35 Overs. The match finished with a bye and 5 penalty runs (for hitting Will Parker's helmet - placed behind the stumps)!
As we signed up for a midsummer fixture with sunset due at 9:20pm we dreamt of long evenings watching cricket with a glass of something suitably cold in our hands.
When we awoke on Sunday Tombsy flagged the forecast up on WhatsApp showing the rain coming in hard from 2pm. Would an early call be made? No chance, the Mogs are made of hardy stuff and as we arrived at the ground the rain had not yet materialised and we chose to bat first in a 35 over per side game with our spirits bolstered with the delivery of new jumpers.
The two Peters opened the batting and got off to a solid start with some high tempo running between the wickets. Rhod James came in at 3 and looked to continue his excellent form for the Mogs. He made a quickfire 33 [23 balls] before giving way to James Tombs who continued the rapid run rate with some mighty blows in the neighbouring gardens. Following Furns’s dismissal there was a slight delay as the captain, having told the top four where they were batting, decided to keep the rest of the batting order to himself. The race was on to see who would be ready first and Will Dowling duly strode to the crease at the heady position of number five.
This proved to be inspirational captaincy and Will cracked on with some mighty hitting and quick running, ably supported by Marius ‘no gloves’ Van Zyl, Shreyas, Josh Tombs Jnr and Dairy Lee. Will Dowling’s outstanding inning took him to the close of our 35 overs scoring 75 not out [69 balls] with a very solid Mogs score of 186 for 7.
By this stage the local weather resembled a Cornish sea fret but the heavy rain had stayed away. At the break, a number of Mogs, assuming that we would only be playing for thirty minutes of so, had decided not to go to the effort of making a tea. The skipper dashed to the Co-Op (other local supermarkets are available) but we were saved by the Mum of one of the teenage opposition who had made two big plates of fresh, and still warm, scones with strawberry jam.
With the rain just about holding off the Mogs skipped out to field with Joe Lewis and Josh Tombs opening the bowling. They both kept it very tight and Josh took the first wicket with a very Mogs like fielding display. The ball was hit straight to Marius who took a couple of paces right before flinging himself, full length, to his left and taking an outstanding one handed catch. At this stage the drizzle started to come in but we continued and Joe Lewis took a very neat caught and bowled while shouting ‘catch it’ at full volume.
By this time the ball resembled a bar of imperial leather which made both bowling and fielding rather tricky. The odd ball slipped out at beamer height causing discussion amongst the law followers. The umpires and both captains got together and, in true Mogs spirit, we carried on.
Despite of some good fielding and some excellent bowling from Messrs. Vuppala, Van Zyl, James and Dowling, the Cavalier batsmen started to build a good partnership and the ball started to travel quicker across the wet grass. Despite a good late wicket from Will Dowling the Cavalier’s got over the line with two overs to spare.
Dairy Lee skippered the side brilliantly and, despite the weather, the Mog's spirits remained excellent and it was lovely to be out playing the glorious game of cricket.
There you go, 600 words written and not one mention of Covid, bugger, I just couldn’t help it!
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