Sunday XI v Braywood - 24th August 2014

M&B had a resounding 111 run win over local neighbours, Braywood on Sunday. Skipper Armstrong had no hesitation in batting upon winning the toss. Openers William Cunliffe and Sachin Moudgil took full advantage of the opportunity to build a very sold platform and set the tempo for the innings. 87 in 12 overs was a very nice start, immediately putting Braywood on the back foot. Both openers carried on from the previous day, albeit Moudgil was batting down the order for the 1's, whilst compiling 21no. As always he was extremely strong on the leg side but he did score fluently all round the wicket. Alas it was Sachin's predilection for the leg side, as he tried to turn a straight delivery to leg instead of hitting back past the bowler, resulting in a leading edge lobbing tamely up to the fielder.

Cunliffe though very much carried on on auto pilot, after his 60 in 40 overs the previous day. Courtesy of William Western-Kaye dropping out at the last minute, Cunliffe took his opportunity with both hands to continue his late season rich vein of form, which will hopefully spill over to the last three weeks of the season. As always he was strong on the drive and was quick to put the short ball away. With a big century there for the taking Cunliffe was bowled by the mystery spin of Russell for 82 in the 26th over. Prior to Cunliffe's demise no. 3 Yusuf Qureshi played a strange innings of 2 in as many overs. With the field spread he decided to take them on and was stumped playing a wild swish, more akin to the Grim Reaper, than a talented batsman. In the end it was his loss as every batsman got in and made a score. After getting out Qureshi hit the snake bites, after his shot one wonders whether he had been on the snakebites all morning?

Brian Dixon, Ben Ward and Amit Giri all scored in the 40's in their own inimitable way to lift M & B to an imposing 275 from their allocation. Dixon was quick to use his feet against spinners and was good on the drive and cut. Ward as always was strong on the sweep, slog sweep, cover drive and cut. Using his feet against spinners could be an objective for the winter nets though, as many times he was hampered playing from the crease instead of getting out of his crease. Mr Giri used the last 7 overs for his leg side biffery to the tune of 44no, of which about 2 were on the offside. We have a more productive Barry Wykes on our hands, with less grey hair though.