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The score hurried along and was taken to 73. Menzies, who was in the middle of a very good spell, produced a nasty ball which lifted and took Regis' glove on the way through to the keeper. Bull fell to the same bowler, miscuing to Jones for 28.
Bull and Regis quickly took the attack to the opposition with devastating effect. Bull's giant backlift provided plenty of opportunities to batter the ball around the park, while Regis' attacking style and flair complemented this approach.
Regrettably, this partnership wasn't to last, the Swan being unlucky to bat-pad the ball into his own stumps: 18-1. Boot failed to hang around either, bowled by a superb delivery from Jones which angled in and nipped away to clip the top of the off stump.
Swanston and Boot opened the batting. Both Reptiles made positive starts, Swanny brutalising a couple of balls to the boundary. Hamer was positive too, picking up where he left off in 2009, when he and Alex Laugharne both scored 50s in a ten wicket victory.
First, we only had 7 brave warriors for this match. Second, we are very grateful to Tom Bull, Sam Vass and Brian Graham for stepping into the breach. I think we have played against all of them in previous years. Happily, they proved as valuable as team-mates as they had proved able as opponents in previous years.
NTMCC produced a resilient display to win against Badshot Lea... with a little help from some of Badshot Lea's finest!
Just before the drinks break, Menzies produced another brutish delivery which caught the handle of Muttukumaru's bat, the ball arcing to Minassian at slip. Jobbers was more reserved in his approach, but this hardly mattered as Hart blazed away. The ball began disappearing to the boundary with alarming regularity. 4 giant sixes were struck, resulting in two very long searches for a bruised and battered cricket ball. A most promising debut.
Hart joined the skipper at the crease in another attack-minded partnership. Muttukumaru was particularly flashy outside the off stump, while Hart gave himself plenty of room to hit the ball through the offside. Acres took a pounding, conceding runs at 12 per over, while Mayne suffered also.
A Jones:4-0-24-0
N Nasir: 5-0-25-1
S Acres: 5-0-57-1
J Menzies: 5-1-18-3
E Mayne: 5-0-39-1
M Morrison: 3-0-30-0
C Minassian: 0.5-0-4-2
The fielding masterclass continued when Graham dived full length to attempt to catch afierce drive from Morrison. Brian did well enough to get anything on the ball and was rewarded as he tipped the ball onto the stumps, dismissing the dangerous Minassian for 20.
Tea hardly interrupted The Beckmanator's momentum as Menzies skied a big shot straight to Regis at cover. Regis, running backwards, took a great catch over his shoulder.
The teas were superb: strawberries with cream on scones being a personal highlight.
As the innings had ended so early, there was time for a quick bowl before tea. Jon Beckman took full advantage of this, despite a side strain. He took the key wickets of S Bull and J Bull before the break.
NTMCC had scored a very quickfire 199, but had, as last year, failed to make use of their full allocation of overs.
Jobling managed to chop a delivery from Mayne onto his stumps and Beckman came in. The Beckmanator never looked entirely comfortable after injuring himself hitting a four and eventually went for a useful 14. This triggered a collapse as Hart fell just short of his 50 and Vass snicked to slip two balls later.
Nevertheless, Morrison stuck to the task at hand and brought up his 50 with another clubbing boundary. A fine snick to Swanston off the next ball saw him on his way though. Shah never quite convinced and was bowled by Vass for 10.
Acres was batting with increasing menace, particularly harsh on Muttukumaru's rather inept over of off breaks. However, he got unlucky with a 'slower ball' which, um, bounced twice on its way to clipping the off stump. They all count!
Mayne joined Vass Jnr at the crease and tried to push the score along. However, this was his downfall as he was run out brilliantly by the predatory Regis (who has now rocketed to 2nd in the fielding stats behind Boot).
And, after Vass Jnr was trapped on the crease by Bull, it was Boot and Regis who teamed up to dismiss Nasir for 8.
A win for NTMCC! Very satisfying it was too, since we have had relatively few this season. I thought we were very positive with the bat, probably rather too positive. As it happened, quite a few people contributed, but special mention to Harty for a great counter-attacking innings. As for the bowling, Jon made great inroads early on. Our fielding was generally very good. Jobbers made a very good job of patrolling the short tennis court boundary, while Tim made an excellent contribution with 2 catches and a run out.
Here are your points...
Fantasy League Points
A Swanston: 13
H Boot: 33
T Regis: 41
T Muttukumaru: 52
D Hart: 48
W Jobling: 8
J Beckman: 74
Club Man Points
A Swanston: 3 (scoring, late call up)
H Boot: 2 (umpiring, scoring)
T Regis: 4 (lifts, umpiring, kit bag responsibilities)
D Hart: 2 (late call up)
W Jobling: 4 (lifts, car hire, Routemaster bonus)
J Beckman: 4 (lifts, umpiring)
Muttukumaru took up the bowling baton with limited success, a stream of wides and boundaries being precisely not what we needed. Fortunately, Vass Snr was enjoying rather greater success from the other end, bowling a tight line and length to tie down the batsmen.
B Graham: 8-0-48-0
J Beckman: 8-1-29-3
T Muttukumaru: 8-0-45-1
S Vass Snr: 7-2-20-2
T Bull: 3-0-11-1
T Regis: 3-0-13-0
H Boot: 1.5-0-14-1
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