Taylor Wessing

6th Aug 2013 - Alexandra Palace
Won by 10 wickets - NRR = 3.49

Welcome to another instalment of the heavily pro-author match report. CIPA ITMA CC's game against Taylor Wessing being dominated by the bowling masterclass of your correspondent, Mark Jolly.

After two games away from home, without tea or jugs of beer, the team were glad to return to Alexandra Palace and a match on well-kept turf that had enjoyed the previous day's rain. This season, it must be said, has had more than its fair share of bright days in the midst of grey, and once again the gods of cricket kept the sun shining on the CIPA ITMA CC side.

Taylor Wessing arrived with only seven players, but with the current run of form, the CIPA side was bulging at the seams and two extra men were found to bat for the other side; this left the teams only slightly uneven at 10 against 9. With fewer players to pick from Taylor Wessing batted first, and early on CIPA were making inroads; Al Davidson picking up the first wicket in the first over and continuing to offer a full gamut of line and length. Taylor Wessing consolidated though, and batted out another three overs of Davidson, alongside Jake Flint without loss, but reduced to a pace that was unlikely to trouble Captain Stuart Lumsden .

Aware that time was ticking, and that batting in the dark at Ally Pally was a dangerous proposition, Captain Lumsden ended Jake's spell early, and without Andy Spurr or Robert Carpmael to turn to, gambled on Mark Jolly. Jolly struck promply, thanks to an audacious catch from James Duffy at point, who took a break from sledging his teammates to dive full length to his left and poach a ball one handed just above the turf.

Backed up by Lumsden's tight bowling, from the pavilion end, Jolly, mixing up balls from over and around the wicket to the left hander and picked up another wicket courtesy of yet another fine catch, this time behind the stumps by James Shearman, surely the season's find in terms of hidden talents. Now into his third over and level with Carpmael for wickets taken in the season, Jolly was clamouring for his final over, with the team behind him: "go on Skip", "come on, Stu, what harm can it do?", "yeah, go on, CGC, we'll win this even with another of Tumnus's dire last overs".

Against his better judgement (history recording a typical final Jolly over as a wayward affair), perhaps in view of the relatively low total at the halfway stage, Lumsden obliged and Jolly picked up the ball (excellently buffed by Justin Wilson , in the role of chief ball polisher) which swung in and immediately found the stumps.

Three down, CIPA's first extra man appeared at the crease, batting for the opposition, Heston Orchard showed that despite his status as a ringer, he was CIPA through and through, flailing at the second ball of the over as it thumped into middle stump. The prospect of a hatrick had pulses running high, but two more balls were required before Jolly took his fifth wicket, and Taylor Wessing's sixth, CIPA's form in the field continuing as Andy Clemson pouched a chip to mid-off.

With the wickets falling, the tail was mopped up by Andy Grant , bowling mesmerising spin from around the wicket and Chris Milton appreciating some generous umpiring as he sent down his trademark quick and quicker balls. These death bowlers even took the wicket of the "last man standing"; this despite some clear catch avoidance from Andy Clemson, taking a very casual stroll to take the ball after the bounce.

Taylor Wessing would surely be rueing the late running partners' meeting at WP Thompson that kept their second secondee from CIPA ITMA CC, Bob Ackroyd , from arriving in time to bat. No doubt a bit of stability could have been provided by the only batsman to carry his bat for CIPA, and with the first innings over after just 16.3 overs, Bob's steadfast batting style would surely have helped to use up the light.

Bob was in time, however, to help out in the field, with CIPA ITMA CC offering three spare players to bolster the Taylor Wessing field, Heston Orchard also assisting with a couple of overs with the ball.

With a target of just 86, CIPA ITMA CC were feeling confident, despite the disadvantage of batting second. With Justin Wilson opening alongside Andy Clemson , the confidence was well-founded. A stylish pair, Wilson and Clemson took no prisoners with their textbook batting, Clemson even unveiling a new shot - not only did he continue with the elegant forward drives well known to his fans, and readers of these pages, but a pull shot appeared very early on and re-appeared for another boundary a couple of overs later.

Both Clemson and Wilson retired unbeaten on 25 - neither tempted into attempting a big 6, for the holy grail of a 30*. This left James Shearman and James Duffy safe in the knowledge that not only did they have batsmen 5 to 10 beneath them in the order, but that the openers could return if necessary. Both batsmen punished bad balls, not to mention the decent ones, making short work of Heston Orchard in particular. With only one chance, a difficult catch that the substitute fielder could barely get a finger to, the game was wrapped up, CIPA ITMA CC reaching the target of 87 without loss and in just 11.1 overs.

An excellent day for all the players, with every batsman increasing his average, Justin pulling away at the top of the run chase, James Shearman taking second place from Andy Spurr and Clemson and Duffy both improving their averages. But the real story was on the bowling side, the post-match chat centring on how to spell "fiver" - Wikipedia informs: a Five-wicket haul (also five-for, five-fer, fifer, shortened to 5WI or FWI, or colloquially Michelle). The decision should be made now for the sake of consistency, since this game was the first since records were digitised that a CIPA player had taken five wickets in an innings - and with one with only 8 potential wickets, at that.

With an early finish, there was plenty of time to enjoy the buffet including the new addition of miniature garlic-filled jacket potatoes, to chat to an exceptionally sociable opposition, and consider where on the clubhouse wall the board for leading wicket takers should be placed, outside the ladies’ having been chosen as a fit and proper place for a photograph of the undisputed man-of-the match.

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