MCC Gold v MCC Black (22 Aug 2020)

Munich, 22nd September August

The stage was set for another intra club thriller on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Enthusiastic club members showed up on time to set up the pitch and start the game as soon as possible. Except Ben Fulton, who decided to brutally crash into a kid riding a bike on the street. He managed to fool the cops with his lawyer skills and show up on the ground somehow.

MCC Black won the toss and decided to bat, this decision was not appreciated by MCC Gold as they wanted to bat first as well. Johnty and Suchit (his first match in Hirsch) opened batting for MCC Black. Ankit and Sundeep opened bowling attack for MCC Gold. There was some solid display of cricket going on until Johnty unfortunately got flixed and bowled. Varun walked in to take care of the proceedings and started with some sweetly timed shots that looked effortless. Ankit was replaced by Adrian Brooks from Helmut’s-hell end. Sundeep was replaced by Arun on the other end. The opening bowling spell kept MCC black’s solid batting lineup at bay with approximately 30 runs for 1 wicket in 9 overs. Suchit and Varun started ticking the scorecard with consistency and a breakthrough was desperately needed. Brooksy stood up to the task and dismissed Varun with a great delivery trapping Varun on short mid wicket. This brought in our convicted felon, Ben Fulton, to the crease.

After another good spell of bowling, Arun and Brooksy were replaced by Usman Sandhu and Rahul Dave. By this time Ben and Suchit were well set and they started scoring at an elevated run rate. It was time to get a wicket and it came in the form of Suchit’s wicket. Rain gods were not very happy looking at us enjoying a good game of cricket and it started pouring soon. MCC blacks were at 123 in 27 overs at the time. It didn’t look like rain would stop but players were motivated and wanted to wait as late as possible to salvage a game.

Using D/L method, the target for MCC Gold was set to 150 in 25 overs. It was Johnty’s phone that came up with the number and I guess there was some malpractice involved.
Ankit Sinha, My First Match Report, Paperback Edition, 2020

MCC Gold batting was opened by Craig and Wembo. In a short session of only 3 overs, Gold made it clear that we are here to win. Wembo started with some cracking shots on one end and Craig started with solid defense on the other. Ankur and Vamsi started the bowling attack from blacks. Bowling conditions were not so great as flix was partially an ice skating platform. Kudos to all the players to make sure that a game happens regardless of the conditions. After 3 overs it started raining again and the players were back to the pavilion.

After waiting for 40 minutes, another dry window appeared and the game resumed. Craig and Wembo were going great when Craig fell to some really good bowling. Arun karthik walked in to take charge with Wembo. MCC Black brought in Imitiaz to strengthen their attack. There were some funny calls made between Wembo and Arun that was a source of entertainment for players on the field. MCC Gold started losing wickets from one end with Arun and Sundeep getting out almost back to back. Ankit walked in to support Wembo but it didn’t last long as Wembo got out soon. MCC black were on their way to a crushing victory. Rahul Dave joined Ankit in the batting attack and some quick runs were scored to elevate the run rate. Rahul was bowled out by some good bowling and David walked in to bat with Ankit. He opened his innings with some cracking shots over covers. For a moment it looked like MCC Gold can take the game close enough for it to be uncomfortable for Blacks. David showed some great batting and diving skills to save his wicket. His whites were green by the end of his innings. Ankit’s wicket fell after a bit and Adrian walked in to bat. Even he couldn’t support David for long and Alex went in to give it a swing. David and Alex scored some quick runs and brought the total to 126 at the end of 25 overs.

Special mention to Craig Barrett to take up keeping in the absence of a professional keeper in MCC Gold. Also, Ruhel to wait for as long as it was needed to get a game out of this day.

All in All, it was a good game of cricket despite the weather conditions and all the players enjoyed a lot during the day.