A fine day at the Hirschanger, the fridge stocked with two crates of Tegernseeer Helles and, thanks to Khanna and Soundararajan, we were able to field ten players to match the ten opposition players, their tenth having been recruited at the Chinese Tower on Friday evening.
Durham won the toss and chose to bat and had to face the wrath of MCC opening bowlers Garner and Fudge. Garner took a wicket with his third ball and continued to bowl some wicked, swinging and seaming deliveries. The opposition couldn`t believe that these two were fringe league players. Nielsen and Brunskill took over with Brunskill taking two wickets for three runs in his first over. Nielsen also took a pair, one a very good catch behind by keeper Khanna. Only one Durham player, their organiser, made a score worth mentioning (Rathbone 43, run out). No one else made double figures except our 18 wides bowled. Durham were all out for 107 in 30.2 overs
After a short drinks break Rabbani and Soundararajan opened the batting for MCC with Soundararajan keeping up one end until he was out caught for 8 after facing 34 balls but Rabbani decided singles were not in his repertoire today hitting three fours and two sixes in his 21 ball cameo 28 runs before being mightily out LBW.
Mitchell made a healthy 26 off 20 balls, Clare came and went quickly but O’Meagher and Fudge put on 78 for the 5th wicket. Actually after 17 overs MCC had won the game but as it was so early we decided to call it a double innings match, MCC would bat on and make a score for Durham to chase and give them a time limit up until 18:30 to win. After O’Meagher fell for 40 in the 25th over with the score on 171, Fudge and Nielsen put on an unbeaten 42 for the sixth wicket when MCC declared leaving Durham 107 to win, the same score as they had made in their first innings.
After a tea break which included some marvellous cakes provided by the ladies Brunskill and Nielsen which brought a round of applause from the opposition Durham went out to face MCC openers Rabbani and Clare. Their batting was better second time around as expected but nevertheless only two made double figures and at the cut off time they were 100 for 6 wickets down and an honourable draw was claimed.
The Flicx was quickly stored away as the Tegernseeer was calling and there were some very dark clouds around. Just as we reached the changing room the heavens opened with a prolonged torrential downpour forcing us to stay at the ground until around 9 pm until the Tegernseeer and a couple of extra crates of Lambbräu from Fraulein Grüneis were empty. During this enforced stay the opposition held a hilarious fines court, even fining our captain for the day Mark O`Meagher
MCC batting:
Soundararajan, 8, caught
Rabbani, 28, LBW
Mitchell, 26, caught
O`Meagher, 40, caught
Clare, 6, caught
Fudge, 50*
Nielsen, 20*
Brunskill, DNB
Garner, DNB
Khanna, DNB
MCC fielding 1st innings:
Garner, 8 overs, 0 mdns, 38 runs, 3 wkts, 1 catch
Fudge, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 10 runs, 0 wkts, 1 catch
Nielsen, 6 overs, 0 mdns, 22 runs, 2 wkts
Brunskill, 6 overs, 0 mdns, 17 runs, 3 wkts
Clare, 5.2 overs, 0 mdns, 12 runs, 1 wkt, 1 catch
Rabbani, 1 0ver, 0 mdns, 3 runs, 0 wkts
Khanna, 2 catches
Soundararajan, 1 catch
MCC fielding 2nd Innings
Rabbani, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 16 runs, 1 wkt
Clare, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 8 runs, 2 wkts
Khanna, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 31 runs, 0 wkts
Berunskill, 6 overs, 0 mdns, 31 runs, 1 wkt
Nielsen, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 12 runs, 2 wkts
Garner, 1 stumping
MCC, 213 – 5, drew with Durham Old Boys, 107 -10 and 100 – 6
MCC MOM Brunskill