A friendly against Lufthansa at the Hirschanger on a steaming hot day, 35°C, saw the final appearance of the Cobra before he moves to Stockholm. With an unusual sense of tradition captain Sarma lost the toss – well, actually there was no toss as at the start Lufthansa had only six players so were given the option of batting first.
Rabbani opened the bowling for MCC and with a break from tradition did not start with a wide, waiting until the second ball to do this. His first over went for three runs, his second for 17, many of them wides. Scott, the other opening bowler was very tight going for only 11 runs from 4 overs, The MCC side had been chosen mostly from those long time teammates of Rabbani and all were given the chance to bowl. In fact MCC used 10 Bowlers in getting all eight Lufthansa wickets for 146, 46 of them being extras. Gattinger had his first spell for MCC going for 10 runs in one over, eight of them wides – is this a serious challenge to Michahelles?
After some splendid teas provided by O`Connor MCC opened with Weston and Garner. Garner quickly joined the duck race in the fifth over with the score on 24 but Weston was in good nick, falling for 37 in the 11th over with the score on 50. Konchada and Rabbani put on rapid 42 for the third wicket until Konchada fell LBW for 21 in the 18th over. Rabbani was run out for 23 in the 19th with the score on104.Clare went for 1 with the score on 110 and O’connor followed him for 2 with the score on 116. It was left to the hard hitting Gattinger and Sarma to take MCC to victory in the 26th over
As a lasting memory to Rabbani we had the joy of seeing him take the last Lufthansa wicket with the final ball of the innings and hitting a glorious six from the first ball he faced. Good on you Maj, we will miss you and think of the hit song of the Three Degrees.
Weston, 35, caught, 4 overs, 3 mdns 1 run, 1 wkt
Garner, 0, bowled, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 16 runs, 2 wkts, 1 catch
Konchada, 21, LBW, 2 overs, 0 mdns, 21 runs, 0 wkts
Rabbani, 23, run out, 4.1 overs, 0 mdns, 32 runs, 2 wkts
O`Connor 2, LBW, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 14 runs, 0 wkts
Clare, 1, bowled, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 10 runs, 0 wkts, 1 catch
Gattinger, 24*, 1 over, 0 mdns, 10 runs, 0 wkts, 1 catch
Sarma, 9*, 5 overs, 1 mdn, 15 runs, 2 wkts
Furlonger, DNB
Scott, DNB, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 11 runs, 0 wkts, 1 catch
Blades, DNB, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 15 runs, 1 wkt
MCC, 149 for 6, beat Lufthansa, 146 for 8, by 4 wickets.
MCC MOM Weston