OMT too strong on opening day of season

Old Merchant Taylors' 254-4 (Mohammed 2-46)

Jesters CC 206-7 (Mohammed 36*, Winchester 35)

Lost by 48 runs

Easter Sunday, for the last four years, has been glorious. The Fixtures Secretary therefore pitched on it as a perfect day to open the season, because he didn’t have to scrabble together a team.

In the end, he did help scrabble together the team, and but for one of Adnan Mohammed’s four ringers pulling out on the morning, we would have been eleven.

Jesters won the toss and put OMTs in to bat. Despite a first over stumping from Max Winchester off Krunic - the wicketkeeper’s happiest wicket - OMTs were soon pinging along. The bowling was not to blame as a couple of good batters got in and other OMTs landed their sketchy lofted flaps relentless wide of the field. Or, alternatively, the field settings were terrible. The Jesters toiled bravely as OMTs put together what always looked a challenging target of 255 from their 35 overs.

The Jesters never quite got ahead of the game in response, keeping their fingertips on a rate of something like nine an over until late on when a couple of wickets took the target swishing out of reach. Adnan was left on 30 not out.

Jesters X: Hudson (c), Bell, Winchester (wk), Krunic, Mohammed, R Siddiqui, H Siddiqui, Mapara, Bhimjiyani, AN Other