MPCC Take It To The Church!

A cold, windswept Beeston Fields greeted the hardy MPCC XI as they arrived for their encounter with Church of the Assumption.

Losing the toss, MPCC were unsurprisingly put in to bat on a bog of a track that had seen three hours of solid rainfall that morning.

Given that it was beneath regular opener and all round gloryhound Eggleston to turn upon time, skipper Pete Quinn turned to Carl Gabbitas to pair up with the evergreen Darron Hall.

From the first ball it was apparent that it was going to be a long day as the pair had to wait until the fourth over for their first run on a slow, turgid pitch.

The pair soldiered on, grabbing singles where possible with the boundary rope appearing elusive.

Inevitably, CACC struck, with Darron Hall unlucky to be caught of his glove for 4 in the eighth over.

Mark Davies came in next, with instructions from the Captain to hang around (instructions that are given every game and duly ignored every game). Spike got off to a good start being the first MPCC batsman of the day to find the boundary but was quickly on his way back finding himself clean bowled having damaged the scorecard to the tune of 6 runs.

Neil Eggleston, having decided he could be arsed, took to the field at No.4. Eggleston and Gabbitas worked hard to set up a partnership which began, albeit slowly, to yield results as both hit a steady trickle of runs. The relief was not to last however as just as the sky's began to brighten and the MPCC contingent watching from the sidelines began to think we may have turned a corner, Carl Gabbitas edged to the wicketkeeper for 10.

Pete Quinn came in at No.5 and immediately entered into a mid-over con flab with Eggleston over the way forward. I'm not sure what was decided but it was quickly undone as Neil, going for runs the team so badly needed top edged sending the ball high but short, presenting CACC with a straightforward catch and sending Neil back to the pavilion for 11.

Rich Blackwell came in at No.6 with MPCC woefully short of a competitive number of runs for the overs used. Pete and Richard went the way of the other pairings, grabbing singles where possible but struggling to connect with some, at times, very average bowling that just didn't pitch up. Pete was the first to fall foul of the desperate pursuit for runs, chipping a legside ball to square leg for an easy CACC catch for 3.

Brian Costello came in at No.7 and continued in the vein that has shown him to be a much improved batsman in 2010. A partnership began to take shape as Rich supported Brian well as both managed to score regular singles interspersed with that Holy Grail of a boundary.

Blackwell's aerial approach inevitably saw him caught a short while later for 8.

Rem Fiorini came in at No.8 and also got off to a flying start, finding the boundary with apparent ease. The same approach with his next shot however did not prove as effective as he presented CACC with a catching opportunity that they gleefully seized, dismissing Rem for 4.

Graham Footitt came in at No.9 with MPCC looking in trouble and desperately short of a defendable target. With Brian still at the crease and few overs remaining, Graham took a
no-nonsense approach and the runs began to come.

The purple patch was soon foiled as Brian was clean bowled for a gratefully received 17.

Andy Lewin came in at No.10 looking to support Graham only to see him dismissed LBW a short while later for 13.

Julian Davies came in at No.11 but it was all over moments later as Andy Lewin was caught for 3 leaving MPCC all out for 90 and staring an early finish in the face.

Unlike previous fixtures where the team have found themselves up against it, MPCC took to the field in buoyant mood, reinforced by a silent determination not really experienced before.

Carl Gabbitas (having to leave early for work........commitment!) was asked to bowl his 8 overs through from the start paired for the first 4 by Graham Footitt.

It was clear from the first over that CACC were going to struggle in the same manner Mansfield Police had and that perhaps this was not going to be the walkover we feared.

Both bowled outstanding line and length and, as is becoming a habit, it was Footitt that was rewarded first, trapping CACC's Usman LBW off the back of perhaps the best MPCC appeal heard all season.

Gabbitas followed suit a short whilst later as CACC's Naveed hit high in the pursuit of runs only to see "bucket-hands" Blackwell take the catch.

Neil Eggleston replaced Graham Footitt and used his pace well to present the batsmen with horrible balls that skidded off the surface in all manner of direction.

Neil was quickly quickly rewarded as the CACC No.3 skyed one to the waiting hands of Brian Costello.

Moments later, Eggleston struck again taking a spectacular catch from his own bowling and giving MPCC a robust reason to believe that an unlikely victory was possible. This belief was compounded when Neil clean bowled the next batsmen to take two wickets in two balls.

With Carl Gabbitas having finished his spell with very respectable figures of 8.0.16.1 the skipper looked to Darron Hall and Brian Costello to take the team closer to victory.

Darron continued with good work started by Gabbitas at his end whilst Brian, frustrated by the damp conditions and a gnawing back injury struggled to devastate as he had done in recent matches.

The pairing continued in the rich vein of form demonstrated by the previous bowlers however as Darron Hall took a well deserved wicket from a lean 4 over spell that only gave the visitors 11 runs as he bowled CACC's No.7.

With Brian's injury dominating his bowling, he was replaced by a reluctant Mark Davis. Spike's reluctance was proved unfounded however as in his first (and only over) he uprooted the leg stump of CACC's No.8

With only CACC's Summers standing between MPCC and a frail looking CACC tail, the skipper looked to the accuracy of Footitt to bring a wicket. It proved to be an instinctive piece of Captaincy as Summers was dislodged early into Graham's over, the bowler getting the thinnest of edges which flew into wicketkeeper Quinn's gloves to scenes of delirious celebration behind the stumps and bewilderment on the face of the bowler until the batsmen graciously walked.

CACC's Harris was next in. Taking a big swing he did nothing more than top edge straight to the waiting hands of Spike Davis, giving Graham two in two and MPCC the chance of arguably the most dramatic victory in thier short history.

The CACC No.11 trudged into position clearly not fancying it. Graham, showing nothing but contempt for the fellow's seniority in years bowled a peach, destroying his leg stump and completing the hat trick.

MPCC had won by 24 runs in the most unlikely of circumstances and loved every minute of it.

For the Captain personally, this was perhaps the most satisfying victory in the clubs history (just beating Woodborough away the year before I reckon??). The work ethic in terms of bowling and fielding was nothing short of brilliant and everybody in the team did their bit to secure victory.

As always, the man of the match candidates were many, Brian Costello with a useful run total, Neil Eggleston for another 3 wicket haul. However, as should surprise nobody, with 13 runs and 4 wickets in 6 overs for only 6 runs, 3 of which making up his hat-trick there could be only one winner. Graham Footitt.