MCCC v's Riverside @ Home Saturday 11 June 2005 Lost by 6 runs

After electing to field to try and take advantage of the sunny conditions and very hard wicket with the new ball, we had a steady start with Andy Allan bowling to his normal high standard and chipping in with two wickets. Then we brought on Graham Pinkney and Tony Hammond who finished with fine figures of 3/22 and 3/23 respectivley due to superb bowling and aided by 4 excellent catches from Brian x2, Tony and Mark. Graham even managed to break one of the bails!!! Riverside finished on 189/8.

So the chase was on and Brian and Mark set the pace by hitting a breath taking 30 off the first 5 overs before Brian was caught behind for 12 and Mark followed in the next over for 24. This brought to the crease Hament who sought to take on all with some superb strokes and solid running aided by Steve and Andy. Steve producing a fine knock of 26.

We were 101/5 when Jess limped into the middle, using Mark as his runner! Jess played his part and tried to accompany Hament in pushing along the score, but with Jess out for 8 and an unfortunate Tony being run out for a "quack quack" we found ourselves on 152/7 with 4 overs remaining. After a magnificient innings Hament was finally out for 57.

Then came along Barik, who excited all by hitting a nearly match winning 20 (yes 20)to draw us even closer, but he was eventually run out which left us needing to score 12 off the last over for victory. Unfortunately the excitement came to a close with us falling 6 runs short.

This was a very enjoyable match, with both teams playing excellent cricket and in a good spirit.

Thanks to all and well played.

Mark.

Champagne moment:
Excellent catch by Tony Hammond on the long-on boundary.

MCCC Man of the Match:Hament Patel (Superb batting

Additional Comments about match:Yet another close match against a very good Riverside team.

MCCC Batting Order:
1.Brian Douglas
2.Mark Bartram
3.Haris Hussain
4.Hament Patel
5.Steve O'Neil
6.Andy Allan
7.Jess Sharling
8.Tony Hammond
9.Barik.C
10.Steve Vickery
11.Graham Pinkney

Weather: Warm but cloudy

Toss won by: MCCC won toss and bowled First

Pitch Condition: Dry and firm

Match Format: Overs Game (40 per side)

MCCC Total: 183 for 9

MCCC vs Prince's Head @ Richmond Green - Saturday June 11 2005 Lost by 9 Wickets

The omens were looking bad for Morden even before the match had started with one player having to drop out due to injury. Despite his best efforts, the skipper couldn't get a replacement at the 11th hour. We would have to fight with 10 men.

For once the skipper won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch which could be best described as looking like someone's back garden lawn. Was this a decision MCCC would come regret? Opening up for MCCC was debutant Stephen Cummings and Vivek Sarhoria who had his batting position elevated after recent inactivity with the willow. Right from the first ball we could see anything short of a length was shooting up, some of which was there to be pulled. Prince's Head had set their field accordingly to anything miscued.

3rd ball into the match Vivek was looking confident but trying to pull a short pitched delivery was caught close in. Next up was Matt Oliver another debutant, again who looked to play straight bat but another dodgy bounce saw the ball hit the stumps and he was walking back.

With two wickets down so early on he MCCC innings was looking fragile. However, if there was someone who could restore some balance, then Edgar Luis who hadn't been dismissed in 2005, was surely the one to do so. His last scores of 114 and fifty the previous week proved to mean nothing though. His middle stump was uprooted from a quicker delivery from Brad. The disappointment on Edgar's face was evident. He stood motionless for almost a minute at the wicket before walking back to take his pads off. The skipper thought a change in the batting order was needed to shore things up. Gerry Coetzer who has been showing better form of recent was due to come in later but found himself rushing back from umpiring duty to put get his pads on.

Gerry briefly steadied things, hitting a couple of nice cover drives. However, this was only brief respite when he was adjudged to have nicked a ball to the keeper. Stephen Cummings was then out caught off a nasty short pitched delivery which hit his arm and rebounded off his forehead to waiting fielder. The umpire stuck his finger up. Radha Algahsarmy's soft handed shots are always good to watch disrupted the Princes Head attack. The left-right batting combination made things more challenging for the oppo. Next in the other end was the skipper, Imran Ahmad, who had been batting quite consistently in 2005 but again like others before him failed to score. Ash Patel who was making a come back since getting married. Ash looked comfortable despite his period of inactivity but luck was against him as he played on. Brian was was out next ball to leave the Prince's head bowler on a hat trick but Grant Burger kept his cool to see off the over. Radah had been keeping things quiet at the other end but fished for a wide ball which was caught at gully.

With the MCCC score looking some what short of respectable the Prince's Head Skipper kindly offered the option to send another man in to make up 11. Stephen Cummings got a 2nd chance which he grabbed with both hands. His sweet timing coupled with Grant's determination and saw the MCCC score sail pass 100. Things were looking brighter. Grant's luck was in today, giving a few chances, he took the fight to Princes Head and taking full advantage of the short boundary with some improvised stroke play. Stephen now in his 40's came down the wicket to fuller length ball that just got through his guard hitting the stumps to bring the MCCC innings to a close on 135 all out from 32 overs. This was a brilliant effort given the precarious start we had.

We new things were going to be difficult in the field with only 10 men. The extra man was vital. The first over was indicative of things to come. Edgar Luis opened the attack gave 22 in his opening 6 balls including 5 fours scored by the oppo. A quick re-think saw Gerry replace next over Matt Oliver started off at the other end by mixing it up a bit with some seem and spin. Again the batsmans took full advantage of anything slightly short or wide. This was going to be a frustrating afternoon for MCCC. Gerry was the only person in the end to get a wicket and was the pick of the bowling with MCCC losing by 9 wickets. A good fight but against a quality opposition we were always going to be struggling with a 10 men.

MCCC v's Oshwal - Sunday 29 May 2005
by Tony Hammond

After winning toss & electing to field (not quite sure if right thing to do) 35 overs, of toil was to follow,andy allan & holden opening up the bowling atttack & both grabbing an early wkt each, change of attack saw debutant andrew jarret (who hadn't played for 2 years) thrown into the thick of it and again claiming an early wkt himself, imrans lack of bowling unfortunately showed but still claimed a wkt himself,mitul had a brief spell as did graham & tony, all picking up wkts, although quite expensive. into bat, 209 the target, tony & steve vickery opened, 1st was to go was steve(0)10-1 majid & tony putting on a partnership of 43 before majid fell (bowled) 26 53-2 next to go was tony run out (24) 69-3, then ally herat, bowled 07 78-4, ewan was next to go ct at point for 1 (86-5 imran followed ct covers (19) 102 -6 andrew jarret (11), andy allan (3) & halden bennet (5) all swiftly followed. with time rapidly running out, we finnished on 118 - 9 and belatedly acquired a draw.

MCCC vs. Westone CC - Sunday 5th June 2005
By Tony Hammond

Winning toss yet again, decided to put the opposition into bat, on a good wicket which looked like it had plenty to offer our bowlers, wrong, no real bounce in the pitch 35 overs maxed out to 10 per bowler the two andy's started, andy allan claiming a wkt in the first over, then another in his next. only 29 runs conceded in the first 10 overs, change of bowling, replacing andy allan with krishna who's 10 overs for 22 runs & 3 wkts say's it all, brief spells from jim patel & majid rafiq before wrapping up the bowling with the two ronnies, sorry two andies, restricting the home side to 131 - 7. andy allan 9 ov, 3 mdn, 24 runs 3 wkts, andy jarret,9 ov, 2 mdns, 1 wkt 26 runs, great bowling, now the hard task, scoring runs, paul akwei & "the gazelle" mr douglass getting us off to a steady start, paul falling lbw(9) 22-1, in come majid, out went brian (20) ct wkt 39-2 imran steadied things along with majid a brilliant 73 partnership, before imran went ct at point(26) 112-3, a brief appearance by tony (3) edging to slip trying to get the last run required, enabling graham to face a few balls before majid capped off a welcomed back to form display of 62 not out to win the game withjust over 1 over to go. my thanks to everyone involved, for their excellent fielding display on the day, and our worthy opponents for a great game.