Mote vs Hayes

Author - Chris Back

The Mote 1st X1 hosted Hayes who sat one place above them in third place in Division 1. Both teams were in great form in the win/lose format so a tense hard fought game was expected. On a blistering hot day and a wicket that looked like it may take a bit of turn later on, the toss would be crucial. Our great tosser, James Hodgson again used his winter tossing training to great effect and got the Mote boys into bat. The Mote also welcomed two new members to the club for the day in Amanda Buckley and young Danny Aukett. Both have committed to paying social membership so Amanda and Danny, cheques payable to The Mote CC, that’s spelt M r C h r i .............

The in-form Matt White and midweek, 20/20, Sunday specialist Chris Back opened the innings looking to get a solid start and see off the new ball as they did the previous week. White was given a lifeline on 1 when he edged behind for a regulation catch to the keeper only to see the ball hit the turf after bouncing out of his hands. This seemed to rattle Hayes who looked ragged in the field early on. Back was first into the pavilion, LBW for 9 trying to flick to the legside again. Hodgson came in at 3 and nudged and nurdled his way to the first drinks break with White looking assured at the other end. Another bit of luck came White’s way as he was clean bowled off a no ball with the ball flying off to boundary to add salt to the wounds of the bowler. Batting was hard on a slow, two paced wicket and The Mote were only going at 3’s for the first 17 overs. At drinks, captain Hodgson saw anything over 200 as a good score on a wicket like this. His mind may have changed 4 balls after drinks when he was caught at second slip slashing at a wide one. In and out went Warren Jackson, another LBW victim to the left arm spin of Ashley Quayle. Up step Caspian Paget who was desperately in need of a few runs but it wasn’t to be as he slapped a full toss straight to mid wicket. 72-4 and The Mote looked in trouble. Will Thirkell joined White and the pair batted sensibly for 10 overs taking the score to 121 before White finally succumbed to an arm ball from Quayle for 68. Thirkell was still knocking the ball around, ably supported by Dan Taylor before the former was also LBW to Quayle for a well played 28. In and out went Louis Cameron, Ryan Ward and Ollie Hills leaving The Mote on 162-9 with only a couple of overs left. The innings ended on 172-9 with a couple of late boundaries giving a little bit of hope for a positive result for The Mote.

Onto the second innings and as always, Louis Cameron opened from the top end with a new partner, young Ollie Hills from the bottom. Hayes started quickly with 3 or 4 boundaries in the first 3 overs and The Mote needed a helping hand from somewhere. Up step Cameron who found a healthy edge from Hayes’ main batsman Jamie Askew and he was well caught at second slip by White. Bouyed by this, Cameron soon picked up his second with Dicker being snared LBW. Hayes’ overseas Sergio Fedee who had staved off The Mote attack earlier in the season came to the wicket and immediately started attacking Cameron, hitting him for a few boundaries whilst advancing down the track. Hills then joined the wickets column with Bamber edging to Back behind the stumps. At 38-3, Fedee continued in his aggressive manner against the seamers so Hodgson turned to spin. It was Hodgson himself who picked up the next wicket, again LBW. After having one turned down earlier in the over, Hodgson snuck another one through to get his first wicket of the day. Number 6 Tom Gallagher joined Fedee but the spinners kept both batsmen in check and the pressure soon told with Will Thirkell bowling Gallagher with the arm ball. 80-5 and The Mote sensed a fifth win in a row. In came Beau Couldrey and the game seemed to take a back seat to him wanting to just try and wind up the fielders instead of actually concentrating on batting (watch this space). Fedee and Couldrey put on a good partnership of 40 before the turning point of the match, Couldrey hitting one back at Hodgson along the floor for him to brilliantly deflect it onto the stumps running out Fedee. 4 balls later, Couldrey had a brain melt and advanced down the track to Thirkell to only manage to hit one straight to mid off where Hills picked up a fine low catch. A loud crash was heard from the pavilion which we presumed was someone accidently dropping a pint glass. 188-7 with two new batters at the crease and the game looked over for Hayes. The Mote knew that Stuart Edicott could hit a long ball so the job was not done. Hodgson entered the fray again with two quick wickets, one caught again by Hills at point this time and the other clean bowled. Hodgson reintroduced Cameron from the bottom end to try and finish the game off and he duly did. First ball of the over, the number 11 backed away and edged beautifully between keeper Back and White at second slip for 4. No mistake fourth ball of the over when again the batsman stepped away only to be clean bowled to deliver 18 points to The Mote and sixth win out of seven in the second half of the season. With the number 11 not wishing to shake hands, The Mote boys left the field to find a broken window in the opposition changing room where Couldrey decided to try and play catch off the window with his helmet, interesting!

The Mote travel to Tenterden next week where victory for the hosts will most likely see them promoted but a reverse could see The Mote leapfrog their opponents. An interesting remaining two weeks are in store with any number of scenarios possible.