Our annual match against the President's XI took place on Sunday and with the weather taking a turn for the worse after some glorious sunshine the previous week.

However the weather held off enough to make a start with the president deciding he would bat first with a terrier style format match.

This consisted of batting in pairs for 6 overs each and if you were out your team lost 5 runs.

I decided to open the bowling with Monty and unbeknownst to everyone on the field of play Monty decided not to do his trademark warning to the batman at the non-strikers end and actually decided to deliver the ball in the direction of the batman. Unfortunately Green Snr was also surprised not only by the ball being released but also the fact it was a very high yorker which the unfortunate Richard missed and hit him on the side of the face.

I had thought this was supposed to be a friendly fixture!

This was the beginning of an eventful day which perhaps in hindsight we should of stopped at that point before more damage was done.

Richard was ok and continued to bat with the next injury happening to Green Jnr having batted well one hefty hit resulted in his good shoulder popping out briefly. After a few minutes he decided to bat on and all was well.

Eventually after all the President's men had batted the net score we were left to chase was 197 off 36 overs.

Our innings started after a nice bit of cake and tea thanks to Ros, Helen and Anita.

I opened with the pairing of of Ilan and Josh Frankel which was nice to see. They got us off to a good start but we had lost a few wickets which would affect our net score. The next pairing saw a couple of players brought in. With a few shots being clubbed to the boundary these were being negated by regular loss of wickets. After a couple of four's from AJ, who was beginning to get his eye in, as he was going for another big hit he missed and was bowled. However the main concern was the fact he fell awkwardly and looked in some discomfort. When we approached him he took his pad off to find he had what appeared to look like a dislocated knee cap.

At this point the game came to a halt and an ambulance was called. I would like to thank everyone who came to help once again Anita and Sarah to make AJ as comfortable as possible.

After about an hour or more the ambulance arrived and as he left the field to the tune of "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter this put a big smile on AJ's face (could of been the gas and air though) as well as the ambulance crew.

The decision had already been taken to call the game off and with the pizzas being made everyone tucked in to them in their socially distanced groups.

I'm sure I can speak for the President in thanking Bill for organizing the pizza van which was a great success.

The update on AJ is he is in a cast and on crutches

Will popped his shoulder out and is sidelined for 2 weeks

Richard after receiving the blow to his head has been talking sense for the first time in 35 years!!!

Regards Steve

p.s This Sunday's fixture v St Aidens is off unfortunately after not being able to use the School field. I had managed to get a pitch at Southchurch Park courtesy of Southend EMTCC. I then received an email from St Aidens saying they wont be able to fulfill the fixture as they only have 5 players available.

Our next game is now 4th July v Brentwood Victorians Away

Again apologies for the delayed match report but here goes.

On Sunday 6th June we hosted Belhus cricket club with a 2pm start and the captains agreed to a 35 over match. Having lost the toss again the opposition decided to bat although this decision was probably influenced by the fact they only had 5 players at the ground at the time with a fair few supporters which consisted of mainly parents as they had a reasonably youthful look to the side. This was very nice to see and I hope we shall have a fair few people attending the Presidents match to spectate as well.

I opened the bowling with Bill Foley and Justin Montellier. Foley returned with figures of 7-30-0 which was unfortunate as he had their captain what appeared to be trapped LBW offering no shot early on. This was the beginning of what was to be a very lucky day for their captain after having survived the appeal and on his way to scoring 100 he was dropped at least 3 or 4 times before the bowlers gave up and realized he needed to be bowled. This was done successfully by Ged Williams who required 1 wicket to get to a total of 50 wickets for Mount which I believe has taken a number of years to reach. Perhaps previous captains have not seen the potential as he returned with figures of 5-28-3. Having gone through their allocation of 35 overs Belhus finished off with 216-7.

This was a tough target but one I felt we had more than enough batting to be able to make a good go at it as our batting on paper went down to number 9 with all 9 of these batsmen being able to open the batting if I so chose. I decided to open with Richard Green and Neal Meron but with both openers falling with the score on 23 Vijay and Bob Curtis continued to add run very steadily however we were beginning to fall a bit behind the run rate. With the score on 73-4 I was joined at the crease by Noel Smith and we managed to put on another 56 runs mainly contributed by Noel with some heavy hitting. After I had been dismissed (29) Noel soon followed (41). With the pressure building and the youthful opposition fielding wickets continued to fall and at 160-9 things looked very grave indeed. We were now down to Monty and Foley and blind hope that the D-Day spirit might come through and with some lovely shots played by them both we eventually after they put on another 20 runs we ended up 180ao to lose by 36 runs.

An enjoyable game that could of been so different had the catches been held.

Onto our next game v President 20/6/21 12:30pm start at Alleyn Court

Firstly apologies for late report!!

On Sunday 30th we had our game against Great Canfield. After heading across Essex we entered this lovely village with the majority of the cottages being thatched and the promise of it being a lovely little ground came into view. Although the shape of the playing area was slightly different this did not detract from a beautiful setting for a cricket match. Many of the players commented on it having the feel of a tour match.

The sun was out for the day which was the warmest this season so far and for the first time I won the toss! In doing so I promptly decided to bat much to the disappointment of the opposition skipper whose word at that point was "damn."

Unlike previous games where I tend to be very top heavy with batmen this side had a more balanced feel to it. Basically not having the usual 7-8 openers in my line up.

I decided to open the batting with my vice captain Paul Offord and Bob Curtis who got us off to a steady start with some lovely shots which did not get the full value they deserved due to the length of the outfield. After Paul departed Bob was joined at the crease by Andy Truman-Williams on debut. Both batsmen continued to bat well but runs were at a premium mainly due to the aforementioned length of the outfield. After the next wicket to fall both Ilan and myself departed swiftly barely troubling the scorers so we were in a bit of trouble with overs running out. Up stepped Andy Abel who managed to keep the score ticking over finishing on 32 not out and coupled with Bob (41) were our top scorers. A couple of hefty blows from Mackay and our ex captain Bill with 7 from 2 balls including our only 6 of the innings left us with the total of 153-8 off our 35 overs. After having our first tea supplied by the opposition which was great after 2 years we then took to the field. I had mentioned during the break that our score was very defend-able as long as they didn't have some players that went aerial early on. Alas though my concerns were realized as the openers used their local knowledge and did go aerial. Having got off to a very quick start I made a bowling change first with Bill 7-2-26-0 coming on for the unfortunate Toby who had bowled a good line and length. When P McKeon finished his spell with very respectable figures of 7-27-0 I decided to unleash my secret weapon in the form of Golden Arm himself Paul Southward. He promptly torn through the opposition top order bagging both openers which also included 2 wickets in 2 balls and was very unfortunate not to bag 5 wickets with a catch going down to our safest pair of hands in the field. I won't mention his name but he's South African (sorry) :0)

This was not the only chance to go down which ultimately cost us any slim hopes of pulling a dramatic victory out of the jaws of defeat. Canfield eventually reached their target with 3.1 overs to spare.

It was a enjoyable game with a good bunch of guys and hopefully we will be playing them next year with the prospect of a home and away fixture.

One interesting point of conversation that came up with their captain was the fact that they had their opposition drop out the previous week but managed to get a replacement team immediately on the Wednesday evening prior to the match. The team they got was none other than Willow Herbs! Who had been due to play us but opted to change their opposition and let us know on the Thursday prior to our game that they could not fulfill the fixture!!

Anyway on to our next game which is Sunday at home v Belhus 2pm start.

Dear Mounties & Friends

We have braved the bitterly cold and wet start to the season, and as I write this email the sun is out, Test match cricket is under way again, and life is retuning to a bit more normality.

After last year's postponement, we continue our way back to normality with the Mount v Presidents match on Sunday 20th June. This has traditionally been an opportunity to welcome back old friends and players who have been associated with the club, and this year is no exception with the added incentive of making it as much of a family event as possible!

To reflect that, the President's XII is largely made up of Dads & Lads, and we hope that both club and invited guests bring their families along during the course of the day. We would love to see everyone (whilst observing the Covid protocols of course!). The cricket is set to be a lot of fun, and to encourage off field participation and attendance we have commandeered a pizza van to cover the catering (for which there will be a nominal charge) and hopefully an ice cream van will be at the ground too. And since we are expecting beautiful weather there should be plenty to satisfy most thirsts! If that's not enough, we will run a raffle so you can possibly win some great prizes too!

The game will start at 12.30 which leaves plenty of time after the game to enjoy each other's company and catch up on news, and with the food and drink available it would be a great time to see any non-playing supporters. As I say, we would love to see families on the day, but please indicate numbers so we can cater for them. The skipper is looking to pick from as many as possible, so please advise him of your availability if you have not already done so.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible and hoping for a sunny day on the 20th!