South Bank Cricket Club (214 all out) lost to The Village (258 for 5) by 44 runs

Summary
The Village won the toss and elected to bat
Conditions

 Magnifique

 The Village’s second visit to the beautifully appointed Dulwich Sports Ground saw a record breaking performance and a second VCC victory over Southbank CC in a month.

 

After winning the toss, skipper Thompson asked Graham “access all areas” Pontin and Abrar to open up. Graham’s new open stance saw him dispatched one sweetly through square leg early on but it wasn’t long before both openers were back in the hutch both bowled by slower balls from Southbank opening bowler Arnold. This brought Cressey and returning batsman Chris Magnifique together to rebuild the innings from 10-2. Together they set about keeping out the good balls and putting away the bad ones with Magnifique in particular displaying a disdain for legside bowling as he raced to his half century. Cressey had regained some form with a series of drives and sweeps before being dismissed for 40, missing a straight one from Malstein. With Magnifique still plundering away at the other end however, The Village were back in the game at 117-3 following the day’s first century partnership. The wicket did however, spark a mini-collapse with Miami-Vice TdM attempting a risky single to ‘the Pirate’ Cohen at point and being made to walk the plank by some smart fielding resulting in a direct hit. This brought Dan ‘Slev’ Slevison to the crease who, following two centuries in two weeks previously, proceeded to sky an attempted legside slog up in the air to be dismissed for 1.

 

All the while Magnifique continued to smash the trash when it was offered and calmly proceed through the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s with as much aplomb as the Rolling Stones. Without knowing, he nearly cracked on 99 as he gently lobbed one over the bowlers head and in between mid-on and mid-off to roll through to a century. Rumours circulated that he was perhaps a little embarrassed at the shot to take him to 100 because the celebration was so muted from in the middle, but little did we know that Magnifique simply had his eyes set on bigger things. Bosh, once again, spent some time at the crease albeit this time in a supportive role as Magnifique continued to dispatch balls over the legside boundary and along the floor on the offside. To offer a lazy cliché, ‘once he hits it, it stays hit’.

 

The Magnifique-Bosh partnership went past 100 as the Village steamed to 258-5 by the end of 40 overs with Bosh finishing on an accomplished 43* and Magnifique breaking the club record individual score to end with 146*. This was a truly superb effort and chris barely looked like he had broken a sweat at the end of the innings despite batting for 35 overs and being completely destructive in that time (both facts can be explained by the realisation that 108 of his runs came in boundaries) Commiserations go to Steve Harty who previously held the record with 143*, but we can only hope this serves as an incentive for Steve to come back for a game and smash a 150 at some point in the future.

 

Lunch was a solid affair with a combination of hot and cold savoury options, freshly made tea and an ample supply of cakes.

 

The Village returned to the field with high hopes that the score could be defended and a determination to keep this season’s Streak going. Skipper Thompson and Ben Hampton opened up with the ball and both were unlucky not to take more than a single wicket apiece as they took advantage of a pitch that was suddenly offering a little bit more than it had 45 minutes earlier. Nevertheless, opening bowlers getting opening batsmen out is what has to happen if games are to be won and their spells set the Village off nicely. Southbank CC were always behind the rate set by the relentless pace of Magnifique and so it proved as middle-order wickets continued to tumble to Bilal and EK before wicketkeeper and number 6 Truss (53) and number 7 and opening bowler Arnold (32) began to rebuild. Two smart catches saw the back of these two however with Bosh and TdM chipping in with more wickets before the tail somewhat fell away, left-hander Williams (21) aside to leave Southbank CC 214 all out off 37 overs. This was a good effort in response to such an imposing total but ultimately The Village always remained just slightly out of reach.

 

Like two excited children, Cressey and TdM went to check out the shower facilities which were very good (not too hot or cold as is often the case), and Magnifique rushed inside to buy an impressive 6 pint jug to celebrate his achievements. Beers flowed until the sun went down and a few Villagers attempted (unsuccessfully) to play cricket by moonlight. The day (and night) belonged to Magnifique who continued to party well beyond his allotted home time but few would disagree that he had deserved it and we look forward to welcoming him back soon for another appearance in VCC colours.

 

Congratulations and thanks go to the newly engaged Gemma (fiancé of skipper Thompson) for being the only WAGAHO  in attendance, having cycled from Kew to watch. Thanks also go to Southbank CC for another good game and great setting in which we are always keen to play more cricket – see you next year chaps.

Runs 4s 6s
A Abbas b Arnold 2 0 0
GC Pontin † b Arnold 6 1 0
RM Cressey b Malstein 40 7 0
C Magnifique not out 146 18 6
T de Mellow run out (unknown) 0 0 0
D Slevison c unknown b MacIntyre 1 0 0
P Misra not out 43 4 0
B Husain 0 0 0
B Hampton 0 0 0
E Gupte 0 0 0
N Price-Thompson * 0 0 0
(Frank) Extras 1b 1lb 3nb 0p 15w 20
Total for 5 258 (40 ovs)
Bowler O M R W
Arnold 8 1 39 2
Cohan 4 0 47 0
Gant 5 0 43 0
MacIntyre 8 0 40 1
Malstein 8 0 47 1
Williams 8 1 28 0
Fall of Wicket
No data recorded
South Bank Cricket Club Innings
Runs 4s 6s
Thornton b B Hampton 0 0 0
Dollin b N Price-Thompson 19 0 0
Gant c GC Pontin b B Husain 20 0 0
Nelson c D Slevison b B Husain 27 0 0
James c B Hampton b E Gupte 2 0 0
Truss c RM Cressey b P Misra 53 0 0
Arnold c C Magnifique b T de Mellow 32 0 0
Williams b RM Cressey 21 0 0
Cohen b RM Cressey 0 0 0
MacIntyre b T de Mellow 6 0 0
Malstein not out 0 0 0
(Frank) Extras 20b 5lb 4nb 0p 5w 34
Total all out 214 (37 ovs)
Bowler O M R W
B Hampton 6 1 25 1
E Gupte 5 0 36 1
B Husain 6 1 34 2
N Price-Thompson 7 2 19 1
RM Cressey 3 0 17 2
T de Mellow 3 0 21 2
P Misra 4 0 20 1
D Slevison 3 0 21 0
Fall of Wicket
No data recorded