11/05/2024
MIMCC: 206/5 (40)
Carmel 2s: 115/8 (40)
MIMCC win by 91 runs
After the bank holiday washout away at Dolgellau, the sun finally came out over the Argoed for Saturday’s opening home fixture against Carmel.
Continuing a rich vein of form from last season, the skipper once again lost the toss, and MIMCC were invited to have a bat on wicket which looked like it had the potential to be an Argoed special (green, moist, and full of surprises). Apples and Siv opened the batting and straightaway it looked like our worst fears about the wicket were going to come true. Every ball was sticking in the pitch to the point of leaving an indentation, and the low and slow bounce made batting very difficult.
Thankfully both openers exorcised their duck demons from Monday and put on an opening stand of 25 before Apples was out caught in the leg side. There was some suggestion that the highly respected and sagacious umpire who was standing at the time of this dismissal should have called a no ball on the wicket taking delivery. However, on review DRS showed that the decision was entirely correct. It should also be noted that chasing after a ball which fails to land on the cut strip is not exactly encouraged in the MCC coaching manual. (At this point I would like to reiterate that it is the editorial policy of this publication that all complaints about accounts of the game be addressed to the Hon Secretary).
Apples’ correctly adjudicated dismissal brought to Abs to the crease to join Siv. Once both batters had had a chance to get used to the slowness of the pitch, runs started to flow. The partnership had passed 50 before Abs was caught behind, bringing Jay to the crease. Siv was now upping the rate and notched MIMCC’s first half century of the season, eventually departing for 60. Aryaman, who had been top scorer in the Dolgellau Deluge, was unlucky to suffer a leg injury taking a quick single early in his innings, meaning that Dave had to come out to run for him. Aryaman soldiered on on one leg for 9 before being bowled, and was followed by Jay for 14, also bowled. However, with about 10 overs to go we were already in a strong position at 140/5.
Then came the Saboor and Dave show to push us past 200, which is an excellent score anytime on the Argoed pitch; but is unprecedented this early in the season. Both batters scored at more than a run a ball to close the innings on 206/5, Saboor finishing with 39no and Dave with 19no.
Xavier Tras also had a good day with a score of 34, which went some way to explaining why the second innings didn’t commence until 4.45pm…..
Dave and Naseer opened the bowling, and although the pitch was becoming easier to bat on, Carmel’s openers struggled to score at anywhere near the required rate. The pressure eventually told as Jonty came on first change and picked up the breakthrough. By now Naseer had sorted his run up out (which is definitely the longest run up in the history of the club) and was starting to trouble the batsmen with his pace. His first wicket for the club came courtesy of a catch (with associated 4 stage juggle) by Niall at point, and a second soon followed clean bowled, to leave him with final figures of 2-18 off his 8 overs. Dave came back for a second spell and, in tandem with Jay at the other end, restricted the scoring to the point that it became apparent soon after drinks that Carmel were playing for points rather than the win. Strike bowler Jonty came back to pick up 2 more wickets, finishing with remarkable figures of 7-5-9-3 including a caught and bowled in which he demonstrated a deep mistrust of Abs’ catching ability……
Saboor came into the attack at the far end and opened his account for the club in the wickets column, dismissing their opener (who had been the only Carmel batsman to offer any real resistance with a half century) caught in the deep by Jonty. 2 more wickets followed, one bowled, and one caught and bowled, with Saboor ultimately matching Jonty’s 3-9.
Carmel did eventually manage to sneak past 106 to give them a single point. But 14-1 was a very nice win indeed. Some excellent performances all round and lots of encouraging signs for the coming season.
All that was left to do was to put the ground away. The outfield mower unfortunately had other ideas. Having had its fuel tank filled with waste diesel by persons unknown, it broke down on the outfield and refused to budge. Having to push it back into the container was an unwelcome early season team building exercise after 80 overs of cricket, but we eventually got it most of the way there. The ramp into the container did prove a bridge too far; but thankfully Pete Ford popped up to the ground the next day and finished the job all by himself.
Pictured: Pete Ford shortly after pushing the outfield mower (weight 889 kilos without mower deck or fuel[1]) into the container.
[1] https://www.deere.co.uk/en/commercial-mowing/front-rotary-mowers/1570/