There was a strong sense of Déja vu as UWMCC played Corley (town, village, who knows) this Monday evening. Firstly, UWMCC appear to have found some selection consistency unlike the England cricket set up- fielding the same six as last week’s encounter against the #BoomBoys. Secondly, they batted first again, and thirdly, the game almost followed exactly according to last week’s storyboard. But before that, the UWMCC team arrived to a locked cricket centre, and with suggestions of using (possibly adopted) 6”4 Rob Kraus as a battering ram looming (‘‘I’m backing myself’’), there was much relief when a man with a key arrived.
After another lengthy warm-up using a stolen incrediball from last week, UWMCC’s batsmen and Kraus appeared to have got their eye in. This was seemingly confirmed by the rocketing start of Bradshaw and Hall, having scored thirty runs off the first eleven balls, including a deflected four for Hall, somewhat reminiscent of Charlie Adam’s first against Man United this weekend. However, what seemed so promising, crumbled so quickly, as three run outs in four balls (Bradshaw responsible for them all, one being himself) meant Hall was dismissed for ten, Shah for a diamond duck and Bradshaw for seven. With the score at 32-3, it resembled a Wednesday evening attempt of cricket more so than an indoor league innings. Cooper and Jewson were watchful and steadied the ship, partly helped by the consistently wide bowling of Corley, scoring at around eight an over. Cooper was caught on ten after a smart piece of fielding off two walls from a man boasting an extreme amount of darb for his age. Jewson top scored again with seventeen, even if he ran out Kraus twice (once to lose his own wicket, once as Jewson’s runner), UWMCC reaching 97 all out, with just three balls not used. In the innings, extras managed to score an outstanding fifty (more than UWMCC’s batsmen combined), with a fine array of leg-side wide deliveries, but also a few dabs down towards third man.
Corley’s response began with Shah’s hattrick ball, and even though none of his teammates remembered, the pressure was clearly all too much, as he delivered an uncharacteristic wide, let alone that it was a hip-high full toss. However, after that, both Shah and newly discovered bowler Bradshaw (rumours of him being the number one seamer for South Africa are gaining strength by the day) bowled tightly, creating tidal waves of pressure, reflected in Corley’s dismal demise. Even despite drops by Cooper and later, Jewson, UWMCC’s accurate bowling (only six extras, three of these being a head-high beamer by Bradshaw, attempting to ‘roughen’ the opposition up), and all-round good fielding meant that Corley were forever behind the rate. All bowlers finished with excellent economy rates, notably Kraus, whose two overs went for seven, including a classic leg-spinner’s dismissal, beating the bat and leaving Jewson to finish the job. The innings was finished off by a neatly taken Kraus catch, as Corley could only manage 43 all out from 7.5 overs. A brutal display from UWMCC, similar to Man City’s home form until Chelsea’s visit; you get the sense there will need to be a Mourinho-level performance to disrupt UWMCC’s bowling attack.
After Jewson revealed his father had a top 40 hit in the late 1970s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXIW5XZBzuA), he harshly left Shah and Bradshaw at Tesco to make their way to the bus-stop themselves, as Jewson was peckish after his seventeen runs. Hall and Kraus proceeded to top up their grocery shopping for the week, Cooper’s thoughts led astray by the agony of having to carry back a crate of 20 beers to Jack Martin earlier in the day. Jewson’s experience was clear for all to see, as he managed to buy a four-pack of fairly decent looking rolls, for a mere 8 pence. With humanities students Hall and Kraus absent next week, the pressure is on for their replacements to continue UWMCC’s early season successes.