Chaos here,
After a disappointing day on Saturday being rained off at home to a less than enthusiastic Shepley, we were chomping at the bit to get the 2023 season off and running. After a busy winter in the transfer market and 4 new faces to bed into the dressing room, I was keen to see how we fared against an old foe in the first round of the Heavy Woollen Cup.
We welcomed a recently relegated Golcar to the Memorial Ground who have always provided a tough test for us in previous seasons since I arrived at the club. The first thing of note was that Golcar were missing 3 big players, league legend Steve Whitwam, explosive opening batsman James Howson and another Australian overseas, which would be big omissions for them.
My Golcar counterpart, Jack McNamara won the toss and elected to bat which gave our new-look team chance to take the field together for the first time. We wasted no time getting to work, new signing Jonny Rudge blasted their opening batter’s front pad off 3rd ball of the game and the tone was set. Another new signing, a man I spent many years beating up in our youth, Marcus (M1) was not to be out done. In just his second ball for the club he took his first Moorlands wicket by removing their number 3 and Golcar were staring down the barrel at 5-2. Both of our new and experienced opening bowlers enjoyed the conditions and it looked hard work for the batters. Rudgey then forced the other opening batsman to leave a ball that hooped back in and crashed into off stump to make it 15-3. It’s a shame the livestream was on the blink and he can’t show his students all week and plaster it all over social media.
Golcar’s James North and Mohammed Ali, two players who have impressed me in previous seasons, batted really well and put on 98 runs before a piece of brilliance off his own bowling from overseas man Amogh Bhatkal, ran Ali out. Our lads did really well to keep the runs down and once North was stumped by Chenners the impetus of their innings was gone. Golcar finished on 189-9, Rudge with 10-0-42-2, M1 with 10-1-35-2 and Chaos timing his own spell to perfection with 3-11 off 4.
During my time at the club we have always struggled batting 2nd and chasing scores down. Players scrambling around in the changing rooms for pads, spending hours on edge, has been a regular occurrence. It’s a well known fact that “everyone gets a bat for Moorlands” as we have a bad habit of losing wickets in batches and our momentum suffers. However, a newly formed top 3 with the injection of M1 at the top, showed no signs of past season trauma and the dressing room and supporters enjoyed a very rare relaxed day at the office. Much like a leopard can’t change its spots, Shoki can’t change trying to pump opening bowlers into Huddersfield road and the canal. M1 proved to be an ideal opening partner and we were 51-0 off 10 with Shoki on 42* (31) and M1 6* (24). Shoki appeared to enjoy a stable partner at the other end and it freed him up to play his attacking/dominating style from the off.
Shoki was dismissed on 49, being caught behind, which saw the entrance of club favourite James Rawlinson (JR). M1 then began to go through the gears and was picking the spinners off with some Chaos-esque slog sweeps. It was a pleasure to watch two cultured left handers knock a challenging score off against a good side, almost scoring at will. They looked to have an understanding straight away, quick singles and rotating strike which has been an issue for our batting order previously. Their 100 partnership came off just 103 balls, M1 contributing 45 (47) and JR 41 (56). They finished with a 121* partnership, that never looked in any trouble which was testament to the way they both batted in the opening game of the season.
As captain, it was a very good start and a performance we can definitely build on. The way Rudge and M1 started the bowling off, backed up by Amogh on debut who showed great control and cricket intelligence working out the pace of the pitch quickly. Shoki with his quick fire 49 (51) gave us a great flyer as he so consistently does. M1 had a great debut for the club with a man of the match 73* (100), I’m glad the supporters got to see an early glimpse of things to come from him. Finally, everyone at MCC was excited to see a free flowing/moving and 2021 version of JR with his 48* (61), an innings reminiscent of his maiden season where he notched up over 1,100 runs for the club.
Two enormous games to look forward to and prepare for next weekend. Firstly to last seasons Premiership runners-up Honley on Saturday, a good side who are consistently in the top 3. Then on Sunday a trip to Meltham in the Sykes Cup as we look to defend our back to back wins. Hope to see you all there supporting the boys.
Til next time,
It’s been Chaos