League Week 8 - 15/16 June 2013

[vj]

4's to play Old Contemptibles Cricket Club at Roseburn on Sunday (16 June)

Team in no particular order

1. Chris West
2. Darryn Kidd
3. Hardeep Singh
4. Jehangir Alum
5. Lewis Mullholand
6. Muzammel Miah
7. Ritesh Gupta
8. Rob Hayward
9. Sandeep Modi
10. Vijay Kumar
11. TBC

Up the Mufs!

[beasty]

2's beat Feuchie Match report

The gospel of captaincy chapter 3 verse 4: “if ye shall terrify lower order batsmen with thunderbolts of wrath and power using all your battery of pace ye shall reap the reward of plenty”.

The poor tailender, instead of batting against part time bowlers, perhaps getting their eye in against some spinners, maybe patting a few back from the medium pacers, oh no, that’s not the way the cricket gods demand it. Instead it always seems that the opening bowler, the best bowler, the fastest bower, the nastiest, meanest, dangerous bowler returns, expecting some easy wickets and making life generally uncomfortable for 9, 10 and Jack.
Of course the yang for this ying is that for a bowling captain, the ability to bring back your opening bowler to finish/blast/demolish the tail is a luxury, nay a joy, nay a commandment.

Against Freuchie, with the Fifers needing 16 to reach their target and 3 wickets left Sommana Chengappa was recalled. A tidy first opening spell spell of 1-12 was followed up by 2 more quick wickets, add a run out and Murrayfield DAFS 2nd XI win by 9 runs. A splendid 2nd spell – Sommana showing great pace, stamina, consistency and a desire to win returned to the attack and became the Mufs “finisher bowler”.

Defending 134 on the Roseburn arti with a fast outfield was a pretty decent effort, Mahesh Sunkari with his first wickets in Div 3 finished with 2-38, including a classic sucker slow ball dismissal. Govind Gelli bowling fast and straight picked up a deserver 3 -24, Bharat Nussum picking up the other wicket with the first ball of his “death bowling spell” and finishing off a good run out off his own bowling.

Mufs captured wickets at regular intervals through the innings, revisiting our lucky huddle spot (the temple of batting doom) 9 times between wickets. Only the 6th and 7th wickets putting on a combined 52 holding the victory charge at bay, until the reintroduction of the rampaging Sommana ended the Fifers brave, but futile resistance.

At the half way stage, that Mufs might be defending 134 featured only in the realms of the truly pessimistic of cricket followers (or indeed any player with Mufs 2 experience). A promising 111 -2 just before drinks looked like it was setting up Muffs for a big 225+ score. Indeed 250 was mentioned. (although that may have been the price of the Orange squash). The cricket gods do not appreciate ideas of grandeur, or as Han Solo put it, “Don’t get thingyy kid”
Skippering Mufs in the 3rd division for the first time since a champagne soaked championship triumph 10 years ago, Richy Sorrell put on 49 with Nadeem Amjum for the first wicket until the first of 3 top order LBW decisions sent Nadeem back to the hutch for 16. Madhu Gaddam playing like a batting god (I’m sure we all know what happened to Salmoneus when he pretended to be a god) and looking completely untroubled, was also, out of the blue, given out LBW for 17 and when Richy left for the highest score in the match, 56, also LBW, the stage, we all thought, was set for a second half run fest of biblical proportions to pulverise the opposition.
It didn’t quite work out like that. After smashing an enormous 6 most of the way to the tram station, Bharat perished for 13 and after that, well not much really.
A comedy run out featuring Finn (not his fault) accounted for Lindsay Towns and a number of shooters done for the rest of the innings. The returning prodigal son Andy Lacey defied his lack of match practice, nets practice or indeed any participation in cricket this year by remaining undefeated at the end. The brave Ian Sheils fresh from having his hand glued back on at the Royal infirmary came out at 11 preparing to face the pain, fortunately for the squeamish amongst us, he missed the dipping ball and got a golden duck.
So a disappointing total of 134 not great but the Muffs bowling heroes ably supported by fielders with the spirit of Laelaps, won the decisive battle.
Terrific team spirit shown by all, well deserved win.

The gospel of Beasty, “Don’t winkle them out, blast em out”.

20 Points and Up the Muffs.

[wheels]

THREEFER CLENCH SIGNS OFF IN STYLE, BUT IT'S MISERY LAGER FOR MEL'S FAREWELL

Melvyn managed to get his name in the paper on his farewell appearance with three wickets at Grange Loan on Saturday, but couldn't prevent MUFS 1s falling to a second successive defeat against joint Division 1 leaders Carlton 2s on Saturday.

Defying a dodgy back/Achilles/knee/other knee/God knows what else, the ageless assassin took the new ball for one final time and should have dismissed Shah in his second over, but Farooq couldn't hold on to the chance at gully. What would once have prompted a Clench eruption led to nothing more than a “hard lines mate”, perhaps fooling the home side into thinking he'd gone soft in his old age.

Not a bit of it: a superbly disguised slower ball uprooted Shah's middle peg, and when the umpire's raised finger signalled the end of Everett, Melvyn's deafening roar shattered glass in the Blackford Hill observatory and led to the precautionary evacuation of a nearby old people's home.

At the other end, Sam (0-18) bowled tidily without luck, as MUFS' fielding standards dropped from the fine efforts of recent weeks, and Maggy's arm for once failed to strike gold in a spell of 0-15. Asif replaced Mel and removed the powerful Crowther for 26, calmly caught at deep square by Adnan to leave the hosts 70 for 3.

Jasir (0-15) and Tom (0-21) came on but couldn't find a breakthrough, and it was Farooq, the third of MUFS' non-identical spin triplets, who finally dismissed the obdurate Macpherson, caught and bowled for 32. But the hosts continued to accumulate runs while keeping wickets in hand, and looked set for an all-out assault in the final ten overs.

But they reckoned without Neil “Sixth Change” Yelland, held back until the 37th over in a successful attempt to stir him into the sort of rage he normally reserves for trips north of the Forth Bridge. With the score at 158 for 4, Yelly had Wells caught by Sam for 39; and when Luke ran out Elder for 1 with a direct hit, then stumped Ahmed off Farooq (9-0-25-2) for a duck, three wickets had fallen for one run and it was suddenly advantage MUFS.

Young all-rounder Allardice – rumoured to be the second shortest player in East League cricket after Taz – played well for an unbeaten 12 as the hosts eked out 28 for the eighth wicket, before the returning Melvyn had skipper Newman caught by Jaz at the top of the hill for 31. (This dismissal, incidentally, demonstrated the considerable advantage of boundary fielders ACTUALLY FIELDING ON THE CHUFFING BOUNDARY LIKE THEY WERE TOLD TO. Just saying.)

Yelly (2-31) picked up a second wicket in the final over of the innings, claiming Rittoo LBW without scoring, leaving the home side 194 for 9 off their 50 overs – round about par on a slow, turning track, but more than they would have made if our bowling and fielding had been as consistent as they'd been earlier in the season.

The chase could hardly have started worse, with two wickets falling in the second over, bowled by Ahmed. Asif edged his first ball to slip, then Farooq feathered one to keeper Wells for a duck to leave us 1 for 2. But Luke and Adnan knuckled down and put on a sensibly compiled 55 for the third wicket before Adnan attempted to sweep Allardice and was plumb LBW for 28.

Jaz batted fluently for 15 before falling in the first over after drinks, clipping Rittoo's bowling firmly but uppishly to Ahmed; and when we lost the crucial wicket of Luke, LBW to the same bowler for 35, we were 95 for 5 and the balance of the game had changed.

Maggy also fell to Rittoo (3-38), trapped LBW on the back foot for 7, leaving us 111 for 6, before Batman and Sam took the attack back to the Carlton bowlers with some brilliant straight hitting. The target was below 50, and we were daring to hope once again when Sam was caught by Wells off the returning Ahmed (3-20) for an excellent 37.

The end, when it arrived, came swiftly and horribly. Batman was well caught by McKay at short midwicket off Elder for 20; Melvyn called a tight single to point off his first ball, perhaps forgetting that Tom's acceleration is not exactly Lamborghini-esque, and a smart piece of work from keeper Wells ran him out for 1; and Yelly sthingyed his first ball straight up in the air to end the innings on 156, for a 38 run defeat.

In some ways, this was even more gutting than our one-wicket defeat the previous week. Against Holy Cross, we battled well on a treacherous pitch, and it took some very fine and smart cricket to beat us. The margin of defeat may have been larger here; but had we maintained the same standard of performance from the Cross game, we'd have been sending Mel on his travels with 20 points to celebrate.

As it was, we had to send him off on Sunday with 20 pints instead – not a bad consolation I suppose, but a pity it had to be misery lager rather than victory beer. Still, he must surely have developed a taste for it after all these years.

All the very best mate, and thanks for everything: the years of service to the club, the excellent company, the fantastic new hand-made trophies, the countless boozing sessions, the trademark on-field fury – and last but not least, all the incredibly funny but utterly unrepeatable comments.

Send us a postcard – and perhaps a snake hammer – and come back and see us sometime.