Mighty 4s Beat Harrow

After Friday’s deluge, there were grave concerns abut the possibility of the match even starting, and after the poor run the 4th XI had had, they really needed a win. Arriving at Harrow, the washout worries were alleviated and soon the standard loss of the toss was completed and we were put in to bat. A Harrow official soon informed the skippers that sadly they had run out of 3rd XI balls to use and that we would have to use better quality 1st XI match balls. The official was very apologetic, and luckily both skippers agreed and the game could continue with the replacement issue balls.

After a month apart, the dream team of Gaurav and Richard Verity were back together, but it didn’t last long before Guarav was bowled for 9 (which took his runs tally past 500 for the season) by one that swung back and kept low, the first sign that the replacement balls would move nicely though the air. Soon Rich had been bowled by an outswinger and Patrick was bowled by a Wasim Akram-esqe inswinging yorker from the lefty opener. Seb then was run out by a direct hit and 48/4 brought out Nick Friend to meet Chrissy, amazingly out of form, but as always confident that the big one was just around the corner. As Nick walked out, Harrow sensed they were in with a shot, as the chirp of “One more and we’re into the tail” was heard.

But the ‘tail’ was not in fact exposed, as Nick provided the perfect foil for a dashing innings from Chrissy. Chrissy’s ambition for the last few seasons had always been one thing: to score his first century. And with a string of 70s, 80s and 90s (and a few ducks sprinkled in there) in this time, he never managed to get over the line. And so it was, that this day would provide Chrissy’s opportunity to bringing up a fluent, masterful century with a combination of aggression and timing that was a pleasure to watch. When Nick fell for 38, after a partnership of 137, the runs didn’t stop as Chrissy and Carl put on 65 together before Chrissy finally fell for an excellent 130 (20 fours and 2 sixes). Great knock. Dykie’s pre-match taunt from last week of setting his ambition for his runs for the season as ‘more than Chrissy’ had either worked/failed, as Chrissy plundered the Harrow attack and go past Dykie’s tally in one go. In the 45th over, Carl fell for a smart 43, before Pistol called a holt to things at 284/7.

With the huge slope on the Harrow ground, it was decided that Percy would be given the ‘down the hill’ duties with his raw speed to blast out Harrow’s top order, while Pistol would come up the hill. And it it worked very nicely, as Percy compiled an excellent spell of bowling of 6 overs 5 maidens 1 wicket for 4 runs, with the 4 runs being one scoring shot: a edge down to fine leg. 36 balls, 35 dots. Beautiful! At the other end Pistol was making the most of the ‘1st XI balls’ as his inswingers were causing problems for the Harrow lineup. There was an LBW, a shouldered-arms clean bowled (which was an amazing thing to watch!) and a great catch at first slip by Paddy, and at that stage, Harrow were 4 down for only 8 runs. Ibby and Ram then tried to push the scoring up but soon Ram played on to Pistol, leaving him with figures of 12-5-18-4. A nice, yet unlucky spell of bowling from the returning Theo (7-0-25-0) kept the scoring down, as he beat the bat regularly, before Nick (4.3-2-10-3) replaced Pistol and cleaned up the tail, as was the plan. Guarav (4-1-13-1) also got the ball to swing and finally got the skipper, Ibbi, to edge one behind after many plays-and-misses for 36, after holding things together with his team mates falling around him.

Some great fielding from Seb at point/cover, not only brought about an excellent run out, but also saved a lots of runs both with his coverage of the area and with his pin point throwing from the boundary. A special mention also has to be made to Dave Shields for his wicket keeping with two catches and a stumping and for his many saves behind the wicket.

Harrow were finally all out for 73. Another good win for the Mighty 4s, let’s keep it going!