Pye Cup quarter final, Madingley Mulch away
Madingley Mulch won the toss and elected to bat

Of course there’s never a bad time to take a hat-trick but some are certainly sweeter than others…
It was all a bit flat out on the wide expanses of Caldecote Playing Fields. Madingley Mulch, last year’s beaten finalists, were scoring at a rapid rate mainly thanks to their opening bat.
Who had just reached 50 in fewer than 30 balls. True, some of his runs had been on the streaky side, with Jeff the unluckiest bowler as edges just didn’t go to hand but the hosts were sitting pretty on 97-2 and looking set for a mammoth score of Ice Age proportions.
Until…
Jeff steamed in and bowled their star bat.
Jeff steamed in and trapped the new man lbw first ball.
Everyone in for the hat-trick, including slips, Jeff steamed in and – an edge! Gareth, donning the gloves again*, snaffled it gleefully and the Phoenix was a far noisier and happier old bird.
One run later and Nusrat, who had bowled superbly, bamboozled the next man for yet another duck. The Mulch middle order had disappeared in fewer than two overs. 97-2 was now 98-6.
There was still one quality bat to worry about but with George replacing Nusrat as the slow bowling option they struggled to get away Matt bowled the danger man and did the same with the final Mulch man prepared to have a go. Madingley had to settle in the end for a less daunting 136 off their 15 eight-ball overs.
Jeff deserved to see if his magic also worked with a bat in hand and he and Badders immediately got the scoreboard moving at the required rate without taking any needless risks.
Badders hit three boundaries in his rapid 15 and Jeff took over the attacking mantle with a 24 that included a big drive for six. 71 was in the board when he was second out.
Could our left-handed duo take us home? Of course they could. Ralph, who had earlier taken amazing catch, found the boundary five times and Aidan four as we overtook their total with 14 balls to spare, with two instances of six wides certainly making our task easier.

* This week’s bizarre injury is Housemaid’s Knee – one of Dave’s looks like it should be in the Beano…

Madingley Mulch

J Allen c J West b Hamid 12
H Liddell b Wilson 51
K Gibbons c Minter b Hamid 8
A Meddle b Dobson 25
D Kodagoda b Wilson 0
R Radhakrishnan lbw b Wilson 0
V Dommanige c Everson b Wilson 0
H Kahlon b Dobson 12
A Kandula not out 2
K Mistry not out 4
Extras 17
Total: 136-8 in 15 overs

S Creed 2-0-20-0
J West 1-0-16-0
N Hamid 4-0-25-3
J Wilson 3-0-36-3
G Rolls 3-0-20-0
M Dobson 2-0-15-2

Phoenix

J Wilson lbw b Meddle 24
J Badcock c Liddell b Kandula 15
R Minter not out 31
A Swain not out 22
Extras 41
Total: 139-2 in 13.2 overs

Phoenix win by eight wickets with 14 balls remaining.