Sunday XI v Incogniti Sunday 3rd July 2016

M&B drew their only traditional time game of the year with long standing opponents Incogniti on Sunday. M & B were greatly helped by the return of the groundsman's son, Cameron Jacobsen, now plying his trade for Henley. With decent weather skipper Armstrong had no hesitation in batting, courtesy of a rare winning toss.

Brian Dixon and Blair King opened up proceedings for Bray, against a strong opening attack. M&B lost an early wicket as King was castled first ball with a vicious inswinging yorker from left armer Williams. The wicket brought Jacobsen to the wicket, himself fresh from a first baller the day before. Both opening bowlers bowled full and straight, allied with the low bounce from the Road End made scoring difficult. Dixon was next to go, under edging an attempted pull on a ball which lifted onto his stumps. In the meantime Jacobsen quietly accumulated runs with is driving through the offside and trademark legside play, via drives and flicks. Gunbarul perished again bowled, which was on the cards, based on how full and straight the bowlers bowled, allied to low bounce. For the second day running colt Jai Chopra rescued the side with a sizeable partnership with the established batsman at the crease. By now Jacobsen had started to open up and find the middle of the bat. He brought about the end of Williams spell by lofting him over widish mid off for a huge six over the net and into the houses, the ball never to be seen again. The first change bowlers were of the slower variety, opposition skipper Arnould seemed innocuous but bowled a canny line with teasing flight and was fairly tight. Jacobsen took a liking to the River End bowlers and almost took out a baby crawling in the slip cradle, as the ball miraculously just missed. All the time Chopra played himself in nudging the singles and rotating the strike. Chopra eventually pierced the offside boundary on a number of occasions to the driveway boundary. Eventually Chopra was bowled for 35, which included 4 boundaries, as he tried to cut a ball which kept low. The 4th wicket partnership added 87 in 17 overs. Jacobsen reached his century in the grand manor with a six over widish log on. The introduction of seamer Wakeford brought an end to Jacobsen's excellent innings of 110, which lasted 37 overs and contained 4 6's and 10 4's. Wakeford's spell of three overs brought 3 wickets. Joe Blackett scored a pleasant 20no at the death, off the mark with a glorious drive off the back foot through the covers for four and a straight six directly over the bowler's head followed by an off drive next ball for four. In the end Armstrong closed proceedings at 217 for 8 after 43 overs.

In response M & B again opened up with Sunday stalwart Atif"tin man " Amin and Joe Blackett was given the new prune. Amin seemed to get the ball to move appreciably more than normal, away of course though and found a number of edges early on. King unfortunately missed the first one, standing up, but Brian Dixon took a great grab at first slip to see off opener Mason for 6. Amin again found the edge of no.3 Sehmi but again it was spilled by the keeper. All the time opener Williams, who also opened the bowling, accumulated runs and was extremely quick between the wickets. He was especially strong through the leg side although he was quick to cut and drive off the back foot. Sehmi was strong driving and the dropped catch was looking expensive until Thomas Allen turned a ball through his defences and had him plumb lbw. The other Sehmi brother looked menacing as a viciously pulled six way up the tree on the driveway boundary attested to. Luckily Senior Sunday spinner Chris Butler exacted his revenge and had him caught on the deep leg side boundary going for another maximum. All along though Williams plundered runs and together with no.5 Ritchie the pair added 92 to put Incogniti in strong position. Williams scored the bulk of the runs smashing 4 sixes on the leg side, two over widish mid on and two over square leg. With the score looking ominous Armstrong brought on his two best spinners, Faisal Aziz and Cameron Jacobsen. Both operated in different ways but were equally effective. Aziz darting the ball in and Jacobsen imparting vicious spin allied to big bounce. Ritchie struggled to get the bowling away and the boundaries dried up for Williams. Williams went through to a well deserved and chanceless century. In the end he was caught deep square leg on the long church boundary via a top edged pull / sweep by Gunbarul off Jacobsen. Once Williams was out the Incogs chance of victory had gone with him. Both innings were dominated by centuries by one player. In the end Incogs finished at 201 for 6 off 37 overs drawing with M & B scoring 217 for 8 off 43 overs. The death bowling of Aziz 7/0/31/1 and Jacobsen 5/0/29/2 pulled M & B back to draw a game which seemed to be slipping away.