“Who Am I?”
Match: 24
/ 629
Won
by 5 wkts
|
Team |
Total |
|
Isis CC |
197 - 4 |
|
J. Pearson
78*, C. Williams 65 |
|
|
|
|
|
FFTMCC |
201 - 5 |
|
M. Reeves
50*, J. Cartwright 44* |
|
|
Why have I come
upstairs? Why am I staring into the fridge? Why is my fridge upstairs? Why
have I arrived at midday for a game scheduled to start at 13:30? (Scheduled
being the appropriate word there). Why do I bother playing cricket? Who the
bloody hell is that? Who are any of these people? Ooohh.
Some marbles. Where am I? Who am I? Why am I here? This Sunday, versus the
old neighbours from Queens, would answer some of those questions. Sort of. Eleven Madsters were all present and correct and eyeing up a
dominating win over Nick Wyatt as 13:30 approached. As it turns out, the Isis
massive had been given the wrong start time of 14:00. The other 10 Isis-ites did eventually arrive, on what felt like Tuesday. The
MAD spent much of the extra waiting time realising that no one knew who
anyone was. A WhatsApp snap of a briefly returned James Bateman going
unrecognised by way too many. Skipper Turner, who has given him many a lift,
perhaps the worst culprit as his response to said pic also assumes that me
sending images of random strangers to The MAD crew is commonplace.
Timms and some guy on the right. On a day where the
forecast was for brightening skies Russ was spot on in winning the toss and
opting to field first. Surely anything the pitch had to offer would be early
on before it dried out and the clouds dissipated. That’s the sort of stuff
I’ve learnt from the tele, innit. Russ was even more
spottier-onner in pouching a couple of
lovely sounding snicks behind the sticks. Messrs Shorten (7-2-28-3) and
Rundle (5-0-26-1) the edge inducers. After his incredibly selfish move to
Nottingham, Bean Counter Reeves has been forced to be even more prudent with
both cash and time. He can hear the roar from Trent Bridge from his new gaff
apparently. It was a pleasure to see him back in the fold. It was even more
of a pleasure to be stood at point to watch Mike channel Ben Stokes’
sensational TB grab and dive full-length to cling on to a cleanly hit grass
skimmer at midwicket. Batsman Keith Whiter (0) suitably impressed. He may
well still be out in the middle at Brasenose now, staring at the sky in
disbelief. Mind you, it was to Mike’s strong hand. Nah, it was a champagne
belter. The MAD clearly getting the better of the early stages with Isis 30-3
after 9 overs.
Stock footage of Mr Whiter dwelling on something
(maybe a glimpse into the future at being caught). Ponsford Jnr joined O.
Walter at the crease and the two began to rebuild the Isis reply. [cough]
rather decent LBW shouts that were turned down notwithstanding [cough].
Slowly to start with. Briskly, and with some style, towards the end of the 35
overs. Walter (82) would depart late on, allowing S. Gregan (6*) to accompany
John Ponsford (101*) to his first ever century. Most of The MAD being
surprised by this fact an indication of his ability. Well batted chap. The
late impetus saw Isis reach 197 from their 35 overs. Perhaps a nudge above
par? As if we ever have any idea what ‘par’ is. As if ‘par’ is even a thing
when it comes to a Mad innings. Not content with a
4-hour round trip from Nottingham, Mike also made the teas. Everyone else ate
them with gusto. The coffee and walnut cake a particular favourite of those
with zero taste buds. That’s not dissing the cake itself, just coffee. Which
tastes like someone shat in your mouth. I imagine. During tea, James Bateman
arrived. No one cared. Until they cottoned on to his disgraceful Australian twaaaang, mate. Then they saw the mullet. FFS.
Early in the piece, Williams hits a red thing. The MAD response was
measured in its approach, never too far shy of the 5.7 runs per over
required. That being said, I’d wager there were points when not many in the
ranks truly believed 197 could be chased down. JMO aside, of course. Pearson
(13) was undone by some classic pie from the East but his and Harris’ (17)
partnerships with Williams (44) saw The MAD to 70-2 after 14. Harris briefly
forgetting how you figure out which end you’re at in-between overs. The
scorer was, I hear, most perplexed. No MAD innings is
complete with a mini wobble and thus a dozen or so balls later the score was
78-4. Harris, having figured out which end to bat at, temporarily misplaced
his stumps to be bowled round the legs. Russ (3), simply stumped by a quicker
and flatter one from the Isis standout K Whiter (7-0-27-3). Having only
driven 2 hours (thus far), bowled 5 overs, taken a stunning catch, and made
the teas, Mike was rightly sent out at no. 6 to join D Shorten (13) at the
crease. Lego missing another Whiter quicker one that looked to have kept a
touch low. With 19.4 overs gone and The MAD on 106-5 Joe Cartwright entered
the fray. ‘I’ve got this’ he uttered as he went out to the middle. ‘Just be
patient with me.’ A solitary bye from his first 11 balls a stern test of said
patience. We’ll ignore the fact he was dropped… Remember Cholsey. Remember
Cholsey.
Cartwright stands firm to the end. At the other end Mike
had passed through the usual ‘early flailing’ stage of his innings and was
now adding the odd boundary to the singles and twos. With 10 overs to go, 61
was required to win. Squeaky bums all round. Good overs were survived. Loose
balls were pounced upon. Emergency squash was required. Ainsworth declared he
needed new pants on the group WhatsApp. It wasn’t overtly clear if that was
related to details of the run chase or the beers
being consumed. It all boiled down to 9 being required off the last Nick
Wyatt over. Single. Single. Single. The result of the first three balls, as
well as the title of The MAD 2024 calendar. 6 off 3 required. This
would be a good time for a boundary Mike (50*). Ohhhh,
you absolutely beauty!! A single left the scores tied. The Isis fielders
crowded Joe’s bat. Joe (44*) didn’t give a shit as he pummelled the final
ball over the top to the boundary. The MAD win!! Russ cracks open the
celebratory fizz. Or Carlsberg/Thatchers to you and I. Joe sparks up a
celebratory ciggie and proclaims the game ‘one of the best he’s played in’.
Something tells me he’s played his part in a fair few
decent chases. Kudos to you, Joe. You know how to cart it, right? And
to ‘the finisher’ too! An unbeaten 95 run partnership to see us home.
[Applause and scene].
Mike, Captain Turner and the guy who slapped the
winning boundary (Joe). Whilst post-match
beverages were being consumed there was time for our hero Joe to struggle to
identify our other hero Mike, the man he’d just spent 15 overs with. Wanting
to enjoy the moment together he failed to notice Mike was stood right next to
him. Pearson managed to take all of his kit home save his whites. That’s
whites as in trousers, top, socks, and undercrackers. Maybe we don’t always
know where we are, what we’re doing, or who each other are, but we have a
bloody good laugh doing it. Tip o’ the hat to Isis, who absolutely played
their part in a great game and day. It just fell our way today.
The game earlier on in
the season was an odd affair – as is often the case with rain affected games.
Some miscalculations, in many ways, from both teams influencing affairs. This
one though was another to add to a plethora of last ball finishes between
both sides over the years. That’s providing anyone can remember it of course
which, given some of the events of the day, seems highly unlikely. ’S. Tranger-Danger’
|
*
Statto Scorecards
|
Far From the MCC versus Isis CC Played at Brasenose College, 21 July
2024 Lemmings won the toss and elected to field Lemmings won by 2 wkts Far from the MCC debuts: n/a |
24 / 629 35 over match |
|
Team |
Isis CC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Batsman |
How Out |
Total |
Balls |
4s |
6s |
FOW |
|
1 |
A.
Beavan |
c Turner b Rundle |
4 |
|
- |
- |
1-27 |
|
2 |
O.
Walter |
b Shorten |
82 |
|
7 |
- |
2-28 |
|
3 |
J. Duckitt |
c Turner b Shorten |
7 |
|
1 |
- |
3-30 |
|
4 |
K. H.
Whiter * |
c Reeves b Shorten |
0 |
|
- |
- |
4-184 |
|
5 |
J.
Ponsford |
not out |
101 |
|
11 |
1 |
|
|
6 |
S.
Gregan |
not out |
6 |
|
1 |
- |
|
|
7 |
P.
Jacobs † |
|
|
|
- |
- |
|
|
8 |
J.
Walter |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
N. H. R.
Wyatt |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
A. East |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
H. Rees |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Extras |
LB2, B1 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
(for 4 wickets, 35 overs) |
203 |
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Bowler |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
|
|
1 |
Shorten |
7 |
2 |
22 |
3 |
3.14 |
|
|
2 |
Rundle |
5 |
0 |
26 |
1 |
5.20 |
|
|
3 |
Roberts |
6 |
0 |
37 |
0 |
6.17 |
|
|
4 |
Timms |
7 |
0 |
31 |
0 |
4.43 |
|
|
5 |
Reeves |
5 |
0 |
33 |
0 |
6.60 |
|
|
6 |
Hoskins |
5 |
0 |
43 |
0 |
8.60 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Team |
Far from the MCC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Batsman |
How Out |
Total |
Balls |
4s |
6s |
FOW |
|
1 |
J. W.
Pearson |
b East |
13 |
(23) |
1 |
- |
1-30 |
|
2 |
C. T. J.
Williams |
c Gregan b Whiter |
44 |
(40) |
5 |
- |
2-71 |
|
3 |
J.
Harris |
b Walter |
17 |
(20) |
1 |
- |
3-75 |
|
4 |
R. P.
Turner *† |
st Jacobs b Whiter |
3 |
(7) |
- |
- |
4-79 |
|
5 |
D.
Shorten |
b Whiter |
13 |
(13) |
2 |
- |
5-109 |
|
6 |
M. K.
Reeves |
not out |
50 |
(51) |
4 |
- |
|
|
7 |
J. A.
Cartwright |
not out |
44 |
(54) |
6 |
- |
|
|
8 |
G. J.
Timms |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
J. D.
Hoskins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
M. S. Rundle |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
C. D.
Roberts |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Extras |
W9, LB5, B9 |
23 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
(for 5 wickets, 35 overs) |
207 |
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Bowler |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
|
|
1 |
East |
7 |
0 |
34 |
1 |
4.86 |
|
|
2 |
Wyatt |
7 |
0 |
53 |
0 |
7.57 |
|
|
3 |
Whiter |
7 |
0 |
26 |
3 |
3.71 |
|
|
4 |
J.
Walter |
3 |
0 |
23 |
1 |
7.67 |
|
|
5 |
Duckitt |
2 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
6.00 |
|
|
6 |
Gregan |
4 |
1 |
18 |
0 |
4.50 |
|
|
7 |
Ponsford |
5 |
0 |
27 |
0 |
5.40 |
|
|
MOTM: M. K. Reeves Champagne Moment: M. K. Reeves’ superb
low catch off Whiter (mid wicket) Buffet Award: J. D. Hoskins’ extra spicy pepperoni pizzas (garlic bread sides) MAD
Moment: D. Shorten’s four, non-four,
run out, not run out fiasco |
Opposition:
V009 / 043 Ground: G040 / 109 Captain: C024 / 094 Match No: 35 / 234 |