Up the Mavericks

Wednesday the 3rd of May 2017 was the date when the boys from Middlewich took on the boys from Nantwich in what promised to be a tight but enjoyable spectacle.

The sun was out, the field was pristine and the wicket was so hard that I was in danger of putting my shoulder out as I tried to knock the stumps in with a mallet.

The two adversaries faced each other and Captain Frazer Sumner took the toss of the coin with the Nantwich captain. As the coin flipped in the air Captain Sumner called ‘TAILS’ as confidently as he could. With the backdrop of Nick Gill marking out the crease some metres away the coin landed heads up. We had lost the toss and were put into bat but I could have sworn under his breath I heard Frazer mutter, ‘That’s the only thing we will be losing tonight you mongrels.’

With nerves a possible factor that could be exploited it was decided to blood the newly capped Sam FARRELL nice and early. He, along with the highly dependable Liam CLORLEY, strapped on their armour and marched to the middle to begin the task of run accumulating. Some tidy batting from both boys saw the nerves subside and a smile or two could be seen behind the wire mesh face protectors.

After four overs the two plucky openers were relieved (and relieved) by the much revered faces of Lewis TURNER and Fraser SUMNER. The two veterans of the limited over game took over the task of building a defendable total. Three boundaries, smashed in quick succession saw Lewis race to 15 with a useful 9 accumulated by Fraser at the opposite end. Useful runs indeed.

Next out to do battle with the Nantwich pace attacked was Evan TURNER and Oscar GREEN. Like their predecessors, these two had seen it all before and continued the onslaught where numbers 3 and 4 had left off. Evan appeared to have fell out with running between the wickets and decided to deal exclusively in boundaries. After finding the rope 5 times he quickly amassed a sharp 20 runs whilst Oscar fended off some extremely tight and fast bowling at the other end.

Having seen the lie of the wicket and the skill of the opposition bowlers, Jack WALTERS and Liam GILL marched out to bat like boys having eaten too many Bertie Bassets washed down with Sunny Delight. The excitement was palpable as the sun began to drop in to the batters eye line but the two played their shots and ensured the runs kept ticking over.

Last out to bat was Oakley MADDOCKS and Will EGERTON. If the previous boys looked like they had eaten too many sweets, Oakley looked like he had been transfusing Red Bull. In a breathless four overs the mad, bad and dangerous to know number 9 put Nantwich to the sword. With no respect for the opposition he smashed a top score of 28 much to the delight of his mum and the crowd.

It was the end of the innings but not the end of the battle. Although the Mavericks had amassed a very respectable 103 runs they had lost 8 wickets along the way giving us a net total of 63 runs. It was felt that the boys from MCC had a game on their hands.

Juice and biscuits flowed (not that our boys needed any more sugar) and the atmosphere could have been cut with a knife.

Nantwich got padded up and a quick team talk (mainly along:- long barriers and NO OVERTHROWS … please) saw the second half of the struggle commence.

Middlewich bowled wicket to wicket and fielded as if their lives depended on it. (Their lives did!!!) Catches stuck and our retuning and backing up made it difficult for Nantwich to gain any traction in the run department. The steady fall of wickets saw the Mavericks gaining confidence with every delivery that passed.

The fielding performance was almost topped off by Lewis (De GAE’s) one handed diving effort that fell fractionally short but wickets from Evan, Liam and Will saw the boys home.

Nantwich had managed to post a total of 61 runs but with the loss of 7 wickets reduced this number to 26.

It was victory to the boys from sort of in between the Big Lock and the Golden Lion.

Man of the match was awarded to Oakley for his effort with the bat and the boys went home for tea and medals.

Next up ASTON.

Well done guys,

Lee and Craig.