Sunday XI versus Chelsea Nomads - 11th August 2013

M & B ran out convincing winners on Sunday by the grand margin of 176 runs over Chelsea Nomads. Skipper Armstrong had no hesitation in batting upon winning the toss, which is the normal Sunday way, albeit in the end M & B did have the better of the wicket.

With the early wicket of Saquib Qureshi and only 22 on the board after 9 overs, Armstrong was thinking that 200 may possibly be a good score, especially bearing in mind the 1st X1 won with 158 on the same wicket the previous day. Armstrong need not have worried though, as his Sunday "tour de force", Raoul Cheema was again to the fore. Despite hitting 2 4's in the first over he took his time and built his innings playing each ball on it's merits. As the opening bowlers tired and the change bowlers came on more loose balls appeared and they were punished. Cheema as always was quick to drive anything both sides of the wicket as well as cut effortlessly and pull anything short of a length. On this occasion though the batting did nor rely solely on Cheema as the previous days batting hero, 17 year old George Parsons, more than helped out with the scoring, scoring all round the wicket with drives wristy flicks and belligerent pulls. In the end the second wicket stand yielded 139 in 22 overs to give the side a sold platform of basically 150 with 14 overs to go. The only surprise was that Cheema was eventually bowled for 83 attempting to cut a ball which appeared to keep low. After batting 26 overs his teammates thought he was booked in for bed and breakfast!

Unfortunately the demise of Cheema did not lead to a stem in the run scoring as the wicket brought to the crease the aggressive Cameron Jacobsen. From ball one he rotated the strike or hit fluently through leg in the mid-on region, mainly choosing to loft the ball. With Jacobsen at the wicket and Parsons in full flow 93 was added for the third wicket in 10 overs. Parsons eventually fell for a round 100, making him the top scorer in both games he had played in over the weekend. Poor timing on Parsons part though as he departs for his two week holiday to Turkey seeing the ball like a beach ball and no doubt returning seeing it like a golf ball !

The game saw the return of M & B's own jovial Aussie and former 1st team captain Luke Dobson, after a four year break, alas he didn't manage to trouble the scorers but hopefully he enjoyed it enough to put in a few more appearances this season and possibly more regularly next season. In the end M & B ran up 266 for 5 in their 40 over allocation, which had seemed along way away after the first 9 overs. Jacobsen ended up with an excellent 61no during his 14 over stay.

Although M & B were confident defending 266 anything was possible, especially as last Sunday's game was tied at 247. Despite Chelsea Nomads getting away to a reasonable start posting 26 in good time opening bowler Joe Blackett had other ideas, as he bowled the opener and caused problems continually during his excellent spell of 6/1/10/1. Probably his most controlled spell on Sunday of the season and indeed unlucky to only bag one victim. Fellow opening bowler Ambar Moorty bowled a few loose balls early up but grew into his spell to end up with good figures of 8/0/33/2, bowling both of his victims. His first wicket probably provided a fair reflection of the wicket in the second innings, as the ball kept low, or began to perform like The Jam - going underground ! Although the state of the wicket hadn't really played a part at the toss by batting first M & B had had by far the better of the wicket. For all intents and purposes the game was effectively over once Chris Butler snared the dangerous looking Sharland in his first over to leave Chelsea Nomad at 47 for 4, with all their main batsmen gone. Butler then proceeded to move his way through the lower order with his cunning use of flight and turn to finish with figures of 8/2/21/4, a season's best. He was aided in the dismantling of the lower order by skipper Matt Armstrong who got a wicket in his first over courtesy of a well snaffled catch at first slip by Jacobsen. Armstrong's full length and accuracy aided by the low bounce made scoring difficult and in the end he was able to improve his season's averages by recording figures of 6/2/9/3 as the Chelsea nomads were eventually dismissed for 90 in 28 overs , with extras top scoring by 11 with a total of 24 !