“The Man in the Arena”

Match: 20 / 523

Lost by 48 runs

Team	Total
Astons CC	145 - 8
J. Pearson 2 - 5, I. Howarth 2 - 9
FFTMCC	97
D. Emerson 17, M. Reeves 17

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

- Theodore Roosevelt

A group of MAD discuss Roosevelt or more likely talking shite.

The question ‘why do we do it?’ has been posed before. Why do we waste our Sundays in failure, dragging our aching bodies through decrepitude and our minds through self-delusion? Is it a compulsion, an addiction, surely it can’t be a rational choice?

The MAD are at a low ebb at the moment, having not passed 100 in the last three Sundays and the season being almost over before it had begun. As central heating systems click back into life, the team headed south to the leafiest of Oxfordshire villages to take on one of our favoured and longest standing opponents, the Astons. The mood would have been even more fatalistic, if not for the call to arms issued by James Hoskins midweek. A timely reminder that every dog has its day and we’re actually a better outfit than recent results would suggest.

Hoskins (with ball) unleashes the pie….

In describing the local pub, it would be easy to disappear off into the parallel universe discussion of previous reports, but what is happening there? It’s now called the Fat Frog (Bonjour to our friends across the Channel) and exists kind of inside a pub called the Chequers which until recently was (both) called the Sweet Olive? You know the one we mean….

With Gary up North, it was up to Russ to lead the team. News of his fabulous coin calling skills obviously proceeded him as he was forced to flip, excluded from calling and therefore lost the toss. Still, we’re a better chasing team apparently.

Opening the batting was Ralph Smith. The talk was that he’s out of form at the moment, hasn’t scored more than 10 in his last 23 innings or something, but always manages to find his best against us. It was a marvellous innings, chanceless until he got to 50, then expansive after that, holing out to Howarth in the deep on 57. He put his team in a good position, but didn’t end the contest, well played.

Mr Emerson demonstrating the art of the forward defensive.

The other innings of note was 44 from Colin Allen. In contrast he rode his luck with a couple of drops and other aerial shots falling into gaps. At 90-1 in the 18th over The MAD were in a world of trouble, but then the fight back began. After some caught behind controversy, Emerson gave Imbush some two bounce ankle music. Then Howarth, Pearson and Roberts picked up a brace each as The Astons lost wickets at regular intervals. 145 was about right, gettable but not easy. There was of course a MAD moment. This week it was Emerson sat in the middle of the wicket clutching the ball, with the batsman also on his arse and short of his crease, but recovering first.

So, did we make it? No, we didn’t. It wouldn’t be fair to say we were unlucky not to win, but we were unlucky. Pearson (12) was out in bizarre circumstances, caught behind going for a very wide one. Turner (2) and Howarth (8) were both victims of the Aston’s ridge (Heartbreak ridge) to one that kept low and one that leapt, taking a glove respectively. After avoiding being run out (a victory of sorts) Reeves (17) was out to a ball that tickled the off stump so finely, that only the leg bail fell. Highlights were the first balls to Howarth and Roberts, going for a massive straight six and an impressive four respectively. All out for 97, so that’s now four Sunday’s in a row.

Mike’s one handed attempt at cricket isn’t much cop.

Being the last bank holiday of the summer, the team could take their time back at the Gerard Depardieu, where food was kindly provided, the one and only ‘tea’ of the summer.

Which brings us back to the question of why do we do it? Personally, I’d rather be playing at any sort of level rather than purely spectating at even the highest levels, that is for the timid souls. In other words, there is only one thing worse than playing woeful village cricket on a Sunday and that’s not playing woeful village cricket on a Sunday. For a fuller description it is always worth reading Jan Webster’s ‘Ignoble Strife’ from the second MAD book. Particularly this section:

“This is also not a club that plays cricket as if the game itself is not worth taking seriously. In the end, it doesn’t really matter, but, it has to matter in the moment or there is no point playing. The MAD manage to balance these two apparently conflicting notions without stress and largely because it attracts people who can understand this without having to articulate it.”

- J. vdG. Webster

JMO (right) gives Mr Harris some positive spiel before getting an unplayable delivery….

So long as we can balance laughing at ourselves and keeping James’ positive mental attitude, we’ll get through this strange summer and look forward to the next one.

‘Reeves’

*

Statto Scorecards

Far from the MCC versus Astons CC Played at Aston Tirrold, 30 August 2020 Astons CC won the toss and elected to bat Astons CC won by 48 runs Far from the MCC debuts: Kaito Archie Kamada-Williams (158)

20 / 523 35 over match

Team	Astons CC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	R.A. Smith *†	c Howarth b Hoskins	57		8	2	2-90
2	J. Imbush	b Emerson	9		1	-	1-62
3	C. Allen	b Pearson	44		4	2	3-124
4	J. Springer	b Roberts	7		1	-	4-124
5	D. Bayes	b Pearson	0		-	-	5-124
6	O. Perkins	c and b Howarth	7		-	-	7-137
7	R. Eaglestone	b Howarth	6		1	-	6-136
8	T. Holborn	c Pearson b Roberts	1		-	-	8-137
9	F. Sheedy	not out	0		-	-	-
10	D. White	not out	8		1	-	-
11	D. Kilcoyne
	Extras	W5, B1	6
	TOTAL	(for 8 wickets, 35 overs)	145

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Reeves	5	0	19	0	3.80
2	Harris	5	2	32	0	6.40
3	Emerson	7	0	25	1	3.57
4	Hoskins	7	0	31	1	4.43
5	Roberts	6	1	26	2	4.33
6	Pearson	3	1	5	2	1.67
7	Howarth	2	0	9	2	4.50

Team	Far from the MCC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	J. W. Pearson	c R. Smith b Eaglestone	12	(30)	-	-	5-27
2	G. Carter	b White	0	(4)	-	-	1-1
3	R. P. Turner *	lbw b White	2	(9)	-	-	2-5
4	I. Howarth	c R. Smith b White	8	(6)	-	1	3-22
5	K. A. Kawada-Williams	b White	0	(1)	-	-	4-22
6	D. Emerson	c Bayes b S. Smith	17	(18)	1	-	6-50
7	M. K. Reeves	b S. Smith	17	(34)	1	-	7-68
8	J. Harris	lbw b Sheedy	11	(19)	-	-	8-77
9	J. D. Hoskins	b Imbush	2	(14)	-	-	9-87
10	C. D. Roberts	c Sheedy b Imbush	14	(11)	2	-	10-97
11	J. C. W. Hotson †	not out	4	(6)	1	-	-
	Extras	NB1, W9	10
	TOTAL	(all out, 25.1 overs)	97

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Kilcoyne	5	1	15	0	3.00
2	White	4	0	10	4	2.50
3	Eaglestone	4	0	19	1	4.75
4	S. Smith	7	2	16	2	2.29
5	Sheedy	3	0	26	1	8.67
6	Imbush	1.1	0	1	2	0.86
7	Perkins	1	0	10	0	10.00

MOTM: C. D. Roberts Champagne Moment: I. Howarth’s huge straight six first ball faced Buffet Award: J. Harris’ Hunter’s chicken with treble dipped fries MAD Moment: D. Emerson tripping over his own feet with missed run out

Opposition: V046 / 21 Ground: G035 / 12 Captain: C024 / 39 Match No: 35 / 187