An opportunity to get Turville’s centurion half presented itself in the form a fast high flying slip catch, which Mark Ford-Langstaff, did well to get a hand to, diving to his right but unfortunately, he was unable to make it stick. Simon and Nick replaced Tim and Matt, but the batsmen where starting to get comfortable. Fielding was good and Tim R was a sharp pair of hands behind the stumps, but with the short fast boundary and batsmen ‘hitting the gaps’, the runs steadily flowed and the clang of the ball hitting the fence boundary became a bit too familiar, despite the best efforts of Ben, Jay, Joe and Nick fielding in the deep (in hindsight MSCC might have done well taking a bit more time retrieving the ball from the field and under hedges).

Simon provided brief relief getting the second wicket, deciding to mix up the bowling and come around to the left handed, getting him LBW second ball (relief also for him by restoring the difference in wickets between him Tim back to 1). Tim H and Mark where also brought into the attack, but the attack was only one way and no further inroads was made into Turville’s batting line up. It was with much relief tea came. Credit where credit is due, Turville Park batted well, they ended 256 – 2

From a bowling perspective going in for tea with the opposition scoring 256 – 2 was rather dispiriting and although we now had an opportunity to ‘fill our boots’ with the lovely Turville Park tea, appetites weren’t at there biggest!

All was not lost, we had seen how the ball did run quickly and easily to the boundary and with our strong batting line up we had a chance, although it was going to be tough.

Tim R and Nick opened the reply for MSCC, with all eyes eager to see what these two could make of the batting conditions. Alas, a stunning slip catch by Turville’s Hunt saw Nick having to return to the pavilion 95 short of another ton for MSCC. But where there’s one Moorman, there’s another close behind, and up stepped Joe ready to show his Dad how to do it. Tim R and Joe laid the foundation of a solid innings for MSCC, allowing MSCC to come within a whisker of winning the game as Jay and Simon contributed to this.

Tim R reach 50 and then quickly moved on to 100 as he ‘let his hair down’ playing freely and taking advantage of the boundary opportunities, including hitting a lovely 6, his first for several seasons, which he seemed more pleased about than getting his ton.

Joe eventually fell LBW and was replaced by Mark as the required run rate started to go up. Mark made a steady start before looking to open up the throttle, unfortunately he tried to hit the ball and a large chuck of the pitch into the field behind the bowler, achieving only routine catching practice to midoff. Equally, Jay came in with a solid batting start, determined to get himself in before he tried to match the required run rate. As he was getting into a nice rhythm, he was caught in a moment of indecision, and backed out of launching the ball in to the stratosphere, instead popping the ball up to midwicket. Tim R was eventually dispatched too for a wonderful 109.

Tim H and Simon came in guns blazing, and after a few nervy shots started to connect, Tim H smashing a beautiful 6. Turville’s Breadal not content with his batting contribution, had more to add with the ball. His quicker and straighter bowling took the scalps of Tim H, Ben and Matt, as they tried to keep up with the run rate.  MSCC slipped off the pace as overs started to run out. In the end Simon and Tim C held on to the end to see the draw, (denying Stevyn his first opportunity to come in as number 11!). So, with the overs exhausted, MSCC ended 239-8, disappointed not to make it past the line in the end, but a very pleasing run chase never-the-less.

Special mention and thanks also to Chris Greer coming to support and score.

All in all, an enjoyable and close game. Thank you Turville Park.

Tim Cranston.