We met at the MICs ground at 12.30 ready for a 1 pm start. Dom brought the family along as they were staying with him in Stuttgart and they sat in the sun enjoying the 18°C temperature. Early on it didn`t look as if it would be a decent cricketing afternoon but the Munich weather is so unpredictable.
Captain Sarma duly lost the toss and we were asked to field first. MICs openers Johnson and Murali wandered out to take guard against MCC’s opening bowlers Carrie and Gill and received the shock of their lives. Carrie had a one wicket maiden over first up followed by another wicket by Gill in his first. Carrie’s second was another maiden and Gill’s second included two wides, a no ball and two wickets as well as a four. After four overs MICs were 14 for four and after six overs, 18 for five. Captain Sarma then took pity on them replacing Carrie with Bhamare and Gill with Sestan. Bhamare though was extremely parsimonious and took a wicket in his first over so after seven, MICs were 20 for six. Thereafter everyone had a bowl – ten bowlers in all for the second week running – and Sreeraj and Kashif were able to put on 135 for the seventh wicket. It was Viking Nielsen who finally broke the partnership bowling Kashif for 53. Arunachalam got Sreeraj in the next over for 66 – his first wicket for the MCC. The MICs finished on 184 for nine after their 35 overs. All the wickets were genuine “bowlers” wickets, two caught behind, one LBW and the remainder bowled. There were no catches in the outfield nor in front of the wicket although one chance did go wanting.
As Veser had kept for the MICs innings and had received a knock on the right thigh Soundararajan and Mitchell opened the batting for MCC and, with the score on 20, Soundararajan went, caught Ravi, bowled Nath for six. Mitchell followed him in the next over going for 12, being splendidly caught by Kashif. Sarma and Rabbani put on 42 for the third wicket, Sarma eventually being bowled for 23 by Ravi –his first wicket for three years since he went down with leukemia. Nielsen came and went quickly, not quite joining the duck race to be replaced by Veser. He was in splendid form and put on 105 for the fifth wicket with Rabbani then retired hurt having scored 61 off 49 balls. Rabbani also retired with a score of 57 and left Konchada and Carrie to coast along to victory in the 28th over.
Soundararajan, 6, caught, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 0 wkts, 28 runs
Mitchell, 12, caught
Sarma, 23, bowled, 2 overs, 0 mdns, 0 wkts, 8 runs
Rabbani, 37, retired, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 0 wkts, 26 runs
Nielsen, 1, caught. 4 overs, 0 mdns, 1 wkt, 18 runs
Veser, 61, retired hurt, 2 catches
Konchada, 4*, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 0 wkts, 35 runs
Carrie, 12*, 4 overs, 2 mdns, 2 wkts, 5 runs
Bhamare, DNB, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 1 wkt, 4 runs
Arunachalam, DNB, 4 overs, 1 mdn, 1 wkt, 18 runs
Sestan, DNB, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 0 wkts, 21 runs
Gill, DNB, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 4 wkts, 19 runs
MCC, 185 for 5, beat MICs, 184 for 9 , by 5 wickets.
MCC MOM Veser