With the score at 103-3, Barath took up the task of upping the scoring rate. As always, his shots straight down the ground and into the leg side were very strong. Spinners Boatright and Housden took particular stick. Muttukumaru weighed in with some heavy shots too as the opening bowlers returned to finish their overs. 100 runs were added in a little under 12 overs to put NTMCC in a very strong position.
A slight mis-communication to the men on the boundary brought the Laser to the wicket. However, Leo did not disappoint with his batting. In his most confident innings for the club so far, he gathered a very useful 10 with Barath before being trapped by off spinner Boatright.
Laugharne and Shankar set about building a total with gusto. Barath mixed careful defence with some aggressive straight hitting. Alex punished anything loose with characteristic efficiency. Indeed it was something of a surprise when Olly Sharp dismissed Alex, who spooned up a return catch after a quickfire 40.
The astroturf pitch quickly proved to be swift and bouncy. However, it was a simply quick and full delivery which dismissed Williams.
Wray Crescent was not exactly Lord's in the Spring, but it was a more than suitable location for the final game of the season. NTMCC skipper Tim Muttukumaru won the toss and, after the usual deliberation, decided to bat first.
The season ended on a high as NTMCC overcame the Oddballs at Wray Crescent...
With the outfield like the proverbial cabbage patch, scoring 227 to win was always going to be a tough ask for the Oddballs. Though it was tricky to judge the ball for the fielders off the surface, it proved very difficult for any but the most firmly struck strokes to reach the boundary due to the sheer length of the grass (unless the aerial route were taken).
After Barath holed out to long off, Seaton came in to swing the bat around. In an eventful final over, Muttukumaru tried to run his partner out, Gordon struck a huge six off Sharp and was finally caught out at long on off the final ball.
T Lloyd-Smith:7-1-32-1
A Hawthorne: 7-0-52-0
O Sharp: 7-0-45-2
M Boatright: 7-0-32-1
O Housden: 7-0-55-1
Boatright played a composed innings but this always seemed in vain. Barath briefly trialled for the "quality batsman who thinks he can bowl leg spin" position (incumbent: T Regis) and proved himself eminently well-qualified, going for 9 runs and no wickets off his first - and only - over. Seaton wrapped things up as Oli Sharp skipped down the wicket, only to miss the ball completely and be bowled.
Morris edged to slip where Williams took a brilliant (it really was) one handed catch low to his left. Bromley was controversially dismissed lbw by a Heyes long hop which seemed to be heading downwards by the time it hit the batsman's pad. The writing was on the wall for the Oddballs when Lloyd-Smith inexplicably left his second ball alone, giving Heyes a fourth wicket.
This triggered something of a tumble of wickets as Williams bamboozled Housden and Heyes found the edge of Rigg's bat. Morris and Bromley put together a decent partnership, though the target began to look very distant before their dismissals.
Anyway, NTMCC set some unusual fields at an early stage - 2 gully fielders were deployed as debutant Hall found an excellent line outside the off stump. This paid dividends when Adam carved the ball to point early in the innings. Forrest looked determined to take the game to NTMCC, but was eventually bowled convincingly by Hall.
A most satisfying performance overall. Well done to Alex and Barath with the bat (not that we would expect any less from either of them). Gerard was very effective with ball in hand, although Ben probably bowled a marginally better spell with less reward. It was a good fielding performance overall, with the skipper providing a comedy moment by failing to see a very catchable chance as he peered into the late afternoon sun.
Fantasy League Points
J Williams: 27
A Laugharne: 45
B Shankar: 75
L Critchley: 10
T Muttukumaru: 75
S Gordon: 33
B Hone: 20
G Heyes: 80
J Beckman: 0
B Hall: 40
Club Man Points
J Williams: 3 (late call up, umpiring)
A Laugharne: 3 (iron wicketkeeper award)
B Shankar: 0
L Critchley: 2 (scoring Duracell)
S Gordon: 4 (player recruitment)
B Hone: 0
G Heyes: 0
J Beckman: 5 (umpiring record time - all 35 overs)
B Hall: 0
The only unfortunate aspect of the final few overs was Alex, keeping, picking up a nasty blow to the head as the batsman had a huge mow at one of Barath's leg spinners.
B Hall: 7-0-19-2
J Beckman: 4-0-36-0
J Williams: 4-0-18-1
G Heyes: 7-0-30-4
B Hone: 5-0-25-1
B Shankar: 1-0-9-0
S Gordon: 0.3-0-2-1