,The second game of the season and this against Freshwater CC from the Isle of Wight with club founder Graham Lees in their ranks. It was a fine day over 20°C with sunny intervals, captain Rabbani duly lost the toss and MCC were asked to bat.
MCC opened with two left handers, Palfrey and Weston playing his first game of the season for MCC the match for Australia vs New Zealand in Connecticut doesn’t count. They put on a rapid 85 before Palfrey fell for 28 in the 13th over. Weston went for 44 shortly afterwards but O’Connor and Carr added another 21 runs before O’Connor and then Kantor departed in the 19th over, Kantor choosing to join the duck race in his first outing of the season.
At the drinks break the score was 115 for four down and MCC were feeling pretty good.
After the drinks, Carr and Rabbani added 41 for the fifth wicket, followed shortly after by Hill, another first game for MCC player. Carr fell in the next over for a commendable 10 off 37 balls holding up his end well while others departed. Michahelles went for two and his celebrations after making his first runs of the season was a sight to behold. Raubenheimer, who does much to lower the average age of our members, also playing his first ever game in borrowed shirt and trousers also went for two to be replaced by Gattinger another first timer who was a revelation, cracking four fours in his 19 ball 21 total. Blades and Setan took the final score to 196
After some really good teas, provided by Rabbani and O`Connor and much appreciated by the visitors, Sestan and O’Connor opened the bowling for MCC, Sesatan in particular showing his parsimonious nature by bowling maidens for his first two overs. The visitors batted well, waiting for the bad balls and then hammering them to the boundary, all the while keeping up with the required run rate. At the 20 over drinks break they had 110 runs for two down compared to MCC’s 111 for four down. At the 30 over stage it was still very close Freshwater being 4 runs ahead but with only four down whereas MCC had lost eight wickets by then and, Freshwater had a batsman with almost a hundred to his name. Michahelles took his requisite one wicket of the season in the 32nd over with the score on 195. Now he has reached his annual quota of one wicket and one run per season presumably George will disappear until 2015. Freshwater finished with 199 for five down after 32.1 overs, their opener Pittman remaining not out with 119.
It had been a most enjoyable match with a marked lack of appealing for LBW from deep square leg and so on, most prominent in normal cricket in Munich, with some splendid performances in a competitive but very friendly game.
Weston, 44, caught, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 27 runs, 1 wkt
Palfrey, 28 bowled
O’Connor, 15, caught, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 22 runs, 1 wkt
Carr, 20, caught, 1 over, 0 mdns, 11 runs, 0 wkts
Kantor, 0, LBW, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 18 runs, 0 wkts
Rabbani, 26, LBW, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 11 runs, 0 wkts, 1 catch
Hill, 1, LBW, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 33 runs, 1 wkt
Michahelles, 2, bowled, 1 over, 0 mdns, 8 runs, 1 wkt
Raubenheimer, 2, bowled, 2 overs, 0 mdns, 10 runs, 0 wkts
Gattinger, 21, caught, 0.1 overs, 0 mdns, 4 runs, 0 wkts
Blades, 3*, 5 overs, 0 mdns, 29 runs, 1 wkt
Sestan, 0*, 5 overs, 2 mdns, 17 runs, 0 wkts.
MCC, 196 for 9, lost to Freshwater, 199 for 5 by 5 wickets.
MCC MOM: Weston