Match Report

A dull overcast, but muggy day welcomed our visitors.  Past meetings suggested The Law Society regularly posted a score of 180+ for the loss of very few wickets. ‘Technically good batters’ as you would expect from the well-educated public school boys that practice the of art of law. Maybe, this is what influenced the selection committee in naming eight bowlers for today’s  fixture! Was this an attempt to try and keep the run rate down? Or maybe our batters vegetable gardens were running low!

The Law Society won the toss and chose to bat. Asif and Sam opened the bowling. Asif trying to control the swing that the overcast conditions was creating. Sam as always bowled tidily, beating the outside edge on a number of occasions. Asif in his fourth over managed to get one to swing through the gate and clip the top of the bail.

One down! Or was it two down? Unfortunately, when the ball clipped the top of the bail it ricocheted up into Jamie Lumb’s eye who was standing up to the stumps, cutting his eyelid. Jamie off the field and MSCC a batter down! Mr. Simpson offered to step in for the injured Jamie and don the gloves.

Sam finally got some reward for his bowling by taking the second wicket, ably assisted by Nick Moorman taking a fine diving catch at square leg. Law Soc. 40 for 2! Was the tactic working? Unfortunately not! They started to score freely, finding the gaps with ease. The clouds opened up enough for both captains to decide to head for cover.

With the covers on and players milling in the pavilion, I was approached by one of our guests, who asked ‘Who is the club EDIot?’ I said the club EDIot? “Yes”, he replied, “the club Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity officer (the t is silent)”. I said “I believe Simmo holds that position in the club but I don’t think he has an official title”. So in the blink of an eye in front of Simmo, with his hand he drew the scales of justice  ⚖️ in the air and said “I here by now pronounce you the MSCC EDIot”. Simmo, it is now official!

After about 25 minutes the rain had subsided enough for us to take to the field again. Matt and Rob came on at first change. Rob was unluckily not to pick up a wicket with chances just falling short of fielders. Despite, some good tidy bowling we struggled to make a break through. At drinks the visitors were 100-2. The 2 batters continued to pile on the runs and were 140-2.

It looked like their ‘technically good’ batters were going on to score 200+!  Tom Day was finding batting easy and piling on the runs! Matt then found his length. Tom swung wildly at a straight one! Middle stump out the ground. Next ball another straight one plumb on the pads! Umpire’s finger raised 2 in 2 for Dipple! Hat-trick on the cards? Unfortunately not.

Law Soc. 140-4! 2 new batters in now at 145-4. The Law Soc. going for it swinging at everything. Dipple striking with the 1st and 4th ball of his next over. 145-6 Matt with four to his name. Then with the last ball of his spell another wicket! Five for Matt. His last two overs, 5 for 4!

Arvind then came on to bowl. Simmo, seeing the ball drift down leg, takes two steps to his left, and the batter gloves it straight into his hands! Great take down leg by the EDIot. Nick Moorman with a direct hit ran out their last batter. From 140-2 to all out from 149! A great come back by MSCC.

After a wonderful tea provided by the lovely Denise and Erika, MSCC went out to bat. Could we chase down 148 with our batters?

12-3 suggested we wouldn’t.

The opposition skipper opened the bowling a very good tight bowler moving the odd ball off the seam took two of the early wickets. MSCC bowling hero Matt now batting at number 5, tried building a recovery with Nick Moorman but when he was caught well at long on, mistiming a full toss, it looked like we were in big trouble.  We only managed to score 30 runs off the first 22 overs, largely down to Rob Henderson’s excellent bowling.

With 20 overs left and 119 runs needed our thoughts turned to saving the game. 5 down and  Simmo came to the crease, scoring at a steady pace ably supported by Rob Barton, overs ticking down and heading for a draw. Rob Henderson came back on to bowl taking the wicket of a Rob Barton.

But Simmo and Arvind saw the remaining overs out, with Simmo only losing his wicket to the final ball as he attempted an audacious ramp shot which was well caught at slip. The draw was achieved.

Special mention to Paul Wordsworth who subbed in for Jamie and didn’t get a bat! Thank you!

The Law Society were a great bunch of guys and provided excellent opposition. Players of the match awards went to Tom Day for his 67 and Simmo for his wonderful display behind the stumps and with the bat (Not all superheroes wear capes do they Simmo!)

A big thank you as always to Rona on BBQ duty, Andrew behind the bar and Denise and Erika for a wonderful tea enjoyed by all. Also, a thank to the players who stayed post-match to help out with chores.