Mildenhall 1XI took on Vauxhall Mallards of Norfolk on a blistering hot day at Wamil Way. Mildenhall batted first and were soon in some serious trouble. France and Bradshaw bowling very well early on. Maiolo was the first to go for 0 and Matt Allen followed soon after for 1 when he was LBW. James Stamatis showed signs of class and was top scorer for the innings with his 39 from 58 balls. Shepperson (3), Tom Allen (0) and Tom Rash (5) all came and went courtesy of France. Vie Le France! It was Jon Allen who showed resistance (see what I did there?) with a fighting 13 not out. Despite being sledged with vigor by the strong Mallards attack Jon held firm. Peter Worthington also made double figures with his knock of 16. The innings was soon over though as Mildenhall slumped to 98 all out from 43.2 overs. Bradshaw was tight with his 2-22 but it was Le Blue Ben France with an outstanding 6-14 that did the serious damage. Well bowl Mallards. It shouldn't have been much of a struggle to reach the target set and so it proved. Mildenhall did get some early success once Worthington and Hussain had been introduce into the attack. Pete with 2-18 and Murtaza with 1-17. Smit finished with 31 not out and Oliver Stone batted like a Natural Born Killer (whoops sorry couldn't resist) with 48 not out. Mallards reaching their target off 20 overs. A bad day for the 1XI but a chance to get back on the winning track next week.
Things were not much better for the 2XI, sadly. They travelled to East Bergholt and had to chase some leather. Bergholt batted first and made an intimidating 284 for 5 from their 45 overs. Robb with 50, McGrath with 49, Foster 60, Wood 30 not out and Gedny 37 not out. Kyle Morrison took 2-79 from his 13 overs. Steve Graham 2-69 and Josh Jones 1-25. The Bergholt batsmen took a liking to the bowling of left arm spinner Gabe Jones hitting him for 64 from his 7 overs. It was going to be a difficult chase and one that Mildenhall were unable to reach. Ryan Clark continued his good form with 48. Kyle Morrison added 22 and Steve Graham 28. There were also late order runs for Jack Bowman 34, Kiren Davis 19 and Raeel Afaal 19 not out (well done Raeel). Mildenhall finished with 200 all out from exactly 45 overs. Tough day for the 2XI.
The 3XI travelled to struggling St. Margarets and came back with a swagfull of points. St. Margarets batted first and started well through Roache (19) and Dias (35). It wasn't to last thanks to the bowling of Tom Heywood, Kiefer 'La Grande saucisse supreme' and Martin Kingdon. The bowlers ripped the heart out of the St. Margaret's batting. St. Margaret's all out for 131 from 42 overs. 2-29 for Killer Kingdon on his return to the 3XI. 4-33 for Tom Heywood and 4-23 for Kiefer who has found tremendous form with the ball of late. Mildenhall started well thanks to 37 from Mark Thurston and 21 from 'The Hammer" Mick Sauders. The Hammer was making a rare 3XI performance and his runs helped his side. Tom Heywood continued his fine all round day with 35 and Matt Parker contributed a very welcome 17. The winning runs with hit by Dustin "Gene" Wilder who saw the side home in conjunction with Martin Taylor. Mildenhall winning by 3 wickets. For the home side one man stood out with 6-35, Iqbal almost turned the game for the St. Margaret's XI. The 3XI shining some light on Mildenhall's tough Saturday.
A very young (with a smattering of crusty old veteran's) 4XI took on Woolpit 3XI at home. Woolpit Captain Haynes sensing some tasty runs in the sun decided to bat first. It was a good decision. The openers thoroughly feasted on the youngsters. Flannagan reaching 67 before he was LBW to Sam Skingley. Gale went further and reached a magnificent 109 before he was dismissed. Routledge added 31 and Daniels 33. Woolpit reached a very imposing 315 from their 45 overs. The young bowlers suffered in the heat. Mildenhall weren't helped by the injury to skipper Lou Handy who was unable to bowl more than 10 overs. James Taylor making a rare appearance with ball in hand took 3-40 and Reuben 'New Kiefer" Handy took 2-39. It was never going to be a chase that Mildenhall could get close too. Taylor and 'New Kiefer' both made 34 before they were out to C. Newcombe. Lou Handy in majestic batting form at the moment made a quality 51 before he was out. But one of the outstanding batting performances of the day came from George Howard. George batted superbly for his 31. Not to be outdone John Howard batting at 11 came in and saw Mildenhall past the 200 mark. John hitting three terrific boundaries in the last over. Mildenhall finished with 207 for 9 from 45 overs. It was a fantastic effort by a lot of young players who could have given up having fielded and suffered with the ball. But the boys didn't give up and they tried as hard as they could to at least give Woolpit a game. For Woolpit it was C. Newcombe with 5-33 that did the majority of the damage. A strong side almost taking the full points.
Overall a very tough Saturday for the club but one which they can look back upon and say we put out 4 teams when a lot of sides would struggle. It is tough for the club to continue to put out 4 teams when faced with many challenges. Many thanks to the players and parents who made this happen. In a couple of weeks time that challenge will need to be faced up to once again. We will lose a huge number of players to a stag do and we need you and your sons, daughters, husbands, lovers etc. to come out and play for the club so we can fulfill all of our fixtures. Well done to everyone who came out to support and play for MCC this weekend. We hope you can make it happen again and who knows perhaps I will poke gentle fun at you in a couple of weeks time whilst also praising your deeds on (and maybe off) the pitch.
As in victory
#UptheHall
GN Scoop 500 (Gower Edition circa 1978)