“It’s Deja Vue All Over Again”

Match: 16 / 398

Won by 5 wkts

Team	Total
Islip CC	159
G. Timms 3 - 8
FFTMCC	160 - 5
D. Shorten 75, M. Reeves 23

In a match (and match report) strangely reminiscent of last year, The MAD are looking forward to four days of lumpy beds, falling asleep in parks, under cooked sausages, Somerset darts, Tina’s Travel, long pointless walks and general revelry as we again prepare to tour Hythe and the surrounding area on the South Coast of England.

FFTMCC will be taking, I believe, the largest and certainly oldest team to swap the Shires of Oxford and Hamp. It is again unfortunate that D Emerson won’t be making the trip and that J Newman has swapped the hand injury of 2015 for a knee in 2016. There is at least one tour debutant in the shape of L Ainsworth and we welcome back Steve “Owen Hargreaves” Parkinson, who despite some of the younger members of the team never having heard of him and him not being seen in Oxford, claims he is as FFTMCC as Fish and Chips and will certainly be going to the World Cup / Tour.

Dog Midge – in attendance to watch his old man thrash the ball about.

In the final warm up game before Tour, The MAD took on Islip, who won the toss and inserted us in the field for 40 overs. It was a record equalling day for The MAD as seven bowlers, Shorten, Roberts, Emerson, Reeves, Hoskins, Rundle and Timms all took wickets and there was a run out from Rundle. Pick of the bunch was perhaps Rundle (8-1-27-1) who bowled with metronomic accuracy as Islip were looking to accelerate and G Timms (2-0-8-3) who used his captain’s prerogative to bring himself on at the end. He’ll be on a hat-trick for his first bowl on Tour so expect wild, excessive celebrating to the bemusement and annoyance of our hosts, if he does it.

Islip looked to have a quality top order with T Anand, who also kept extremely well, definitely one for the future. He was unlucky today as Bob delivered a yorker which started from about eight feet above the lad’s head. Islip made 159 in their 40 overs, which The MAD were more than happy with, although it was possibly 165, which was something to do with leg-byes or something. There was one sour note as keeper Westmoreland, sprinting back to save a bye, tore (or did something) to his hamstring. He had to be assisted from the field and is now sleeping in an oxygen tent in an effort to be ready for Thursday. 12^th man Jake stepped in whilst G Carter took the gloves and used them to make a nice catch.

Westmoreland hamming it up for the camera.

At tea there were lots of kids, dogs etc, who descended like a swarm of locusts on the buffet. Good job Turner and Lucan were elsewhere, propping up the batting for Bodliean.

In reply J Pearson (18) and L Ainsworth (13) saw off most of the opening pair. Something the lower order were very happy about, as Bennett-Jones in particular looked dangerous. Reeves (23) then watched from the other end for most of fourteen overs as it became the Dave Shorten show (75 off 75 balls.) By the time he was out The MAD were within touching distance of the win. There was just time for Geoff (0) to stick his pad in front of middle stump and for Timms (13 n.o) to play what is becoming a trade mark cameo before Hotson (1 n.o) helped us across the line. A thoroughly decent win by 5 wickets and 7 overs, without the likes of Spam, Turner, Moo and Lucan.

Excellent zoom photography of Mr Shorten celebrating his half century.

So once again the FFTMCC have bags packed, sick leave booked and brownie points earned as they prepare for four days of sunshine and good company on the South Coast.

‘Reevsie’

*

Statto Scorecards

Far from the MCC versus Islip CC Played at Brasenose College, 31 July 2016 Islip CC won the toss and elected to bat Far from the MCC won by 5 wkts Far from the MCC debuts: none

16 / 398 40 over match

Team	Islip CC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	N. Mateen †	b Shorten	5		1	-	1-10
2	S. Saqib	b Reeves	22		4	-	3-64
3	T. Anand	b Roberts	0		-	-	2-18
4	M. Saghir	c Reeves b Emerson	35		6	-	4-91
5	O. Black *	run out (Rundle)	47		6	-	7-148
6	A. Epton	b Hoskins	15		1	-	5-120
7	K. Crawford	c Carter b Rundle	7		1	-	6-140
8	B. Crawford	st Carter b Timms	6		-	-	9-159
9	H. Venables	b Timms	1		-	-	8-150
10	L. Bennett-Jones	not out	7		1	-	-
11	N. Mason	c Pearson b Timms	0		-	-	10-159
	Extras	NB1, W1, LB11, B1	14
	TOTAL	(all out, 40 overs)	159

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts
1	Shorten	6	1	18	1
2	Roberts	6	0	23	1
3	Emerson	6	0	34	1
4	Reeves	4	0	18	1
5	Hoskins	8	1	34	1
6	Rundle	8	1	27	1
7	Timms	2	0	8	3

Team	Far from the MCC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	J. W. Pearson	c Anand b Bennett-Jones	18	(32)	2	-	1-36
2	L. G. Ainsworth	c Epton b Bennett-Jones	13	(36)	2	-	2-45
3	D. Shorten	b Epton	75	(75)	12	1	4-148
4	M. K. Reeves	c Mateen b Epton	23	(35)	4	-	3-131
5	G. J. Timms *	not out	13	(11)	2	-	-
6	G. Carter †	lbw b Mason	0	(2)	-	-	5-149
7	J. C. W. Hotson	not out	1	(6)	-	-	-
8	D. Emerson
9	C.D. Roberts
10	J. D. Hoskins
11	M. S. Rundle
	Extras	NB5, W2, LB7, B3	17
	TOTAL	(for 5 wickets, 32.4 overs)	160

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts
1	Bennett-Jones	8	1	27	2
2	Saghir	8	3	14	0
3	Venables	4	0	38	0
4	K. Crawford	4	0	13	0
5	Saqib	2	0	14	0
6	Epton	4	0	25	2
7	Mason	2.4	0	14	1
Notes: G. Carter replaced M. T. Westmoreland after 11 overs of the Islip innings

MOTM: D. Shorten Champagne Moment: M. S. Rundle’s direct hit run out Buffet Award: D. Emerson’s home cooked chicken drumsticks (hot sauce)

Opposition: V078 / 05 Ground: G040 / 54 Captain: C022 / 50