JUG ANYONE?

With a week full of rain threatening to make it P3 NR3 for TMCC 3's in Div 8B, full credit must be given to the opposition for getting the ground ‘match-ready’ on the morning of.

Set in the picturesque hills of Dunstable, a slightly delayed start meant a reduced affair of 37 overs a side. The early battle of the toss was won by the Dunstable skipper, and with grey clouds overhead and a fresh green deck, the decision to put TMCC into bat first looked like a no-brainer!

VC George’s arrival 10 mins before the start of the play (which may earn him the first fine of the season) meant a late reshuffle of the top-order and bought back the familiar opening partnership of Eklavya and Ahsan. The opening pair were off to a quick start with Ahsan clattering the young opener for 3 boundaries in his first over leaving TMCC 16-0 from the first 2 overs.

But oh, how quick fortunes can change… A lofted drive straight down the throat of mid-off and a dubious LBW decision removed X and Ahsan respectively in the same over, now 19-2 off 5. In came George at no.3 who showed some promise with an early boundary before falling in similar fashion to X, TMCC now 29-3 from 9.

A long way still to go and up stepped young Bilal Hassan and the experienced Simon Durban, who went about rebuilding the innings, and slowly but surely, the runs started to flow. At 89-3 after 20 overs, the 4th wicket pairing began to pile on the runs with some sweetly timed drives down the ground, clean hitting, and a few audacious scoops by Bilal that AB de Villiers himself would be proud of.

Both batsmen raced past 50 in a game-changing 4th wicket partnership of 110, taking us to 139-3 from 26 overs. Crisis averted!

Heading into the last 10 overs saw Bilal and Simon eventually depart for 57 and 50 respectively, both showing what a force they will be this year in the middle order. An outstanding knock from both, rescuing what could have been a difficult afternoon’s cricket. A slight wobble in the lower order saw some come and go, and impressive cameos from the young pair of Rishab and Eddie, who scored 21 and 17 respectively, were invaluable in helping post a very commendable first innings total of 191 all out from our 37 overs.

With runs on the board, the new ball was in the hands of the new firm - Jonny and Steve. 2 early wickets from Steve, trapping the no.2 bat plumb in front and an outstanding Gilchrist-esque diving catch from Clive to get rid of the young no.3, gave us the start we dreamed of, leaving Dunstable 9-2 from 4 overs.

Jonny continued to steam in down the hill and keep things economical, whilst Steve continued to roll back the years and rip through the rest of the Dunstable top order with two 1-wicket-maidens, including a hooping out-swinger clipping the top of off in typical Mr S.Lyall fashion – Dunstable now 26-4 from 10.

TMCC in the driving seat, skipper Ahsan rang the changes bringing Eklavya and Eddie Curtis into the attack. Eklavya, known for his stump-to-stump darts (not off-spin as he may have you to believe), was quickly rewarded with a faint edge from the no.6 into the safe hands of Clive behind. Eddie very swiftly followed suit, removing the no.5 and no.8 bats, the former with a great low catch by Bilal at square leg.

Dunstable now 49-7, the finish line was in sight, or so we thought….

A brief yet commendable resistance led by oppo skipper H.Wright and no.9 bat R.Joshi took Dunstable to 97-7 before H.Wright tried driving Rishab for one too many and was safely caught at mid-off by George.

With Steve back into the attack, and eagerly searching for that coveted 5th wicket, the Dunstable tail were putting up a resilient defence…that was until the 3rd ball of his final over when a thick outside edge from the no.10 was safely pouched by Nikeal at backward point, giving Steve a well-deserved five-fer and final figures of 8-3-30-5.

Now 9 down, and keen to wrap up the afternoon’s events, Ahsan turned to Jonny and Nikeal to clean up the tail. With Nikeal drying the runs up at one end with his well-flighted spin, Jonny continued to steam in and pepper the tail-enders. A mixture of runs square of the wicket and some lucky edges took the no.9 bat onto a hard-fought 53 before a thick edge off the bowling of Jonny was snapped up by Nikeal at backward point to close the afternoon’s proceedings. Dunstable 125 all out from 30.2 overs.

A great start to our delayed season with some new and old faces, and what we hope is a sign of the great things to come for this team – A truly all-round team performance with everyone contributing with either bat, ball or in the field.

Thanks to all who played and came to watch, and an honourable mention to Bob Chandler for making the journey to umpire.