“Records Broken, but MAD Ultimately Left with Ifs and FFS’s”

Match: 23 / 593

Lost by 7 wkts

Team	Total
FFTMCC	144 - 1
I. Howarth 34*, D. Shorten 33*
Appleton CC	145 - 3
M. Reeves 2 - 28

Yes, this was one where the FFTMCC had their pockets picked, being left dazed and confused and wondering what might have been. But who and what really cost us the game? Was it the Oxford traffic, which meant several of the team, especially those in the vicinity of East Oxford took about 40 minutes longer than could reasonably be expected to arrive at the ground?

Was it Lucan, who had an unexpected visit from his mother-in-law and therefore pulled out late on, leaving the team with 10 players and the ball with a gap to find with unerring regularity? Was it Shorten? No, probably not, after he made the herculean effort to get from Wales to the game on a Friday night. Also, he blamed himself for failing to stop ‘2’ on the penultimate ball of the game, when in truth the jig was up by that point, although he did push one over the boundary in the manner of a goalkeeper pushing a shot over the cross bar after it reared up unexpectedly on him from the bumpy outfield.

Was it Reeves? He can’t blame the bumpy outfield as he failed to get in line with a fast travelling catch to square leg when he was stationed on the boundary for just such an occurrence. Instead of dismissing the dangerous Atkinson (30* ret), he could only watch the ball cannon off his thumb and dribble over the boundary.

Was it either Williams or Vermaak, who both had aberrations in the field? Williams maintains that he merely shepherded one to the boundary, whereas the consensus from Howarth and Reeves is that he provided a final nudge to toe it over the rope. Similarly, Corne got down to one in an almost textbook stop. Unfortunately, ‘almost’ meant that although his toe and his knee were touching the ground, his ankle was raised and provided a nice archway for the ball to sail through and away for 4. Likewise, Russ could possibly have taken a step forward for a very good low catch, or possibly and more easily he could have stepped back to take the ball on the bounce. In the end he did neither, inevitably with the ball going under his hands and away for, you guessed it, 4.

Could it have been Spam? Now there perhaps is a good shout although not for failing to affect a run out as Corne pinged one in and he let it squirm away from his fingers as the batman made his ground. No, we’re talking here about his umpiring, in the final over of The MAD innings. Russ appeared to miss one down the leg side which ran up the hill and almost to the boundary very very close to the sight screen. Had it touched or gone under the screen, which was located inside the boundary, it would have been a four? Spam dutifully signaled a four and a wide, at which point five runs went in the book. He then started flailing his arms around in the manner of a drowning man trying to attract attention. This continued as he talked to the bowler. After some consultation on the boundary, it was agreed that he was indicating that either Russ had hit it and therefore it was not a wide, or the ball hadn’t gone to the boundary. Or both. The over finished after the regulation six balls which kind of confirmed it wasn’t a wide, although even in the pub afterwards with all parties present, the truth was still difficult to ascertain. This all resulted in two runs being added to Russ’s score and three removed from the total.

Was it Jake, as during the batting he tried to recreate his famous EBI which was also recorded at Appleton and has now achieved immortality on the back cover The MAD book “Never at this Level”, which is still available if anyone wants a copy? Again, probably not although he was the only MAD batsman out, from the fifth ball of the final over. It bought to an end an amazing ‘Other Combination’ partnership between Howarth (34 n.o.), Williams (32 n.o.) Shorten (33 n.o), Turner (22 n.o.) and Jake (2 bowled) of 144, narrowly eclipsing the previous record of 140 by Dobner, Reeves, Collins and Howarth against the Bodleian at Mansfield Road way back in 2009.

Turner and Shorten discuss which direction the sun is shining from.

Was it Geoff? It’s always Geoff, but on this occasion, despite letting through a few byes, the finger is not pointing at him. Was it Joe? Could he have done better than the dot ball he achieved from his one and only delivery? Well come on Joe, he couldn’t have done any worse, could he? Could it have been Harris? That leg bye in his second over may well have made all the difference, who knows?

In truth it was all of these things and none of these. We put in a really strong batting performance against a decent bowling attack and 144 on that pitch with the sun setting should have been enough. A Gilkes (37* ret) was devasting in the first few overs of the reply and got them off to a very good start, but after that the run rate climbed steadily, due in no small part to the excellent bowling of Shorten (4-0-7-1). Needing 22 off the final two overs we nearly had it in the bag.

We didn’t lose it, Appleton won it, thanks for R Landon bowling well and then hitting 32 in 15 balls at the death to bring them home with one ball to spare. He’s a talent that we hadn’t registered before. So that was it. In 2021 we lost several close ones, then last year we won a number in similar fashion, so maybe these things go in cycles….

The Vermaak’s chilling as one does on the grass banks of Newlands (South Africa).

After that, all that remained was to head to the marvelous Eight Bells for some excellent spicy chicken wings, where thoughts turned to the demise of Texan Bars and how Jelly Tots are still a thing.

’Reevsie’

*

Statto Scorecards

Far From the MCC versus Appleton CC Played at Appleton, 9 June 2023 Far from the MCC won the toss and elected to bat Appleton CC won by 7 wkts Far from the MCC debuts: n/a

23 / 593 20 over match

Team	Far From the MCC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	I. Howarth *	retired	34	(26)	5	1	1-144
2	C. T. J. Williams	retired	32	(38)	4	-
3	D. Shorten	retired	33	(19)	6	-
4	R. P. Turner	not out	22	(29)	1	-
5	J. C. W. Hotson	b Atkinson	2	(9)	-	-
6	J. A. Cartwright	not out	0	(1)	-	-
7	J. Harris
8	C. J. Vermaak
9	M. K. Reeves
10	G. Carter †
11
	Extras	NB3, W4, LB4, B10	21
	TOTAL	(for 1 wickets, 20 overs)	144

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Atkinson	4	0	22	1	5.50
2	Jeffreys	3	0	12	0	4.00
3	Russ	4	0	20	0	5.00
4	Lamdin	2	0	20	0	10.00
5	Allsworth	2	0	15	0	7.50
6	Jones	2	0	8	0	4.00
7	Botham	2	0	18	0	9.00
8	Geller	1	0	17	0	17.00
Note: I. Howarth retired on 70-0 (10.0 overs); C. T. J. Williams retired on 81-0 (11.0 overs); D. Shorten retired on 125-0 (16.0 overs)

Team	Appleton CC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	A. Gilkes *	retired	37		5	1	1-22
2	W. Geller	c Shorten b Reeves	3		-	-	2-42
3	S. Tofts †	c Turner b Reeves	5		-	-	3-62
4	P. Atkinson	retired	30		3	-
5	M. Blake	lbw b Shorten	5		-	-
6	J. Russ	not out	12		-	-
7	R. Lamdin	not out	32		4	-
8	L. Botham
9	C. Jones
10	A. J. Jeffreys
11	R. Allsworth
	Extras	NB1, W4, LB6, B10	21
	TOTAL	(for 3 wickets, 19.5 overs)	145

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Reeves	3	0	28	2	9.33
2	Vermaak	2	0	19	0	9.50
3	Shorten	4	0	7	1	1.75
4	Harris	4	0	25	0	6.25
5	Williams	3.5	0	29	0	7.57
6	Howarth	3	0	21	0	7.00
Note: A. Gilkes retired on 59-2 (7.0 overs); P. Atkinson retired on 105-3 (16.0 overs)

MOTM: D. Shorten Champagne Moment: R. P. Turner’s well-judged catch in the covers Buffet Award: C. J. Vermaak’s rancid bobotie (out of date eggs) MAD Moment: R. P. Turner’s involvement in 4 wides that were off the bat which only went for 2 runs whilst umpire Howarth argued with bowler Atkinson….

Opposition: V051 / 036 Ground: G042 / 023 Captain: C007 / 072 Match No: 20 / 175