On another beautiful, hot, sunny Sunday, the worlds’ greatest cricket team travelled along the coastal road to Newhaven, to play regular opposition Denton.

With the skip having won the toss and electing to bat first in a 35 over game, The Mighty Greys opening pair walked out onto an absolutely parched, and somewhat rubbly (is this a word? Spellchecker hasn’t objected so it’s staying in) surface. Whilst the dry weather had opened up some rather large cracks in the pitch to worry the batters, it had also made the outfield lightning quick, and TMGs’ openers took full advantage to get off to a bit of a flyer. Jerry played some pull shots before being bowled by a big in-jagger for 10, with TMG on 39 in the fifth over. Biff was out in the next over for 15, bringing together Fat Arse/Nice Buns and Zach, who with some fine shots, notably a big six over mid-wicket from Zonk and a straight drive from Zach so fierce it blasted a hole in the special reinforced steel boundary fence, advanced the score to 88. Dom then got out LBW for a well-made 28 to another big in-jagger, and Zach followed soon after, bowled for 17. Dunky then came in and hit his first ball for four with a great shot. Whether it was a signature Dunky Clunk™, a more refined version of the traditional Dunky Clunk™, or a proper pull shot (boring) is still in arbitration, but he was soon out for 8, being replaced by Fat Hand Al. Trev hit a couple of great fours over mid-wicket before being bowled for 10, to bring together Terry and Alan for the highest scoring partnership of the innings. Terry played some classic leg side pulls, and made a rare foray into the off-side with a square drive, and Alan Eventually got his eye in to whack some drives before getting out for 79. El Tel and Alan put on 87 to bring the score to 218 in the 30th over. Alan was replaced by Greys newby James, who played some fantastic shots to push the score up to 250, with Terry getting out in the penultimate over for a very well-played 29.

Tea was then had, but I can’t comment too much as I didn’t have any.

TMG’s defence of 250 started about as well as could be hoped for, with one Denton opener having a big swipe at the skip (2-12), missing, and being bowled (as we see at least once a week) for 0. His partner soon followed him back to the pavilion having been run out by James swooping in from the covers, and James (3-22) also accounted for the number 3, clean bowled soon after. Up next was our PSM winner. Having been told to stop talking to the square leg umpire by the skip, and moved into a catching position behind square on the leg side, Alan produced a fine diving catch, importantly incorporating a textbook Judo roll for extra cool points, to get rid of the oppo number 4. Zach came on and bowled well for a wicket (1-13) before the main event, Duncan Edwards coming on for his first ever spell for TMG (Editor’s note: technically his second, but let’s not split hairs). As we all expected, it wasn’t long before the batsman was as befuddled as if Duncan had been talking to him in the pub, and Duncan had his first wicket for the Greys, ending up with 1 for 13. Biff and Jerry had a bit of a bowl, with Biff getting a wicket (1-26), before Dom was brought on to finish the match, quickly taking the final two wickets to end the Denton innings on 145, well short of the target, which never looked in any real danger of being overhauled.

So once again a great day out in the sun, nice opposition, and a comprehensive win for the worlds’ greatest cricket team. What more can be said but, DFWTMG.

Averages 2018

Averages lifetime