Match Overview:
CCB Batting XI – 177/10 – Bharath 50 (77) P.Bowes 3-8, J. Kantors Foot 1 Run Out
MCC XI – 162/9 – M.Hoeck 51 (64), V.Bhatia 36 (70)
On a cold, 9-degree, April afternoon the MCC were to be pitted against CCB, two teams who had fought it out last season in the Verbandsliga for a vital position in the Bundesliga. MCC had been victorious, ergo ‘Grudge match’. As usual, only 4 members of the MCC team were punctual at 1130 with the remainder stumbling in in dribs and drabs, the collective XI finally coming together circa 1155. During the set up we had been informed that the T20 XI playing to the west of Munich had been victorious in their first game, Glückwünsch!
Captain for the day, Prafulla ‘Praf’ Toke, sporting a new line of ‘Customised Sports Trousers’ lost the toss and was asked to bowl first. It was at this point we realised we were up against 16 players from CCB, who clearly were pulling out all the stops to assure themselves of victory. They would be inserting their batting XI first.
Warm up completed, MCC took to the field and aroused, sorry ROUSED by Prafs team talk were in position for the first ball to be bowled by Maiwand ‘M One’ Khan, consisting of 2 wides and a single. From the other end the MCC had the pleasure of witnessing the return of Maximillian ‘Maxi’ Hoeck, who proceeded to take a bit of a hammering, conceding 30 from his 2 overs. He was swiftly replaced by new member Avinash ‘Mishi’ Mishra who was an absolute delight to watch. Line, length, customisation to the flicx, it was lovely to watch, made even better by the fact that he had turned up and played in full whites. It tugged at the heartstrings of this writer. Mishi and M One bowled extremely well together, with the first wicket of the day coming from a run out. The CCB batsman hit the ball straight to Owen ‘Can’t be stumped off a no-ball’ Davies, with the on-strike batsman deciding that there was a single on his arm. CCB non-striking batsman (BCV Vice President Sharique) was not of the same opinion and instead of calling no, elected to save himself and very quickly turned around to get back in his crease, selling his team mate down the river (thanks to Praf for this eloquent paraphrasing). Owen didn’t even need to throw the ball over the stumps, instead walking to the crease and whipping off the bails himself. Upon later reflection he was heard stating ‘I wish I had done a Jonty Rhodes’.
In his next over karma however struck for Sharique, as Mishi clean bowled him, his first wicket for the MCC! Mishi bowled 2 spells, was a pleasure to keep wicket to and finished the day with figures of 8-4-16-1 AND he came out for a curry afterwards (which he didn’t really enjoy as it wasn’t spicy enough). Welcome to the club young man!
After a great burst from M One, Jonathan ‘Bionic Man’ Deverill was programmed to bowl and after needing some readjustment after his first 2 wide deliveries, bowled CCB’s number 4 who inexplicably (especially after being advised against it) tried to play a late cut off the back foot (IN APRIL) and was deservedly clean bowled. The Bionic Man was doing such a great job of scaring the life into the opposition that they again had a brain fade and tried to take a quick single to short square leg, where Mishi collected the ball and, trying to be a hero, attempted to throw down one stump. Fortunately, Phil ‘Iron Gloves’ Bowes was able to collect the throw and whip off the bails with the batsman very short of his crease.
James ‘Jemas’ Kantor was warming up at the other end and although wicket-less during his spell, had one of his deliveries pumped straight back at him and in true cricketing fashion, stuck out his foot and manage to deflect the ball onto the stumps catching the batsman out of his crease. It is worth noting that the umpire was not paying any attention, so thank you to the opposition batsman (Padhu) who did indeed walk. Jemas later informed us that his life partner Julia was in Stuttgart playing football (he called it ‘Soccer’ but I ignored him) and had lost 7-0 and 6-0 allowing us to conclude that there is finally a sport in which he is better than her at!
Craig ‘Bluey’ Barrett bowled a very tight 8 over spell during which he was rewarded with a wicket (caught Jemas) and finished with figures of 8-0-35-1.
Owen ‘can’t be stumped off a no-ball’ Davies, well he enticed the batsman to run down the wicket, Iron Gloves whipped off the balls, only for it to be called a no-ball. You could not have predicted it better. True gold. That batsman went on to hit a 50 of the highest calibre so well done to him (Bharath). Owen did also have a chance dropped by Iron Gloves, and after changing ends upon the instance of the Bionic Man (not successful sadly) he was taken out of the attack after 3 overs.
The most bizarre incident happened earlier in the innings whilst we were fielding. Debutant Vishv ‘Vishi’ Bhatia ran over to the boundary to collect a ball that had been hit for 4 and whilst attempting to return the ball to the wicketkeeper, managed to thrown the ball so far backwards that it ended up in the Isar!! He was therefore handed the gloves so that he couldn’t cause any further damage.
Last up, Phil ‘Pie Man’ Bowes was thrown the ball and bowling some of the slowest deliveries anyone has seen since the legend of Harit Khanna, finished with figures of 1.5-0-8-3 with 2 catches in the covers and one on the boundary.
CCB’s batting XI finished with 177 off 39.5 overs.
Anyway, I have just realised how much I have written so far so I will keep the batting short and sweet.
Vishi batted really well, applying himself on the flicx, playing some glorious pulls and cover drives, taking his chances when they came and running really hard between the wickets. He got 36 very hard earned runs. Well done mate!
Arun ‘The Secretary’ Karthik batted well for his 10 runs, contributing to an opening partnership of 45 runs with Vishi.
The Bionic Man got a peach of a delivery, Iron Gloves missed a straight one, Davies was triggered by Bowes (it was out), Mishi and Jemas both batted well focussing on getting the strike back to Maxi, but both got bowled.
Praf topped off a great day of cricket, having injured his knee and not bowled a single ball, by swinging wildly at his first ball and getting his off stump removed – he was doing it for the team though, so good on you Praf, you could have done a Craig!!
Maxi almost carried us over the line, playing a sensational knock, reminding us that he is more of a batsman than a bowler. Some really powerful hitting down the ground, including almost decapitating umpire Karthik who had to immediately leave the field sporting a war wound on the chin, Maxi got to 50 before being sacrificed by Craig who decided against running a 2 to get the dangerman back on strike. Craig, along with Maiwand, required 19 from the last over, so Craig very admirably blocked the last 2 balls of the game, defending his average.
All in all it was a great day out, MCC being the true winners because we only had 11 players and CCB had 16. We went to Fraulein Grüneis for a beer and fines (details on this to follow later) and then a few of us headed for a curry.
