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There can be fewer more attractive places to play cricket than Mitford on a still, hazy mid-summer's evening. Nestling in the still countryside west of Morpeth, a church spire part-shrouded in the trees, and hayfields surrounding the ground, the bucolic atmosphere could have been depicted by Constable.
The whole thing must have gone to the skipper's head as after three balls someone pointed out that CCC had 12 players on the pitch. Someone else informed the skipper that it was traditional for cricket teams to only field 11 men. Proudy gallantly fell on his sword and stepped down after the shortest ever CCC debut, which, as two of Abra's first three deliveries were wides, had technically lasted only one ball. Proudy's chance will come...
The very next ball Abra found his line and the batsman edged to Greg, who was to have an evening where the ball seemed magnetically attracted to his gloves. Abra went on to take 5-4 from his 4 overs, which bearing on mind two of those runs were the aforementioned wides, was some haul. Everyone else chipped in with decent fielding, and Danny, Guy and Aly (3-28) carried the bowling attack, bowling the hosts out for 83 from 15.2 overs.
84 was a challenging target on such a bowler's paradise; a ground that sloped side to side and end to end, with a sticky wicket in the middle. However, in the absence of several key batsmen the players charged with the responsibility batted sensibly, keeping out the straight ones and dispatching the wide ones. Danny (13), Peter (18), Greg (21) and Mudassar (18 not out) all made contributions, with Mudassar producing another sublime/ridiculous innings which saw one ball fly over the clubhouse into the hayfield. CCC achieved their target from 15.2 overs - almost perfect symmetry, and proceeded to the pub in the village with the opposition, one of the friendlier teams in the league.
CCC 9 Mitford 1
Team: Danny, Peter, Greg, Mudassar, Abra, Simon E, Alasdair, Guy, Stuart, Matty, Cliff, and er... Proudy
CAP 'N DUCK
The Cap was a straight fight between Peter and Greg for all round excellent displays. Peter won it for a superb diving catch at point and an intelligent 18 which demonstrated how much he has matured as a batsman in recent weeks.
Despite nominations for Mudassar (banter and tradition's sake) and Guy (crimes against catching, self-election as vice captain) the duck went to Simon E for selecting, AND STARTING THE GAME with, 12 players
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