“Stand Up Straight Boy!”

Match: 26 / 686

Lost by 18 Runs

Team	Total
Harwell International CC	153 - 4
M. Darley 2 - 24
FFTMCC	135 - 5
D. Shorten 33*, R. Hadfield 30*

On The players arrived at the brown parched Harwell cricket ground as tables and chairs were set out for the evening, everything marked out and ready, with the oasis of green from the watered pitch highlighting the lack of moisture everywhere else. The dry weather has been going on since May with a two-week respite in June and the plants are really struggling. Why Elon Musk is fixated on colonising Mars which has no rain, no oxygen, no liquid water and an average temperature at the equator of -70C in the day, when a slight wobble in wetness just about kills everything here shows that the dividing line between being a genius and an idiot is very thin. Please fix the earth first Elon, it’s a relatively simpler job.

Spoiler: this in NOT Mars but the moon, but the only stock Spam has from his Canon recently.

Harwell play league 5 and 9 cricket, and a mixture of both had shown up and the former would surely be a challenge for us. Skipper Shorten lost the toss and Harwell skipper Jay opted for a bat. From the off Harwell batted positively, always looking to score runs despite decent bowling. A Darley was tight up front, as was his increasingly sore Achilles tendon which left him hobbling for the rest of the match. Jamo was also tight with his mixture of flight and speeds, and M Darley (2-24) and G Timms carried on this theme. Harwell probably left a few singles out there but were ruthless in putting away to the boundary any loose balls. However, at 104-7 off 15 overs the Mad were managing to keep a lid on the scoring on what was a very quick outfield. You could whisper a few gentle words to the ball, and it would speed off to the boundary. Shorten bowling at the death with Rundle both kept the scoring to a run a ball. The only time the batters really got away was to Harris who got clobbered for 36 off two overs meaning at the close after 20 overs they had amassed 153.

Daddy Darley celebrating a catch off his son by stealing it off Harris.

The talk from the skipper in the interval was to not face too many dot balls but go after the chase is a positive fashion. This is something Harwell do naturally – maybe because of their relative youth – but something The MAD often struggle to do, instead often becoming nervous and jittery. The mental woes and scars of batting probably outweigh the success stories for most of The MAD the skipper included, and so the team talk was again to try and turn the tables and force a win against a decent enough score.

Hadfield (30*) up front played fluently to the relief of himself and everyone, walking off in the 7th over with his job done. Webster (30*) after edging a four early on would go on to struggle for timing despite great efforts. More of this later but his realisation in the 19th over that if he stood up straight, he could hit it propelled his score from 19 off 40, to 30 off 48 bringing about his retirement after 19.3 overs.

Hoskins tosses down some positive intent.

The Darley father (10) and son (5) added 15 in 9 balls to keep the score moving. The first change bowlers were also now on replacing the quick and accurate openers. Shorten (33*) to his own surprise played a blistering innings needing just 12 balls to leave the game well set up at 96-2 off 11.4 overs when he retired. Harris kept the pace up with 10 from 11, but with Webster still conducting experiments on the best stance to adopt, and Timms (1), Rundle (0) and Cartwright (3) feeling the pressure as the run rate mounted, and the sun light faded and with the opening bowlers mercilessly back on, the chase petered out.

Great viewing the run chase less Webster.

That said The MAD ended on 135 which is nearly 7 an over and a very good effort. It can be said that the running between the wickets was excellent and positive – we never gave up. The difference was their power batting – they just kept on scoring in every partnership so fair play. Back to Jan, sorry Jan, but as the game slipped away interest diverted to whether Jan could successfully carry his bat through the full twenty overs. No one was sure if this had ever been done before* and so clearly the excitement was growing. Comparisons were made with the legendary game of Geoffball. I can’t say it was disappointment completely when he started finding his timing towards the end, but when he did retire after 19.3 overs it felt like an anticlimax. The MAD you see are always looking for records of any sort.

A big thank you to Howarth who came along to umpire and score. Well done Harwell deserved winners and thanks for the pizza afterwards, until next year!

MOTM Hadfield traipses off as the sun goes down.

* - Chair Matt and Chief Historian has subsequently researched and found that nobody for The MAD has batted throughout a T20 innings from start to finish (without a retirement).

’Lego’

*

Statto Scorecards

Far From the MCC versus Harwell International CC Played at Harwell, 22 July 2026 Harwell International CC won the toss and elected to bat Harwell International CC won by 18 runs Far from the MCC debuts: n/a

26 / 686 20 over match

Team	Harwell International CC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
	TOTAL	(for 4 wickets, 20 overs)	153

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Team	Far From the MCC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
	TOTAL	(for 5 wickets, 20 overs)	135

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

MOTM: R. J. B. Hadfield Champagne Moment: R. J. B. Hadfield’s diving catch in the covers low down Buffet Award: J. Harris’ unbeatable deluxe value gateaux for all (most appreciated by the Harwellians) MAD Moment: Comedy fielding in the outfield between Harris and Webster as they fumbled, slipped and twatted about in general to stop a slow ball….

Opposition: V0 / 0 Ground: G0 / 0 Captain: C0 / 0 Match No: 20 / 209