A fantastic day on Saturday as the past and current players of TMCC had a really close game that went down to the last ball.
The ‘Legends’ team won the toss and chose to field in damp conditions which were to clear later on. After what can only be described as a loosener from Matt Doyle’s first ball, he settled into a good line and length to keep things tight. At the other end Monty Tunnicliff was bowling well too and runs were hard to come by.
Jimmy Worrall then released the shackles with some handy boundaries, before being caught off the bowling of James Patrick for 34. Simon Uttridge was still playing solidly, but a flurry of wickets, which were shared around by the bowlers along with the run out of Thomas Lenham with a direct hit, left the ‘Present’ team in trouble at 114 for 7 after 29 overs.
Richard Sims then came to the wicket and played some trademark strokes through mid wicket to up the run rate. He was joined by Howard Alexander and then Adam Nix, before being bowled to a pearler from Matt Doyle. Some late runs from Guy Kemsley and Malcolm Tunnicliffe lifted the score to 170 for 10 after the allotted 40 overs.
The ‘Legends’ started well in their chase with James and Ali Patrick both retiring after reaching 35 runs. Afterwards, wickets were beginning to fall, and the pressure on the run rate was increasing as boundaries were hard to come by.
Al Patrick and Liam Jempson were at the crease and continued to tick along, although the run rate was continuing to creep up. They required 15 from the final over which was being bowled by Adam Nix. Matt Doyle and Monty Tunnicliff were at the crease and with only a single from the first 2 balls, they required 14 from 4. Doyle then smeared the ball over long off for a 6, with Tunnicliff run out the next ball.
He was allowed to stay at the crease as it did not appear as though any other batsman was ready. Monty took strike and played the ball into the off side for a quick single. The ‘Legends’ required 7 from the final ball, however following a wide, Doyle smashed another 6 through the hands of Ben Ramsay at long on and the ‘Legends’ completed a remarkable victory.
Many thanks to all including Andy for the wicket, Adam and Malcolm from getting down to the ground at 6.30am to put on the cover, and Jimmy for being our BBQ chef, but mostly to all who turned up. 27 players, some of whom had made long journeys.