Sunday XI v Taplow 13th August 2017

A late cancellation by regular opponents, Chelsea Nomads, led to a hastily arranged game with local club Taplow on Sunday. Probably the first time M & B have played Taplow in a club game, other than a Julian Cup game, for perhaps 40 years? Skipper Armstrong had no hesitation in batting and openers Blair King and Josh Wallace opened the innings, carrying on from their partnership the previous day in the 2's. Newman and another Qureshi, off the production line, opened the bowling for Taplow. This one Farhan, nephew of Squashi and cousin of Yusuf. Taplow bowled tightly as M & B found boundaries hard to come by. First to go was King caught for 14 in the 8th over with 24 on board. This brought Jai Chopra to the wicket, playing his first game of the season, and possibly his only game. Together with Wallace they combined to add 46 in 14 overs, mainly in singles and the odd boundary. Wallace took a liking to Wigmore hitting his short ball through widish mid-on on three occasions. Although keen to rotate the strike good fielding by Pulsford resulted in the dismissal of Chopra with a direct hot. Worse was to follow for M & B as star batsman Will Cunliffe hit a full toss back to Wigmore first ball and trudged off disconcertingly, to leave M &B at 70 for 3 at drinks in the 20th over. Tin man Amin was pinned on the crease by a nip backer from Pulsford and was LBW for 2. Josh Wallace went through for a well deserved 50, which included 6 4's, following his maiden hundred for the club the previous day, before being dismissed for 51, to leave M & B 113 for 5 after 31 overs. M & B at this stage were looking at an under par score of between 145 -160. Sensible batting from Gunbarul and Swappy Manchanda gradually increased M & B's expectations. Manchanda was happy to rotate the strike and leave the bulk of the scoring to Gunbarul. After a slow start Gunbarul took advantage of the attacking fields hitting over mid on and widish mid on, with the occasional cut and sweep thrown in. Gunbarul raced to a half century and eventually finished on a superb 65no, courtesy of 5 4's and 2 6's. Equally important though was Manchanda's 15no, which included 1 whipped boundary through midwicket as the 6th wicket pair added 73 in 9 overs to leave M & B on a respectable 186 for 5 off their 40 overs albeit a fraction under par.

15 year old Krish Vaja and Gunbarul opened the bowling for M & B. Vaja started strongly with a fine maiden. Opener and opposing Skipper Dale Barton showed his hand early with his first scoring shot a fluent shot through midwicket, showing his preference for the legside. Vaja's remaining 4 overs didn't match his first as he bowled a few too many full tosses and struggled with his length. Gunbarul was as accurate as ever but was unable to make a breakthrough. The Taplow openers saw off M & B's opening bowlers to post 47 after 10 overs. Armstrong turned to his trusty spin twins, Butler & Allen to try and find a breakthrough. Thomas Allen managed to make that breakthrough courtesy of a custard pie(short ball) hit to short midwicket and another breakthrough a couple of overs later with a flighted delivery, to leave Taplow still well placed at 86 for2 after 20 overs. Armstrong bowled out his spinners, who were unable to make any further inroads as Barton carried on his merry legside way with the odd offside shot thrown in. Although Armstrong had a stiff calf he brought himself on and managed to amble to the wicket and bowl a few tidy overs. In his third over he was able to snaffle a wicket courtesy of a fine catch low down by Chopra to dismiss opener Barton for a well made 82 in the 31st over, which included 9 4's . In his 4th over Armstrong trapped Court lbw, with one which kept low, to keep the game finely balanced at 152 for 4 after 33 overs. Alas the pain was becoming too much and Armstrong had to take himself out of the attack after 4 overs 2 for 12. In his place Gunbarul returned to finish from the Road End with Manchanda on at the River End. A run out of Atherton in the 36 th over led to Taplow requiring 24 off the last 4 overs. The extra pace of Gunbarul and some short deliveries from Manchanda allowed Taplow to get home with 10 balls to spare as Pulford and Newman batted sensibly. An enjoyable game though between two local sides.