Magic Mellor
Highgate Wood, 7/31/2010
Strongroom won by 73 runs
Strongroom: 272-9 [M.Mellor 111, R.Woolhouse 45]
Gardeners: 199 [D.Woodhouse 55, J.Mitchell 44]
View the Scorecard
After nearly two years with the Strongroom I didn't think there was much more I could witness from Magic Mark Mellor. I've seen him catch rockets one handed, hit a six that was still going up as it went over the boundary, and bowl a two wicket maiden in a last over to win a game by one run. But still he manages to pull more surprises from his hat.
Strongroom went in to bat after winning the toss, Rich Woolhouse and myself opening up. After getting out for a paltry score to Nisbett, Mellor assured me I had done the right thing by lulling the Gardeners into a false sense of security before he went out and destroyed their attack. Rich did the destruction in the meantime, hitting some very confident strokes over the opening duos heads, despite the sticky and popping Highgate wicket. Strongroom wobbled briefly when Peter Terblanche was out (after hitting a giant 6), followed by an ugly mix up leaving Duncan Walters stranded at the wrong end. This brought in Mellor, who put on some much needed runs with Rich before Woolhouse fell, bringing Will Davies to the crease. Wil and Mark demoralised the Gardeners as they wielded their clubs in unison, playing every shot not in the book. These two have a rare knack of keeping good balls out whilst never missing the opportunity to dispatch a bad ball. However, a tidy spell from Gardener's spinner Hugh put an end to the baby seal massacre as Will missed a good length ball that crept through the gate. With support from the debutant Strongman Dan Whymark (29), Magic Mellor turned his speedy 50 into a monstrous 111, before playing on. Dan hit some very clean shots to round off the innings for 272-8, whilst Joe Rahman and then Mike Gabbay made sure the strike was rotated to him. 272 was a very large total given this was definitely no better than a standard Highgate wicket (180 being a standard total).
Tea Report: Will got the missus involved for a tasty spread, which included an amuse bouche of tomato, bocconcini and basil.
Gabbay and Chris West opened the Strongroom attack. Mike was tidy as always, but Chris had a bad case of the heebie-jeebies which led to an interesting 14 ball over. Gardener's openers Sutton and Woodhouse looked solid and after a few searching bowling changes stubbornly remained at the crease. The Strongmen were poor in the field as well as with the ball early on, however, the Gardeners did not capitalise. The break through finally came from myself, but when another wicket did not look imminent, the Magician Mellor was brought on to probe the stumps. Probe the stumps he did not, but it seemed the man could do no wrong, gaining two wickets from short deliveries, including the dangerous de Jesus as the Gardeners looked to accelerate. After Gardener's opener Woodhouse fell once reaching his 50 and Mellor found his rhythm, the rest was a formality. Mellor then did probe the stumps and was rewarded with another 3 wickets. Yes, 111, and 5 wickets in a day (let’s not mention the two dropped catches), mere mortals would hope for just one of these achievements in a season. Dan also joined the party with a clever run out as Nisbett strangely ventured down the wicket and did not care to return. The tail was polished off with help from myself and Joe for a normally match winning total of 199. With an overall scoreline of 9-7, Strongroom are in the ascendancy, and so next year will no doubt see a Gardener team seeking revenge.
Written By: M.Newkirk
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