Quidnuncs Match Reports
Quidnuncs v Harlequins May 3rd 2009
A glorious day at Arundel on Sunday saw the Quidnuncs win the toss and decide to bat. With 10 lively Quidnuncs and one guest (the skipper of last year's Oxford MCCU and the combined MCCU side) the Quidnuncs felt confident. They felt less confident at the end of the Harlequins' new ball spell with Jones G &R, Danson and Hodgson back in the shed. Young (guest) and James steadied the ship but with Young and Heywood's departure either side of lunch, the 'Nuncs were rocking on 106-6. James and Newman then batted beautifully to add 100 and to allow the Quidnuncs to declare on 206-6 after 53 overs leaving the Harlequins approximately 45 overs back. Vice President Melluish showed both sides of his character by questioning the Quidnunc captain why 1 . the teams were lunching on separate tables and then 2. why the Quidnuncs had made such a generous declaration (last year the 'quins had chased down 280 in a similar time!)
The Harlequins came out in aggressive style but the Quidnuncs are used to batsmen trying to play their shots from the word go. Alberts and Kemp used the new ball beautifully, pitching the ball up to drive and every time the Harlequins looked to be getting ahead of the rate another wicket fell. The last ball before tea saw Alberts bowling to a 9-0 offside field in an effort to get another nick to another outswinger. After tea, the dark blues needed 150 off approximately 30 overs with 7 wickets remaining. At that point the decisive bowling changes were made. A combination of slow turning off breaks from Newman, aggressive medium pace from Young and bouncy left arm non turners from Abington stymied the Harlequin charge and left the 'Nuncs comfortable winners by 50 runs and with 10 overs remaining.
The interesting fact of the day was that in the Quidnunc innings a Tonbridge schoolmaster dismissed another Tonbridge schoolmaster and in the Harlequin innings a Monkton Coombe pair repeated the feat, so bragging rights at those schools were shared. Overall though, bragging rights returned to the Quidnuncs, until battle resumes next year.
Many thanks to 2 Quidnunc vice presidents , who post the conclusion of Ken Green's many years of kind sponsorship, helped top up the player's match fees to pay the requisite fee to Arundel. Next year, we may move the fixture to Fenner's or the Parks to save cost, but somehow, despite our affiliation to those wonderful grounds, the spiritual home of this game feels like it should remain Arundel