2009 SUMMER EDITION

NEWSLETTER 2019 NO 6 - JULY 5 The Drinks are on the Club Chairman after Sweltering Saturday sees historic Five Wins for the Moles

For the first time, 5 Molesey senior teams with more than a smattering of younger players squeaked through to 1st X1 Jake Kings and Jonnny Fawcett walk off winners in a nail- bring the club a clean sweep. The success brought mixed biter against Banstead blessings for the Chairman last weekend, as club tradition dictates that the drinks are on him. If all 5 teams turn up, it could be an expensive step into the history books!

Club Night This Saturday so come down and celebrate a fantastic month! Mexican themed food served from 6.30pm and awards soon after! Everyone welcome!!

WHAT A MAN! More history making this week, as Darius Burge became the first player to represent 1st X1, 2nd X1, 3rd X1, 4th X1 and 5th X1. Oh yes and now he can also be seen umpiring. Is there no stopping him!? HE CAN ALSO BE SPOTTED UMPIRING FOR THE JUNIOR TEAMS!

1st XI - June Clean Sweep For The Moles

As the Summer calendar reaches Glastonbury and Wimbledon, The Moles continued their bid to serve up the headline act in the ECB Surrey Premier League title race, strengthening their position in second place.

Consecutive, and contrasting, wins over Ashtead and Banstead kept up the heat on title rivals Reigate Priory, with the Llamas now wary that their challengers will prove a mountain, rather than a Molehill, to overcome.

The visit of Ashtead to Graburn Way resulted in a comfortable win for the home side. Despite a strong start by the Ashtead openers, the Moles attack soon got to grip with the middle order, and were led by Jonathan Fawcett’s 5-54, as The Stags subsided to a below-par 162ao. Sahan Arachchige anchored the reply with a patient 46, as the hosts eased to a five victory.

The 1st XI knew they would have to be on top form to emerge victorious on their visit to a strong Banstead outfit. The Rams won a crucial toss, and elected to bat first on a flat wicket in blistering heat. The Moles stuck to their task well, in conditions that really tested the grit and resolve of skipper Dominic Reed’s side. Sahan Arachchige demonstrated his all-round skills, with a fine spell of 4-41 to keep his side in the game, after a 154 run 5th wicket partnership left The Rams on 256-4. The hosts made a sporting declaration of 280-8 from 62 overs, affording The Moles 58 overs to chase their score. Matt Tigg led the reply, with a simply wonderful innings of 85, containing splendid strokes all around the wicket. He was supported by several cameos, including a solid 46 from opener Tom Phillippe, in a real team effort from the visiting side. With the game finely poised, a flurry of late left The Moles needing 9 to win with last wicket pair Kings and Fawcett at the crease. A scrambled single saw The Moles to victory, sparking jubilant scenes amongst the visiting players and followers alike.

Third placed Wimbledon are the visitors this Saturday to Graburn Way, in a crunch game, as Reed’s men look to march on. Type to enter text2nd XI - Back to Winning Ways

Your Scoobies correspondent hereby apologises for his absence in recent newsletters. He saw no need to dampen the positivity emanating from the Moles’ four other teams with stories of less than ideal start to our league campaign!

Saturday, however, saw a welcome return to form with a convincing win at Fortress Graburn Way against visiting Ashtead. The day started with a heart-in-mouth moment for skipper Burge when the coin landed on the wrong side at the toss. Thoughts of side-eyes aplenty flashed in front of his eyes at the prospect of telling his teammates that his failings had resulted in them having to field first in 32-degree heat. “We’ll have a bowl!” said the opposition skipper. That weight instantly lifted off Burge’s shoulders as he quickly shook hands and 2nd X1 watch 1st X1 winning runs did via facetime! a runner to minimise any chances of a change of heart.

The batters then proceeded to pile on the runs and ensure that Ashtead’s skipper quickly became the object of significant loathing from his men. The runs were shared around nicely with contributions from Malkin (31), Campbell (26), Lawford (41), Smith (28) and Miller (25 with bombs) giving Burge the option of declaring early. He ignored the cries from the baying hordes led by Knight to “LEAVE THEM IN THE DIRT FOR 55 OVERS!” and declared at 251-8 off 48 overs.

52 overs to roll them. Never an easy task but Beck (5-3-2-2), Knight (10-1-25-1) and Rizvi (7-1-29-1) started excellently with the new ball. Burge then had the luxury of turning to his tweakers once already through their top order. Miller (7.5-2-8-2) and Smith (10-1-55-4) were both at their best and made light work of Ashtead’s middle and lower order giving the boys a much-needed win. Here’s hoping this starts a run in the middle of the season.

Thanks to EMCC Sponsors: Type to enter text Nail-biter for the 3rd XI

Nails were truly bitten at Beddington for the League 1 3rd XI clash on Saturday. The Moles managed to stay strong though and scraped home by 1 wicket, despite a hat trick from Beddington to get us 9 down. Neil ‘Nelly’ Campbell and regular rearguard activist Olly Mills held firm to get us over the line.

Despite having to field first on a hot afternoon, opening bowlers Toby Porter and Jack Crowther set about the task with gusto and had the hosts struggling at 17-3, including a spectacular grab by Dom Millard behind the stumps. Max Tomlinson joined in and frustrated the Beddington batsman and got his reward straight after drinks with a sharp, low catch in the slips by Wakely. The challenge on an inconsistent pitch seemed to be greater with the pace off and Max was joined in the attack by Neil Campbell who also helped himself to a couple of wickets. It was the Captain’s decision to bring back Jack Crowther that ensured the Moles were only chasing a modest total as he cleared the last 3 wickets in the tale in just 8 balls, Jack finishing with 4 for 15.

The message from the Captain for the half hour of the Molesey innings before tea was to lose no wickets. Unfortunately Jez Downer went third ball and Theo Talbot soon after. But Tiam Ashfar and Max Tomlinson steadied the ship so that we went into tea at 30 for 2. They put on a further 15 after tea before Max was tempted down the track by one of the 4 spinners in the Beddington attack and got . Tiam finally went for a stoic 32 and this brought Neil Campbell to the crease to bat with Dan Wakely. Dan succumbed with the score at 77, and things were starting to get nervy which was not helped when Toby Porter chose to shoulder arms (beautifully) to a straight one and got bowled. Rod Porter staunchly repelled the invaders with Neil and took the score to 96 before the start of the hat-trick which would see us 9 down and still 11 runs short of victory. But there was no problem – we still had Olly Mills to come who had batted us to victory against Streatham only a couple of weeks before. He saw out a maiden to the hat trick bowler allowing Neil to attack the other end and see us home without further loss. A win by the narrowest of margins which maintained our second position in the league. 4th XI - Top of the Table

As we reach the halfway stage of the season, the 4th XI sit on top of division 4 West having recorded 7 wins out of 8 games played to date. On the 22nd of June we visited Woking & Horsell. Having won the toss we elected to bat on what proved to be a slow wicket. Jezz and Kieron Downer lead the way and put on a 50 partnership before the loss of our first wicket. Runs were proving hard to come by before Rangana De Silver and Rod Porter started to dismantle the attack, moving the score quickly onto 144, Rangana 53. Further contributions from the team saw the score move to 202 off our 40 overs. After the break our bowlers found wickets equally hard to come by and the opposition were looking strong with their openers remaining stubbornly at the crease putting on 80 runs before Kieron Downer made the breakthrough, taking the first of his three wickets. Wickets then soon tumbled, Rod Porter 3 for 18 and James Kotze, making his senior debut, with a respectable two wickets conceding just five runs, meant W&H were 63 short of our total when the last wicket fell. On the 29th of June the 4s ‘mean machine’ returned to Imber Court to take on Ashtead on what was the hottest Saturday of the summer so far. Losing the toss the opposition forced us Into the field and we were soon made to run around in the heat with the opening four batsmen all putting on over 35 runs each. The slow off spin of Luca Woods proved to be the undoing of the Ashtead batsmen taking three for 41, but it was the accuracy and pace of which reduced the flow of runs and saw him end with outstanding figures of five for 39. Chasing an Ashtead total of 206 Freddie Reese 50 and Darius Burge 51, got us off to an excellent start. Keith Tomlinson 20 and Max Hanson 56 continued the good work by the opening pair as the mighty fours reach their target with three overs to spare! Mugan the Mole reports on the 5th ‘New Dawn’

The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming. But not on the 22nd June, and especially not in our game against Alleyns.The moles were on the hunt for their first played win of the year, and hoped the visit of Alleyns may provide the opportunity. Mr. D Burge, stalwart of Molesey , became the first, and so far only player in mole history to play for all 5 Saturday league sides. Congratulations, wonderfully impressive. Not as impressive, was the Long Ditton Rec facilities. On arrival, the ground was devoid of any and all cricket related facilities. No matter. Burge brought paint, and our top order turned groundsmen, though Trevor would be suitably unimpressed with our line painting accuracy. Line accuracy would play a much more significant part in our day. More on that later Alleyns, very sportingly, agreed the pitch was playable, and after a dash to the shell garage for water, they took to the field. The pitch was a Schrödinger. Bounce was both there and not there, until the ball pitched, at which point it was revealed that the mole was alive or dead. Going was slow, and when Burge was hit on the front pad somewhere near square leg, and the finger of doom lifted, line accuracy came back into question. Colts scattered on the sideline as Burge departed.

It would not get better.

Alleyns bowled well, at the stumps, and waiting for the ball, and particular the wicket, to do the work. 7 of the moles were bowled by ones that stayed low, as we limped to a total of 134. Line accuracy my friend. Not ones to be defeated early, the moles took to the field knowing that straight bowling and catches would give us a chance. What we didn't know, was how to apply this strategy. Alfred Dean took 2 early wickets, but the Alleyn middle pair accumulated well, as the moles missed the target with the ball, and let the opposition free their arms. A late rally from Fawcett, taking another 4 wickets came too late, as Alleyns chased down the total with 2 wickets in hand. Their final 8 runs coming from wides. Line accuracy. To the nets boys. Work to be done. All in all, a difficult pitch, handled well by th opposition, and not so well by us. Lessons learned and rulers out. An away day at Merstham beckoned, and the sun was coming up. Mugan the Mole: A Famous Victory in Famous Quotes

With the new day comes new strength, and new thoughts. Eleanor Roosevelt New thoughts indeed. Ones of victory. Of sun cream and of 5fer Saturdays. If you have forest, if you have green forest, the water table goes up. What happens with deforestation is the water level goes down and we all know how much importance drinking water has. MS Dhoni (Seriously, look it up) Welcome to Merstham CC, and The Ring. An inviting wicket in the midst of a forest, where the water level goes down. It's makes for a road of a deck. And it's 33 degrees. Every side of a coin has another side. Myron Scholes On this occasion, it didn't matter. The home team wanted to bowl, and the moles were only too happy to oblige. Into the gazebo we went, and Messer's Supple and Fawcett headed for the middle. Slow but steady wins the race. Aesop See off the openers was the skippers advice, and so we did. Accumulating slowly, but steadily adding to the total, before Fawcett and Garman fell quickly. Skipper to the crease. Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language. Haruki Murakami...... Mugan, sketchy at best with the bat, but determined all the same, looked to accelerate the run rate. And did so, as if he knew what he was doing. Boundaries, which had been absent at the beginning of the match, began to arrive more readily. It must have been the heat. Things were starting to look good. A little too good perhaps. What looked decidedly less good, was the rearranged stumps of the skipper, out for 41. But the Moles had moved from 30 for 2, to 90 for 4, and the game was on. We have to stop and be humble enough to understand that there is something called Mystry. Paulo Coelho As Mugan departed, the game was in the balance. But Dave Mystry was at the crease, and that meant one of two things. We were about to put on another 70 runs, or we were about to have teas. Mystry looked in the mood for runs, but in his haste, topped edges about 10 feet in the air, direct to the keeper. Fortunately, he was not humble enough to understand Mystry, and he dropped him on 10. The onslaught began and runs flowed, assisted by Tottman, Mason and MacCarthy. As wickets fell around the Mystry man, the total grew over 160, and the half looked on, but, on 49 , Lawler mistimed to short midwicket, stranding the Trinidadian, who left the field with a smile that remained after the scorers informed him of his innings. As a man sow, shall he reap. and I know that talk is cheap. But the heat of the battle is as sweet as the victory. Bob Marley Teas consumed, and enjoyed well, the Moles came into the field rampant. From the off we toiled in the heat. Lawler took care of the top order, removing 2 caught behind, and one bowled. He was backed up impressively by MacCarthy and Mallinson, who took the fourth wicket and started the real panic. Someone may offer you a freshly caught whole large fish, like a salmon or striped bass. Don't panic - take it! Julia Child Where ‘a freshly caught whole large fish’ is their wicket, and ‘a salmon or striped bass’ is a dolly of a catch and a run out. We took both. Quickly. One for Mystry, and a runout from Simon Tottman, who had a thoroughly impressive first game. We want our legacy to stand upon the youth. We want to give knowledge to the younger generation and be a part of changing the game. Takeoff The Merstham team rallied, adding 40 runs without much trouble. We turned once again to youth, changing the game indeed. MacCarthy and Mallinson shared 3 wickets, reducing the home side to 90 for 9. All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved. Sun Tzu That none often includes myself. But, following 2 weekends of wicket taking destruction, it was time to turn to Fawcett. First, a stumping, not given, but no matter. That meant a caught and bowled was on offer, and duly taken, and with it, the game. The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory – Les Brown Its been a tough start to league life for the John Smiths. Ties and losses, but now, a first ever league victory, sweetened only by the fact that all 5 teams won, the perfect weekend for the Moles. I don’t like cricket, oh no. I love it. Eric Stewart The After Show Party! https://east-molesey.fantasyclubcricket.co.uk

There is no stopping Darius Burge, for the 2nd time in two weeks, his Indian Mystiques were winners! Off to Nandos again!

Position Team Name Manager Total

1 Colonel's Moles Sam Burge 3903 2 Talbot’s XI Theo Talbot 3880 3 Indian Mystique Darius Burge 3723 4 Capital King Crusaders Mark Collins 3635 5 GGCC Gemma Walker 3618 6 Mu-Guns Matt Mugan 3556

Top fantasy scorers this week were Robin Singh (All rounder 118) and Matthew Tigg (Bowler 118).

Player Standings After 2 weeks: Batter value points this week points overall Jeremy Downer £5.1m -10 434 Bowler Matthew Tigg £6.1m 118 369 All-Rounder Andrew Westphal £7.3m 1 532 Keeper Tiam Afshar £4.5m 42 271

Photos of the Week: Club Legend "Dickie” Dickenson and (U14)Harry Porter make their 1st X1 debuts fielding for Dom Reed and Andrew Westphal U13 Building their Season

On the 23rd June the Under 13's had a great game against Walton which nearly didn't go ahead due to a lack of players until Amelie Butler and Zara Sharma kindly stepped in. Great opening from Daniel Dickinson and Stefan Pelpola who had also bowled and caught in this game. Jack Short took an impressive two catches with other wickets achieved by Abel Curtis, Sarosh Hasan and Calam Sharma. won with 5 overs to go. Impressive team work all round.

Amy Smith leads the charge for EMCC U15 Girls

A great victory over league leaders Malden Wanderers for the U15 girls over the weekend (playing one short!). Every one of them played brilliantly but captain Amy Smith deserves special mention for her bowling display.

Despite a rare loss the team were still all smiles when it came to wishing a Happy Birthday to Amelie Butler and sharing a slice of celebration cake! Special report on by U9 Jet’s v Epsom by Finn Byrne

East Molesey U9s Jets v Epsom – Imber Court 23rd June Special Report by Finn Byrne I really enjoyed playing at Imber Court for the first time and being part of another Strikers win. We fielded first with everyone bowling straight and shared the wickets around. George Eggleton, Matthew Newbold and Harry Lee bowled really fast while Bailey Dean went for only one run for his two wickets. Matthew also took two good catches and everyone tried really hard in the field. In the end Epsom made it to 218 which was never going to be enough against the Strikers’ batting line up. I batted with Rayaan Ahmad and we put on 42 without getting out. All the partners added to the total with Ben Snowball playing lots of lovely shots and Kit Hardie hitting the ball hard as usual. We ended up with 346, a big 128 run win. U15 CHARGERS CUP RUNNERS UP!

Semi Final - Sutton CC u15 vs East Molesey CC u15 Chargers.

Sutton won the toss and somewhat surprisingly put us into bat.

Throughout our innings the batsmen kept the scoreboard ticking over and we were able to accelerate midway through the innings given we had wickets in hand. All our batsmen contributed to a very competitive total of 141 for 5 which was boosted by a quick fire 18 from Harry Pink and 19 wides from the home team. Champagne moment of the innings was a straight 6 up the hill from Luca Woods.

Some excellent bowling from Alfie SG and Jack Crowther supported by solid catching reduced the home team to 23 for 4 from the first six overs. After this the required rate was simply too much for the home team. Olly Mills took three wickets as Sutton tried to accelerate and despite a 50 from the no.5 the opposition were all out for 110.

Final - Sadly the boys were unable to turn over a powerful Guildford side but can be proud of a great cup run! SJIL U15 CHARGERS NAIL BITER AT BANSTEAD

The Chargers assembled at Banstead early on Sunday morning for a top V bottom clash in the league. Fresh from a great performance in the previous match to get in the ECB County Final, expectations were high for another fine performance. We won the toss and elected to bat, all good; We set off at a good pace and played a really sensible innings with runs coming throughout, starting with a nice foundation from Luka Woods and Louis S-G, and then aggressively built on by Patrick Lynch, Alfie S-G and a great last couple of smashes from Jack Crowther. We ended up posting 152-8 off our 25. All good so far and a total we felt was above par.

Then the performance started to slide when pressure was put on. We were bowling okay, not great, but not terribly. However, a series of mis-fields and lack of cohesiveness slowly let them back in to the game with their skipper being allowed to settle and then command the game to within a whisker of bringing his side home. We started to get tense and not support each other as we must, and the tension resulted in further fielding errors and heads going down.

There were two moments of brilliance which helped us maintain them by the narrowest of margins – both catches by Harry Pink who worked hard in the field. One a rocket of a drive which he had to jump for to reach and the second a skyer which was in the air for circa 30 minutes, swirling around….despite the ice gathered in descent, he took it with total composure.

On the final ball of the game, Banstead needed 1 for a tie and 2 for the win. Thankfully their bat top edged it and captain Lynch claimed a caught and bowled to bring home the game.

Too tight, boys, let’s work together and enjoy it!!

Meanwhile, Guildford Lightning duffed up The Pyrford Pears and so we go four points clear at the top of the table. However, we still have to play Pyrford and Guildford are in a competitive position if they clear up their fixture congestion.

U17’S 1ST MATCH OF THE SEASON FRIDAY EVENING SHOW

EMCC U17s took on Woking & Horsell on a glorious summer evening at Graburn way. This was the U17’s first home game of the season and they were keen to impress the healthy Friday night crowd. They did not disappoint registering another big margin win to accompany similar results in their other two league matches EMCC won the toss and elected to bat first. A strong opening partnership from Max Tomlinson and Tiam Afshar Molesey set the base from which to push on but a couple of quick wickets created a little bit of concern at 60-3. We needn’t have worried Archie Laird and Patrick Lynch put together the next partnership of note, in fact Archie was the star of the innings as he raced to 41 from just the 24 balls including a huge six into the river. With some last over hitting from Joseph Lynch, Molesey closed their innings on 145 from their 20 overs. Woking & Horsell got of to the worst start possible as Toby Porter bowled their opening bat with the first ball of their innings. Woking never recovered, Joseph Lynch picked up 2 more early wickets and a run out of their number four batsman. Wickets fell at regular intervals through out their reply and when Max Hanson and Max Tomlinson cleaned up the tail Woking were all out for 75. A winning margin of 70 comfortable runs and top of the table. spotlight feature: Sahan Arachchige EMCC overseas player 2019 (all rounder from ) interviewed by Sam Rocca (u13)

1. What inspired you to play cricket? My Father… he loves cricket and I used to go and watch him play. 2. Who is your cricket idol and why? Virat Kohli, for his hard work, passion & love of the game. 3. What is your highest amount of runs in an innings? 172! 4. Most wickets you have taken in a game? 6! 5. Who is your favourite team to play against? Guildford 6. How did you find East Molesey? Angelo Perera (EMCC’s pro in 2017) contacted me, I’m very grateful to him and the club for giving me this opportunity in England. 7. What advise would you give to young cricketers? Be positive, believe in yourself and respect the club, we are so lucky to play for East Molesey. 8. If you weren't a cricketer, what would your job be? A chess player 9. Apart from cricket, what are your other hobbies? Watching films and playing Chess… (Sahan is actually a former top 10 national player!) 10. What country would you most like to play cricket in and why? … in the IPL! Book Tickets Now for the Social Event of the Season

This Weekend’s Fixtures

The U12s will be on show on Friday and the weather looks good for another feel Rich Mills is fully intending to get the BBQ good Friday night at the fired up again this Friday, and the weather is club. The 2nd placed 1st looking like it might just perk up! X1‘s host 3rd placed Wimbledon on Saturday before settling in for our Mexican themed (food) Club Night! And on Sunday why not turn out to cheer on our U8s at 11am and the U21’s against Guildford Academy at 2pm - on the back of the U15’s loss in the cup, it’s all to play for.

Sun is forecast, what better way to spend the weekend.

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