12/07/2025
MIMCC – 164/9 (40 overs)
Ruthin 2s – 130ao (36.4 overs)
MIMCC win by 34 runs
https://nwcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/6817765
Skipper’s Match Report – by William Webster
First of all, apologies to my loyal readership for the lack of match report last week. Having shelled the chance which would have won us the game, my appetite to spend time staring at the scorecard and trying to think of witty and interesting things to say about it was limited….
However, all that was in the past as MIMCC travelled to Ruthin looking to arrest the recent run of poor form on a baking hot day.
The skipper won the toss (his second win as many weeks…!) and, despite a bit of a green tinge to the pitch, elected to bat. This decision was influenced more by the fact that we only had 3 players present at toss, rather than any considerations about the deck. Ruthin’s attack, made up of a combination of youth players and wise old hands didn’t make it easy for us. Runs were not coming easily, and wickets started to fall at regular intervals. Umang top scored with a measured knock of 45, but other than Aryaman (13), Deepak (15), and the skipper (12), nobody got out of single figures.
All this would change at the fall of the 9th wicket, which brought together Vinay and Naseer, with MIMCC in a whole load to trouble at 110-9. Cue the fireworks. Vinay was holding an end, playing some classical shots and making batting look straightforward in a way that the rest of us hadn’t really been able to do. At the other end Naseer, to quote the Hon Sec, ‘went berserk’ – flaying the ball to all parts of the ground. The partnership was 54 off 7, with Vinay finishing 17no and Naseer ending up with 33no at a strike rate of 137 and smashing the final ball of the innings for 6.
164/9 off our 40 overs. A superb effort by Vinay and Naseer to drag us back from the brink and give us a total to bowl at.
After tea, the skipper turned to the heroes with the bat to take the new ball, hoping that the momentum from their innings would carry over into early wickets. Unfortunately this wasn’t quite the case first up, and although Ruthin were not scoring at any great rate, wickets proved elusive.
Deepak and Umang came on as first change, and things started to happen. Ruthin’s opener drilled one to Abs at short cover, and couldn’t quite believe that the chance was taken. A few overs later Umang got their Skipper to edge one to slip where yours truly was just about able to hold on. 61-2 soon became 62-3 as Deepak picked up another wicket bowled – ultimately finishing his 8 overs with 2-24. Jonty came into the attack and picked up 2 wickets, both bowled. Thankfully Pete Ford was only a spectator this week so his eyeballs were safe from the Hon Sec’s wicket celebrations.
At this point Ruthin, clearly feeling they didn’t have much batting left, were starting to throw the bat and the score pushed past 100. At his own insistence, the Hon Sec was removed from the attack and replaced by Umang returning for a second spell, who proceeded to pick up the key wicket of Ruthin’s leading batter caught behind by Venkat. Spirits were now running high, and this was clearly causing a disturbance to the local residents and wildlife as the skipper was informed by his opposition counterpart that he was being ‘too loud’. It is always encouraging when players who have to stand as umpires in games seek to better themselves by taking umpiring qualification exams – although I wonder if there might have been some kind of administrative error at the ECB in Ruthin’s case and they had up taking the snooker referee’s exam instead.
Pictured: Ruthin CC
Against this level of noise (which would have made the MCG on the first day of an Ashes test look like a vicar’s tea party) it was hardly surprising that a mix up between the wickets soon followed and Vinay was able to run out their keeper.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Aryaman was on a bunny hunt – picking up the last two wickets to finish with figures of 2-16 and see us home for victory.
A much-improved fielding and bowling performance to get us back to winning ways. A chance to do the double over Ruthin in a couple of weeks at home, in a game where complimentary earplugs will be provided.
Editor’s Note: it has to be added that Wicketkeeper Sundaram has turned into Rishabh Pant (keeping and not batting!) and was heard merrily sledging the batsmen with various witticisms. However he quickly got bored of sledging the Ruthin batsmen so instead sledged his own bowlers. When one of our quality bowlers took out a Ruthin batsman with what was described by Naseer as ‘the perfect ball’, Wicketkeeper Sundaram quickly informed the bowler that the ball was in fact ‘utterly shit’ and ‘a really, really terrible ball’ that the batsman would have been traumatised by. At other times he asked the bowlers to try and bowl straight. Has S.Pugh been coaching our wicketkeepers?