Sunday XI versus Gravely - 2nd June 2013

M&B put their disappointing Saturday results to one side as they convincingly beat Gravely by 149 runs at Bray. M&B were bolstered by Will Ballantyne and a couple of the 1's batters as, Gravely were captained by one of Will's family friends. That said after being put in Ballantyne wasn't very friendly as he took out his run of low scores on Saturday by batting the full 40 overs as a show of friendship !

That said the opening bowlers bowled a fairly decent spell with only 36 coming off the first 10 overs. Indeed the first wicket to fall was that of Adam Dean for a leg side compiled 26 in the 15th over with the score at 67. Little did Gravely know that that would be the last wicket they would get! Again at drinks at the 20th over the score was still 100-1, admittingly with only 1 wicket down and 2 batters now in, but it is rare for for both to see their innings through. The advantage of wickets in hand showed, as the final 20 overs yielded 209 runs and the last ten 129 !

Ballantyne seemed determined to show his mate that he could bat and looked solid from the outset to see off the pacey Smith in his opening spell, stroking the ball through the covers. As his innings progressed he began to expand his driving and late cuts. Perhaps the main feature of Will's innings was his running between the wickets, whether it be quick singles or the 2's and 3's. His innings consisted of 17 4's and he showed great patience and fitness throughout to end with a 140 no which was his highest score for M&B and probably a career best.

Will's partner in crime for the majority of the innings was colt George Parsons, who was glad his father didn't turn up, to put the kiss of death to his innings ! George, being Harrow schooled, has always shown impeccable technique on his driving and again this came to the fore along with his flick / turns to the leg. Again after a few low scores for the club he was pleased to get time at the crease and as so often happens, the longer you bat the easier it becomes ! George accumulated 46 in his first 15 overs and 64 in the last ten. George was cajoled to run hard between the wickets by Will, as his normal gait is one of running through treacle with the turning circle of the QE2! In the end George ended with an excellent 110 no which contained 14 4's and was I believe his first century for M&B? In the end the bare facts were an undefeated 2nd wicket partnership of 242 in 25 overs, pity it wasn't in the league, c'est la vie!

Obviously with 309 on the board Armstrong could set attacking fields but in the end the slips and gullies were superfluous, as the timbers were skittled on 8 occasions, of which 4 were by opening bowler Arul Appavoo. Arul has all the attributes, being tall and bowling left arm, but too often he flatters to deceive. This time though was obviously his day as his final analsis of 8/1/27/4 suggest. He bowled very few bad balls for a change and for the majority of the time bowled the ball in the correct areas and beat the batsmen with movement both into and away from the batsmen to continually breach their defences. He wa backed up by his new ball partner Joesph Blackett who bowled a good away swing line, albeit too wide and short on occasions. He had his skipper to thank for pouching a full blooded dive to bring Blackett his sole success. The other main bowling beneficiary was Atif Amin, who finished with figures of 5.3/1/17/3, with all his wickets coming courtesy of away swing bullseyes. As Simon Ball didn't get a bat Armstrong allowed him to bowl and pick up his first senior wicket with his inswingers. Gravely skipper Stuart Murphy finished undefeated with a solid 39.