Bartle and Tomlinson took over bowling responsibilities either side of lunch, Bartle showing admirable control of length (though not always line) on his NTMCC debut. This was justly rewarded with the wicket of the opposition captain, caught by a back-pedalling Beacham at cover. There followed a slightly confusing session as the opposition (who were, in a sense, all out for 104 when seven wickets down) continued to bat with their openers coming in again. Tomlinson was slightly unlucky not to have Cavey caught at extra cover but Malcolm failed to spot the ball high in the air and neglected to take the necessary three steps to his left to take the catch (doubtless fearing that Menace was in the vicinity). Oh dear. Tomlinson did pick up the wicket of Duff, bowled for 19, and celebrated with a curious kind of limbo dance.

Then Goode decided he wanted another go and joined the fray with Cavey still somehow not out. With star man Allsop finally arriving, Goode was retired and Malcolm came on to bring the innings to an end. And he duly delivered, bowling Allsop for 0.

158 all out for PSB Casuals was a good total on a tricky pitch. With regular openers Regis And Boot missing, Beckman and Beacham were sent in first up. Early signs were troubling though, as Beckman contrived to be dropped by three different players off the first two deliveries of the innings. It was in a sense no surprise when Beckman was dismissed for 8, though the method was slightly unconventional, the ball cannoning off the off the pad, up onto the back of the bat and straight to the keeper.

Beacham looked solid enough though and struck one glorious boundary straight for four. This was rather too much excitement for the young Mathmo from Wolverhampton and he flicked a catch up to short extra cover for 5 soon after. He was replaced by a slightly older Mathmo, with the same rich Wolverhampton pedigree. Regrettably I didn’t see much of Fazza Farrington’s innings, though I am reliably informed that it involved quite a lot of wafting at the ball on an increasingly two-paced pitch. When Faz finally connected with one of his customary back foot drives, it went straight to a fielder and he was gone for a duck. There are now rumours that the number 4 slot is cursed (in three games in 2009, the batsmen occupying this slot have managed just the one scoring shot between them).

Anyway, this brought another man with Wolverhampton associations to the crease, Rakesh Patel lookalike Tim Muttukumaru. The captain was in accumulative mood with no need to score too quickly. Mahapatra picked up the scoring baton, playing very nicely until being unluckily bowled by a skidder for 23. Standage marched to the crease and his powerful shots started to take the same away from PSB. But with the score on 87, Muttukumaru went in search of the long square leg boundary, picking out Duff. A few of the spectators thought the fielder was probably over the line as he took the catch, but it would have been rather churlish to deny a fine catch to the fielding side. Standage then watched in horror as the lower middle order disintegrated around him. Harris was his usual maverick self, bowled for 0. Malcolm, sporting a determined look of a man on a mission, played neatly but was sent on his way by Trigger Beacham for 2.

Standage threw caution to the wind but got under a big shot to leg and was well caught by Griffiths for a very good 29. Meanwhile Bartle took up the Harris mantle, trying to hit every ball out of the ground. He did collect a useful 8 runs but was out with the score on 110 and victory looked very far away. It was up to Azarmgin and Tomlinson to put up a good fight and this they did very well. Virus was uncomplicated but very effective, while Tomlinson had an assured look about him which surely bodes well for future innings. They pushed the score on to 140 and the game was looking winnable but Cyrus eventually hit one too many airborne and was caught in the offside for 12. Tomlinson ended up with a Beacham-esque 9 not out.

It was a decent performance, there were a few things which could have gone differently and in the end the match was a close one. It was another very good performance in the field, though there was the occasional mishap on the catching front. The bowlers stuck to their tasks well and everyone got at least one wicket, the Beckmanator especially impressive with 3-25 and Olly a very solid 2-23 off 10 overs. No one really scored heavily in our own innings, Standage and Mahapatra both got off to good starts but were out at the wrong time. Excellent stuff at the end from Azarmgin and Tomlinson.

Particular thanks to Menace for coming along at the last minute. Lively in the field and we all appreciated the style of the batting, even if the result wasn’t quite so spectacular as we had hoped. No supporters this week though with team eye candy Jobling, Regis and Boot away, this was to be expected I suppose.

Fantasy Cricket Points

Beckman: 68

Beacham: 30

Mahapatra: 28

Farrington: -10

Muttukumaru: 14

Standage: 29

Harris: -10

Malcolm: 42

Bartle: 28

Azarmgin: 37

Tomlinson: 29

Club Man Points

Beckman: 2 (umpiring, complimenting the teas)

Beacham: 2 (umpiring, scoring, complimenting the teas, minus 1 for dodgy umpiring)

Mahapatra: 2 (umpiring, complimenting the teas)

Farrington: 1 (complimenting the teas)

Standage: 1 (complimenting the teas)

Harris: 3 (late call-up, general enthusiasm, wearing a gunship to play cricket)

Malcolm: 2 (bringing kit, taking kit home)

Bartle: 2 (arranging for extra players, complimenting the teas)

Azarmgin: 1 (complimenting the teas)

Tomlinson: 2 (complimenting the teas, taking further injuries for the team)

Jobling: 1 (delivering kit to Malcolm)