Sunday XI v Kensington - 27th May 2013

After a three week break the Sunday X1 were back out, albeit on a Monday! The wait was worthwhile as the sun was out and the pitch was hard, for a change. After losing the toss, skipper Armstrong, assumed he would be in the field but was pleasantly surprised when the opposition captain asked him to bat. With a strong top 3 on paper Armstrong was looking for a big score but opening bowler Roy had other ideas, he had George Parsons caught behind and castled Yusuf Qureshi to leave M&B at 10-2 after four overs. Luckily 1st skipper Tom Wilding decided to take root as did number 4 Joe Knowles. The pair batted for 25 overs to post a partnership of 113, the lions share scored by Wilding. His 73 consisted of 11 4's and a 6, laced with his trademark drives and pulls. Although a lesser score perhaps Knowles' innings was the better of the two based upon the fewer chances given and the batsman's perceived lack of class. Joe was very obdurate early on scoring around 25 in 20 overs, but no matter at whichever level you play, the longer you stay at the crease the easier it becomes and Knowles increased the tempo later on to carry his bat for an excellent 56no. His main scoring areas were drives through the cover regions and guides down through the point gully region. Special mention must go to Baz Wykes, who was playing his first game of the season, who smoked a brisk 24 out of a partnership of 30 in 5 overs, to give the innings impetus at the end, powerful straight and through cow, his golf lessons are obviously strightening him out ! In the end 184 from the full 40 overs was very acceptable given the score was 26-2 after 10.

Due to a lack of bowling Armstrong decided to take the new cherry for a change and was rewarded with a wicket second ball. The opening batsmen chasing a wide loose delivery which was pouched by Wilding. However the spell of the day came from Atif Amin who was asked to both open the bowling and also run into a gale! Amin responded brilliantly to produce a spell of 8/2/17/1, which was backed up by Armstrong with 8/1/32/1. After 16 overs Armstrong called upon his spin twins, the senior Chris Butler and the junior Thomas Allen(GT). Butler didn't bowl at his best and was on this occasion out bowled by GT who grabbed an early wicket by getting the opposton captain, Ghosh, to hit wicket, whilst attempting to cut. Although he bowled well a few loose balls at each end allowed Menan to up the tempo and keep Kensington in the game. In the end GT finished with the good figures of 8/0/35/3, which made up for his poor fielding performance which including missing a dolly off Qureshi. The dropped catch off his bowling summed Qureshi's day up at he followed his duck with an horrendous 3 over spell of 3/0/33/1 which included 5 lots of 5 wides(which must be record). He did though bowl Mehan for 60, one of the few deliveries which was on target! The extras though and the short spell by Nadgouda in the end gave the game to Kensington by 3 wickets with a few overs to spare.