The 4th XI game at Linden Park (LP) on Saturday marked the beginning of the second half of the season. Our first game against LP at home had been cancelled owing to a washout weekend for the entire league, so we were facing an unfamiliar side, having never had LP in our league, certainly not for the past 7 seasons that this author has played for MCC.

We had a stand-in Captain this week, in the form of Simon Nicklin, as regular Skipper Vosloo was on holiday and selection had been tricky with regards to availability, so Rohit Maini had been asked to come down from London to play for us once again. Nicklin’s ability to win the toss was as dextrous as Vosloo’s (I’m sure there is an adult joke in there somewhere) so we were at the mercy of LP who not surprisingly put us in to bat. Something we would have done too given the overcast conditions.

MCC started slowly due to some tight seam bowling which meant after 3 overs we had scored 1 run, a wide; but soon Cooke found his eye and despatched a couple of loose balls to the boundary, one in particular caught the eye, a beautiful Rootesque cover drive.

Unfortunately, however Stillwell fell 2nd ball caught in the slips from a top edge off the splice and this started another, somewhat familiar mini collapse of our top order. Dave Sharma was quickly back in the hutch having added just 7, and Josh Hughes even quicker caught behind second delivery for 1.

Following a 45-minute hiatus for rain & lightening, the match was now reduced to 35 overs each and Rohit & Chapman were now at the crease needing a bit of a partnership, however LP having now reverted to their off-spinner quickly claimed Chapman’s off stump for 2, bringing Capt Nicklin in at 7. Sporting a variety of injuries Simon soon added another one, pulling a side muscle swiping for a short ball resulting in an injury that would eventually lead to him not being able to play on. He was bowled a few deliveries later for 10 more than likely due to his inability to move.

2 Colts followed to support Rohit who was moving along nicely including a 6 that even the oppo were impressed with as it cleared the boundary by about 30m. Jack Jervis added a quick 12 runs & Ralph Treherne a worthy 20, either side of Rohit getting his 50 then being trapped LBW (54) possibly due to a bit of tiredness as well as misjudgement of a pie thrown down by LP’s skipper. 7 runs were added by Wickham & Eates in the last over but a defendable but very low score of 141 was posted after our 35 overs.

Captain Nicklin decided to try something new by opening with mystery spin from Eates, the premise being that the openers might be desiring some pace-on bowling and might be frustrated having to do the work themselves. The experiment didn’t work unfortunately & they quickly got the cut of Eates’s jib, so reversion to pace was required. Unfortunately, that didn’t really work either as the openers pushed the score to a very healthy 80/90 before the fall of the first wicket.

Nigel Iverson had very kindly and with the permission of the oppo, stepped in to cover for the injured Nicklin, who could not play on. It was on the condition he did not bowl; we resisted the temptation to tell them that they would probably be better off if he did bowl!!
Stillwell then added to the injury list as a pulled groin muscle before he began his 4th over took him virtually out of the game as well. Cooke then pulled a hamstring so it was like something out of Carry on Doctor.

Rohit added to his Man-of-the-Match performance with the bat by taking a couple of wickets with his leggies but the damage was done and LP reached their target with 8.3 overs & 6 wkts to spare, maintaining their already strong grip on the top of the league.

MCC are clinging on to 5th place but it is not all doom & gloom; we do have 3 games in a row now, against teams below us including the bottom 2 and a special mention goes to Josh Hughes, whose fielding was of an exceptional standard this week; keep it up Joshy.
Fred Eates