Archive 2007

 

Midi CC vs Toulouse April 22nd 2007

Midi Open Their Account With A Win !

Bright sunshine, a good crowd and a manicured outfield. What more could we want ? Well, a win really. Midi began their Barclays League campaign against a very competitive Toulouse side who probably came into the game as favourites. Toulouse won the toss and decided to bat.

David Cole, in his first League game as umpire had just the start he had hoped for when there was a huge shout for lbw from the first ball from his end. Luckily the batsman was on the back foot and bang in front of his stumps which made David’s job easy. Despite the early breakthrough,  Toulouse’s Martin Hinton was in aggressive form from the word go, and Midi started to concede runs. Rob Bowyer came on as first change and immediately hit a good line and length which helped to slow the Toulouse run rate. However, it was the arrival of Gavin Mortimer’s slow stuff which got Midi back into the match. Despite getting a bit of tap in his first over, he went on to bowl an important spell taking 4-36. Just as Midi thought that they were about to wrap up the innings, the last Toulouse pair put on 42 runs for the last wicket, which left Toulouse 164 all out in the 33rd over. The Toulouse run rate was good, but all credit to Midi for not allowing them to bat out their overs.

The Midi innings began well, with Marc Dalling and new recruit Paul Rogers keeping the scoreboard ticking over. When Marc was out, the wickets began to tumble, and the dismissals of Gavin and Dom in particular were avoidable. Paul carried on in fine style, but when he went for an excellent 54, Toulouse had the upper hand. The Toulouse bowling tightened up as they sensed victory, and more wickets fell. With two overs left, Midi were 154-9 and hadn’t looked like hitting a boundary for some time. Luckily for the home team, resident baseball star Ken Miller was at the crease, and an unfortunate Toulouse bowler just happened to be bowling on a day when Ken connected. The second ball of the over went for a huge six over deep midwicket. The next ball was swept crisply for four. The scores were tied. The next ball the lads ran a bye and victory was ours.

It was a fitting game to grace our first League outing in St. Pons de Mauchiens and thanks must go to the Toulouse team who contributed to the game being played in such a great spirit. Many thanks too to all those who toiled as part of Colin’s ground staff to get the pitch looking so fantastic.

Dom

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Midi CC vs The Stand Club September 9th 2006

Team Photo

Midi CC vs Noé Gascogne 18th June 2006

After Midi’s drubbing away at Noé Gascogne, it was time to set the record straight when Noé came to Roujan two weeks later.  Although without the injured Stephen Langton, Midi welcomed back David Cole, Michael Barnwell and Stuart Rogers to the team.

Midi won the toss and decided to bowl. This decision was in no way influenced by your captain trying to make the game last as long as possible ! We took the decision to start with pace from the top end and slower bowling up the hill, and this seemed to work. When David Cole came on up the hill, he quickly made a breakthrough, and it was clear that the Noé batsmen were not picking their length. Midi had Noé at 75 for 3 after 18 overs and were looking good.  However, in one of their openers, Noé had a stubborn and technically correct player who constantly frustrated our bowlers. Halfway through the innings, Michael Barnwell came on to bowl, and produced a great spell, finishing on 3 for 42.  The Noé batsmen stuck to their task, and gradually the runs started to come. Midi had themselves to blame though, dropping three catches, two of which should definitely have been taken. Had we clung on to them, then I am sure that Noé would not have got near their final total of 225 for 6. The 19 wides bowled didn’t help either.  Apart from that, our fielding wasn’t bad. Nick Allison saved at least 30 runs patrolling the boundaries, and Marc Dalling stopped one with his head. Luckily the ball wasn’t too badly damaged.

Again with the bat, Midi were poor. Apart from David Cole and Michael Barnwell who managed to stick around, almost everyone else threw their wickets away. Only the two aforementioned players managed double figures. There is no doubt that if we can just stay at the crease and keep our wickets for a few overs more, then the runs will come.  We were eventually out for 65 - the same score as the previous match, so at least we can say that we aren’t getting any worse.

Plenty of work needs to be done therefore, and hopefully the quiet months of July and August will allow us to get in some useful practice ahead of our busy autumn schedule.

Dom

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