Confusion in team names, yes. Confusion in result, no!
As usual there were high expectations going into this indoor league after last year’s huge success in winning the Cov Indoor League and coming second in the ‘winners’ tournament at Edgbaston.
With Jewson taking the wheel of the love bus we made the journey to the venue. Despite the simplicity of the journey, Barclay’s incompetence to accurately interpret Google maps combined with Jewson yelling.
Having arrived early we proceeded to have a slightly dangerous catching warm up in the dark. Thankfully this was hastily abandoned when the lights came on and captain Barclay proceeded with the coin toss with the opposition captain from Warwick CC A Team. In true Beauclerk style from last year, Barclay lost the toss and was asked to bat.
Despite sporting a rather strong batting line-up the UWMCC began poorly with fresher Edmonds run out for his first UWMCC duck by a suicidal single called by fresher Cooper. The score was 9 for 1. This brought to the crease Paras who, despite making his UWMCC debut, began confidently executing sublime touch play which got the scoreboard ticking over quickly. Fresher Cooper also settled into his stride scoring strongly until his retirement at 25 bringing Barclay to the wicket. Paras also completed his retirement at 25 bringing Jewson in to partner Barclay. An MCC style off drive by Jewson was to be his downfall. Foot to the pitch of the ball, perfectly straight bat and perfectly between fielders but his failure to run was the only blemish to an otherwise brilliant shot. Hence he was run out for 1 run but overall glad not to get a duck. Barclay soon followed in the strangest of incidents. Short, wide and cut into the gap only to be caught because the ball deflected off the umpire. Barclay out for 4 to the tune of laughter from both teams. This brought Cooper back to the wicket much to the disappointment of the opposition. Despite not being known for his batting Godfrey began positively scoring 3 3’s in quick succession before being dismissed for 9. Paras on his return to the wicket only managed to add 13 to his original score finally being dismissed for 38. This left Cooper last man standing adding 17 to his and the team score. 116 was the total reached, a stunning effort from a group of players who had never played together before.
Faced with a herculean task of scoring 117 to win, Warwick CC sheepishly came in to bat. A tidy start for opening bowler Godfrey brimming with confidence after his haul of wickets on domestic tour. Paras partnered him with relentless accuracy. The pressure got to Warwick CC causing the first wicket to fall, a run out manufactured by the combination of Cooper and Godfrey, score 11-1. Good fielding must run in the blood of the Edmonds family as a stunning solo effort from Tedmonds caused the second wicket to fall. Stumps smashed by a pin point throw, Warwick CC two down, both run outs. This became a recurring theme. After tidy overs from Cooper, Paras and Godfrey the next three batsmen all out run out, unable to combat the superb UWMCC fielding performance. With the score 38-5 it was time for Tedmonds to throw down some Jewson-esk off breaks. Slow, no turn but effective as Warwick CC’s last man standing smashed the ball back only to be out caught sharply to cap a good fielding performance from Tedmonds.
A fabulous effort from a new team who will take great confidence into the next game.