Match Report - Sunday XI vs. Mattishall - 13.5.12

With the weather typical of an English Summer, it was clear that the toss for the Sunday XI’s home tie against Mattishall would be crucial. Although by 2PM the wicket’s surface was relatively dry, underneath the ground was soft, making it obvious that the winner would surely want a bowl first. Joint-skipper, Jack Crisp, took to the middle with the opposition Skipper, who called wrong resulting in the Sunday XI putting on the whites and taking to the field.

With Trevor Farrow putting on the gloves and Tom Grass hurtling in from the Hall End the game was underway. Tom and Danny King opened with a fantastic spell of fast-medium paced swinging deliveries that kept the openers on their toes, the breakthrough soon came and Narborough clearly held the initiative. Wickets were tumbling, leaving Mattishall 40-5 off 25 overs. The Skippers decided to go for the jugular and pile the pressure on, this came in the form of Matt Steeles and Ag Lown which kept up Narborough’s tight bowling attack. The fielding of the youthful Narborough side forced the Mattishall batsmen to try and make their own shots, which proved to be their downfall; Matt Steeles finished innings with 5 wickets for 8 runs off 6 overs. Mattishall were eventually bowled out for 108. All in all, a great fielding performance from NCC.

Tea was taken and as the last strawberry and cream scones were finished off, the Coe Brothers put on their pads to open the batting and set the team up for what seemed to be a relatively small score. Unfortunately, this was not the case and they both took the lonely walk back to the pavilion within the first three overs (J. Coe collected a ‘pair’ over the weekend) However, Mattishall had not banked on a second brotherly-partnership of Nath and Danny King, who really took the game to the bowlers, Nath smashed Narborough into a strong position but decided to play one shot too many and was caught at Dip Mid-on. Danny, the more conservative bat, played some great shots and partnered Nath well, but soon the King Brothers were replaced by their dad, Nobby King, and Matt Steeles. Both played in their unique ways, with Nobby dispatching the bowlers wherever he wanted and Matt, as resilient as ever. As Nobby departed the crease, the score was left at 75-5, and Jack Crisp took his guard to partner Matt to see the innings through. The Mattishall bowlers did not give up lightly, leaving Matt face-down on the floor twice with two superb yorkers, yet he remained at the crease. Jack and Matt slowly pushed the score to 91-5 with a good 20 overs to play. The opposition were forced to take off their better bowlers but they couldn’t find the same quality to replace them. Jack sensed blood and managed to get his golf-swing, a-hem, I mean ‘straight-drive’ out and dispatched the 11-year old for a massive 18runs in what proved to be the last over of the day.

The game was over with Narborough collecting all available 21 points. However, the Sunday XI had to finish it off in their usual post-match routine:

Can of Carlsberg
Argue who’s pulling the rope in
Make jokes that you’ve just realised Nobby’s lost a finger
Shower
Listen to Tommy saying he can Bat
Make jokes about Tommys batting, and possibly compare his ‘front-forward-technique’ to that of John Cleese from Fawlty towers and the silly German walk
Get the rope in
Go to the club
Await next Sunday’s game.