Cricket: Result Sets Up Vital September Clash
Ten long months after being on the wrong end of a thrilling climax to leave them trailing the MRG by two matches to one, Richard Poustie’s BMRB XI finally had the opportunity to gain revenge yesterday evening. And they were given an early boost with the news that the two Nicks, Wiggin & Hiddleston, who destroyed them in the last fixture, would not be present in the MRG line up this time around.
Batting first in tropically humid conditions, an early mix up ensured that opener Bunyan would not have to spend long toiling in the heat, as he was run out without scoring. After making steady progress opening partner Laurence was the first of three quick wickets (including skipper Poustie) which saw BMRB go from 28-1 to 46-4 at the halfway stage. Some desperately-needed positive batting followed until Bowden (24) was victim of a nifty bit of stumping by our wicketkeeper ‘Sumo’ at 93 from 16 overs. David Whitelam joined Richard Silman at the crease and they provided a strong finish to the innings. Thanks to their impressively clean hitting BMRB had added another 100 from the second ten overs – Whitelam ending unbeaten on 25, and Silman top-scoring with 44 not out.
After the quick fall of the opening wicket, Andy Brown dismissing Murly Tiwari, I went in to join Sean Dromgoole at the crease and was privileged to witness some aesthetically pleasing shots before he holed out for 20. Enter Derek Jones as my new batting partner and for the next 10 overs the MediaTel combination was actually managing to keep the MRG run rate above the par which BMRB had set. This was thanks to some very swift running between the wickets (although I was cautious not to take extreme chances – the consequences of running out your boss can be grave). There followed some, shall we say, ‘frustrating’ bowling – the worst example of which saw one delivery pitch halfway down the wicket and pea-roll towards me (had I not walked down the pitch to block it I’m not convinced it would have reached the stumps). Eventually skipper DJ was caught for 33 with the score on 93 after 15 overs in a crucial breakthrough. Although the finale featured a couple of nicely hit sixes from Geoff Wicken (19), wickets fell rapidly at the end and thanks to some fine bowling we could not match the rate at which BMRB’s match-winners Silman and Whitelam had finished to set the target of 147.
During the post-match drinks with sausage, chips and beans, I was witness to some rumours (which I cannot confirm) that the MRG had deliberately lost this game, thus leaving the scores at 2 matches each, in order that the next one (scheduled for 2 September) would be more interesting. Evidence presented to me included the odd absence of the two Nicks (Hiddleston suffering a strange last minute ‘back injury’) and feelings of pity for BMRB after the last game (“You wanna give them something to play for, don’t you?” said an anonymous source). One MRG member pondered whether this was behind the reasoning for Peter Bowman and Jon Wilkins’ failure to even show…
The ‘deliberate’ setting-up of the September game now sees the fixture being the one which decides just who will be Champions of the Millennium…