MCC, resplendent in their new leisure kit, turned out in force to play a bat 12 field 11 fixture against the Munich Boys at the Hirschanger. Some thought that batting wearing sunglasses under the helmet was going a little too far but, as Basil Fawlty said “you wouldn`t understand dear, its called style”.
Be that as it may, captain Weston duly used Maria Theresa to win the toss and decided to field first. Blades and O`Connor opened the attack for MCC and forged ahead with the wide count; after six overs the Munich Boys were 34 for 0 of which 13 were wides. Apparently the ball was swinging profusely. Rabbani and Weston took over the attack, bowling slightly fewer wides and two wickets fell in Weston’s first over, one a run out, the other clean bowled. After 14 overs the score was 94 for 2 and on came Hobbs, terrified that he would bowl pies and ruin his position at the top of the bowling table. He was sporting a 60`s style Django moustache hoping to scare the batsmen into giving away their wickets. His first over went for 17, including two sixes and a four so pleas for a safety razor were heard. Wright, at the other end, bowled economically taking a wicket in his first, second and fourth overs. With Hobbs taking one in his second and bowling a little tighter, things were looking slightly better but, after 24 over overs when Hobbs and Wright were replaced by Wasiewicz and Kavi, the score was 177 for six down. The problem for MCC was that Khan, who had been dropped when he had only a few runs on the board, went on to score 123 before being stumped by Van Giezen off Kavi, having hit 8 fours and 10 sixes. Khan was in fact the eleventh wicket to fall (bat 12, field 11) and Munich Boys finished on 230 for 11 after 29.4 overs leaving MCC needing slightly under 8 runs per over to win.
After a splendid tea provided by Brunskill, MCC opened with Brunskill and Wright. The target of 8 an over quickly disappeared over the horizon and, after six overs MCC were 19 for 1, Wright having been bowled for 12. Rabbani and Brunskill put on another 9 runs for the second wicket before Brunskill was bowled for 4. He was replaced by the shades wearing Caspari who rather unfortunately played across a straight ball and went to join the duck race. Rabbani and Van Giezen put on 10 runs before Rabbani went for 12, stumped by Ali. In came Miller who went first ball after getting a real bummer of a caught behind decision but, like a good Kiwi, he didn`t hang around to protest. In came Hobbs, very relieved not to have been toppled from the top of the table and proceeded to top score with 18 off 31 balls including 2 fours. Wasiewicz had replaced Van Giezen who went for 9 and O`Connor now came in for Hobbs after he and Van Giezen had put on 26, the highest partnership of the innings. O`Connor had another of those simply unplayable balls and went first ball, clean bowled by a snorter from Amir. In came Kavi, determined to face more than 1 ball and not move up the duck race table. In fact he and Wasiewicz put on an unbeaten 22 for the 9th wicket scoring 11 and 15 respectively. MCC finshed on 99 for seven after 30 overs, slightly short of the 231 required.
Brunskill, 4, bowled
Wright, 12, bowled, 5 overs, 0 mdns, 28 runs, 3 wkts
Rabbani, 12, stumped, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 25 runs, 0 wkts
Caspari, 0, bowled, 1 catch
Van Giezen, 9, bowled, 1 stumping
Miller, 0, caught
Hobbs, 18, bowled, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 39 runs, 1 wkt
Wasiewicz, 15*, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 45 runs, 2 wkts, 1 catch
O`Connor, 0, bowled, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 20 runs, 0 wkts
Kavi, 11*, 2.4 overs, 0 mdns, 21 runs, 3 wkts, 1 catch
Weston, DNB, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 32 runs, 1 wkt, 1 catch
Blades, DNB, 3 overs, 1 mdn, 12 runs, 0 wkts.
MCC, 99 for 8, lost to MBCC, 230 for 11, by 131 runs.
MCC MOM Wright.