Match Report

With the ever present threat of rain and warnings of a thunderstorm, the skippers made the wise choice of having a shorter format in an attempt to get a full game in. Each side would get 35 overs and hope for the best. Aston batted first and the openers strode out to the middle under grey skies and a sticky wicket. Asif and Prof Wordsworth opened for MSCC. Batting was difficult enough as both Asif and Prof found the perfect pace for the wicket. Wickets soon fell and but for the important innings of opening batsman Moss (33) the Ascot score would have been much lower. MSCC bowled and fielded with intent and purpose and wickets were shared around. Such was Asif’s intent and purpose that he almost couldn’t finish his spell due to somehow volleying the ball onto his ankle! MSCC were set a target of 71 to win and Skipper Riley kindly offered the opening slots to housemates Zippy and Sathya. But not until after tea!

Tea. A veritable feast of Asian delicacies ranging from Samosas to deliciously wafer thin chapatis wrapped seductively around succulent tandoori chicken breasts and of course the cameo appearances of traditional sandwiches. The quality of the culinary delicacies on offer warmed everyone up on a cold afternoon. Thank You to the Mumtaz family for providing such an amazingly wonderful tea. Did we really have to go out again to play cricket!

Out we came and Sathya and Zippy serenely took the total up to 47 without loss before Sathya, clearly watching too much cricket, left a straight ball and was resoundingly bowled. Nothing to fear as teamaster extrordinaire Jay strode out to finish the job with the unruffled Zippy who finished on 44 not out. Both teams gratefully retired to finish off the rest of the tea and chat in the warm confines of the pavilion. Thank you all for a lovely day and Ascot for being great opposition.

Sathya Vadivale