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Not the MCC rounded off their 2009 season with a resounding win against the Wandering Wisps.
Not the MCC travelled to New Southgate with high hopes after strong performances in their previous five games. A bowling-heavy squad was further bolstered by a late call-up for Brian “The Terror (of Tiny Tots)” Tomlinson in place of the incapacitated Heslop.
After a long debate with the opposition about whether, given the choice, he would bat or bowl, Captain Muttukumaru made all such debate irrelevant by simply calling incorrectly at the toss. Where’s my statistician? Can someone calculate the probability of winning just 1 toss out of 10 all season? Beacham? Menace? Club man point for the quickest (accurate) response...
Anyway, the Wisps seemed happy enough to face the most fearsome pace attack seen on these shores since Michael Holding et al were in their pomp and opted to bat. Beacham maintained a good line early on while Sharp extracted his customary steep bounce from a very reasonable surface. Beacham removed Tytherleigh in his second over to get things going. Aside from a couple of boundaries off Sharp, the bowling remained fairly tight until Bartle and Harrison were introduced. Bartle almost immediately removed Barnaby Hone for 10 and Sharp picked up the wicket of Testa in his final over, Laugharne marking his keeping debut with a smart take down the leg side.
Harrison quickly followed this with the wicket of Joshi, dabbling outside the off stump one time too many, resulting in a landmark catch for Beacham at slip. Yes you heard me right, first slip. Harrison muttered something about no one ever catching the ball off his bowling but no one was really listening, transfixed as we all were by the brilliance of Bartle from the other end. Opposition skipper Turner was dismissed by another fullish inswinger from the rampant Bartle and Not the MCC were fully in control. Four balls later, Bartle struck again, bowling the adventurous Galka for 0.
Harrison switched to his left arm chinamen and immediately had Peter Start caught by Muttukumaru at cover for 0. The score was now a rather unlikely 25-7 at this point and the decision was made to allow the 9-strong Wisps lineup to bat again. Nevertheless, the 8th wicket partnership of Mathew and Anderson added quick runs off a series of progressively more wayward offerings from Harris and Tomlinson. Mathew was especially punishing on anything down the the leg side, giving boundary fielders Beacham and Sharp the runaround on several occasions.
D Beacham: 6-2-14-3
O Sharp: 6-0-23-2
S Bartle: 6-3-11-5
S Harrison: 7-1-15-2
J Harris: 3-0-38-0
B Tomlinson: 2-0-25-2
W Watson: 4.3-1-26-2
T Muttukumaru: 1-0-3-0
Menace tests the keeper with a wide one
It took a special piece of fielding to break the partnership, Watson rushing in from a deepish mid-on to take a one-handed catch to dismiss Mathew for 39 off the bowling of Tomlinson. The first innings was wrapped up with the score at 70-8. Tytherleigh joined the redoubtable Anderson at the top of the second innings/bottom of the first innings and set about righting the wrongs of the first innings, peppering the leg side boundary. Tomlinson was the main victim here, though he did pick up the wicket of Anderson, Beacham pouching the catch at square leg.
Beacham and Sharp returned to bowl their remaining overs and Beacham reprised his first innings role, bowling Tytherleigh for 20 and then, with a delightfully disguised slower ball, Joshi for 4. Hone chipped a catch back to Sharp for just 1 and Not the MCC sensed more wickets. Everyone seemed to be warming up ready to bowl (except for a rather reclusive Tomlinson, who had rather shame-facedly claimed 2 wickets for 25 in his 2 incident-packed overs). Anyway, Bartle was picked for the task of taking the remaining wickets, while Watson was selected for the containment role. Bartle delivered immediately, trapping Testa lbw for 20. Galka followed two balls later, lbw for 0 after surviving a huge appeal first ball (which would have given Bartle a hat-trick).
C Testa: 6-1-16-0
J Turner: 4-0-15-1
A Joshi: 2-0-33-0
P Galka: 3-0-31-1
B Hone: 4-0-17-0
P Anderson: 2-0-28-0
E Tytherleigh: 2-0-16-0
Nugget appeals for lbw - unsuccessfully this time
Turner played a resilient innings as the wickets fell around him, hitting a number of nice boundaries in front of the wicket. Mathew was unable to reproduce his first innings heroics, run out brilliantly (there really is no other word) by Joe Harris for 0. The laser-like accuracy of his throw from mid-on reminded me of, well, The Laser himself. Which brings me to an indirect mention of Piyush, who was curiously not to be found picking up late order wickets. Doubtless Beacham was smiling to himself on the boundary.
After some time looking for further wickets, we finally dialled G for Gunzo and the big man from North Yorkshire duly delivered, Start being caught by Sharp at mid on. The last wicket (the 17th of the day) was finally taken in the 35th over, Turner caught impressively by Tomlinson at a deepish extra cover.
The players rushed from the field to put their pads on (or in Beacham’s case, get to the teas bench). 92 had been scored in the second innings and so a combined total of 162 in 40 overs was the target for Not the MCC.
The All-Persian Opening Combination of A.Mostofi, Snr and A.Mostofi, Jnr took to the field to face some tidy opening bowling from Testa and Turner. Abteen had been scoring runs for fun in his native Cambridgeshire but found the going tougher in the wild plains of North London, scratching around for 11 balls before spooning the ball into the leg side for a duck.
Abteen prepares to receive the TFC Award
Older brother Arash was looking a little more assured but also struggled to get the ball away (though the Guns looked on approvingly at the defensive technique on show). Alex Laugharne showed the way forward with some powerful front foot driving and the tempo of the innings picked up. The Remaining Mostofi was eventually very unlucky to chop the ball onto his own stumps for 3, bringing Muttukumaru to the crease with the score on 43.
Mostofi Snr gets ready for action
Laugharne dominated the scoring initially, crashing the bowling of Joshi for 33 in just two overs and taking any initiative away from the Wisps. The fielding side retained a high level of banter in the field at all times but were unable to stem the tide of runs against them. Alex accelerated to his half-century in just 31 balls and this seemed to take its toll on the opposition, Galka bowling some huge beamers that Hamer Boot would have been proud of.
Muttukumaru’s approach was rather more circumspect as the skipper nursed an injured thumb through his innings. As several less charitable commentators observed, an injury to the captain’s left hand was unlikely to have much effect on his range of leg side hoiks and swipes. As the target was approached, Tomlinson, number 5 for the day, started to wonder whether he would ever get a bat. Video evidence suggests that he received a record number of throw downs in preparation for an innings that never actually happened.
The winning runs were eventually scored from a wide delivery that went for a boundary. Game, set and match to Not the MCC. The season ended with Laugharne not out for a magnificent 84 and Muttukumaru not out on 46.
It was an entertaining game to be involved in: we fielded very well and bowled even better. I think we should have expected to be strong in the bowling department, fielding 4 regular opening bowlers and 2 regular first change medium pacers. However, I’m not sure that anyone anticipated the star of the show to be Simon “Nugget” Bartle. As always, he bowled a full length and extracted some healthy movement in the air. Until this match, he had only two wickets, but his 5-11 off 6 overs was richly deserved. Beacham, Sharp and Harrison were excellent: all three would have picked up more wickets given more overs (the restriction was 6 per bowler). Able support from Watson... slightly less able (but equally effective) support from Tomlinson. Special mention to the Harrison/Beacham combination for achieving the first slip catch of the season: unbelievable.
The batting was pretty solid: Alex was outstanding once again and ends the season with an Ali South style infinite average. We can look forward to next season with great confidence. Just a reminder re the end-of-season dinner: it’s this Friday (i.e. 4th September) and will be held here: http://www.pizzaexpress.com/our-restaurants/951/bruton-place.aspx. Players, supporters, other halves are all welcome.
Fantasy League Points
Arash Mostofi: 3
Abteen Mostofi: -10
Alex Laugharne: 89
Tim Muttukumaru: 51
Brian Tomlinson: 45
Will Watson: 45
Stephen Harrison: 40
Joe Harris: 10
Oli Sharp: 40
Simon Bartle: 100
Dave Beacham: 70
Club Man Points
Arash Mostofi: 2 (umpiring, lifts)
Abteen Mostofi: 1 (umpiring)
Alex Laugharne: 0
Brian Tomlinson: 2 (arriving late offset by late call up!)
Will Watson: 2 (umpiring both ends)
Stephen Harrison: 1 (bringing kit)
Joe Harris: 4 (bringing/taking kit, scoring)
Oli Sharp: 0
Simon Bartle: 2 (bringing kit)
Dave Beacham: 1 (taking kit)
Supporters Points
0 (where were you?)
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