YCs 'in the pink' with win

Date released: 14 May 2009

Using a pink ball, as part of MCC's on-going experiments with coloured cricket balls; and with Elite umpire Simon Taufel officiating for the first ten overs of the match MCC Young Cricketers played out a closely fought match with MCC.

Match report by MCC coach Mark Wright:

Birthday treat: Radley watched his former charges win at Lord's The annual MCC v MCC Young Cricketers (YCs) fixture was played yesterday at Lord’s and proved to be an exciting and memorable match, not just for the former MCC Head Coach, Clive Radley, who was celebrating his 65th birthday!

In the fifty over match and after winning the toss in helpful conditions, the YCs new ball pairing of Jonathan Miles and Andrew Clarke bowled excellent spells. Miles bowled his quota of ten overs in succession from the Pavilion End and finished with excellent figures of 10-5-14-2; Clarke assisted well with one for 21 off six overs.

Clarke: Bowled "excellent spells" Querl replaced Clarke at the Nursery End and picked up the wickets of Garri Jones and Keith Parsons, the former Somerset all-rounder, in a hostile spell.

MCC were reduced to 69-5 after 20 overs with excellent catches from Michael Richardson and Jackson Thompson to compliment some fine seam and swing bowling. MCC progressed past the hundred thanks to King (34 not out) but the introduction of Luke Beaven into the attack regained control for the YCs; he bowled well, claiming three late order wickets.

Considering the top order collapse, MCC did well to reach 174 all out against a good bowling attack. Richardson (the son of David Richardson, ICC General Manager of Cricket) captained and kept wicket very well, taking five good catches behind the stumps.

YCs set about their target

The YCs set about their target of 175 at a lively rate and after three overs the opening pair of Bracewell and Ian Cockbain had progressed to 24-0. From this position the YCs were on the back foot through some excellent swing bowling from the MCC opening pair of Syddall (3-36) and Bedbrook (2-41).

Reduced to 49-6 off 11 overs, the YCs were in a great deal of difficulty. However, the middle order pair of Gary Brown and Andrew Clarke put together a rearguard action and battled hard to take the score onto 112-7 off 27 overs. When Clarke and then Beaven were dismissed, the YCs were 127 - 8 with 48 still needed to win off the remaining 18 overs.

Umpire Simon Taufel examines the pink ball Both players mixed aggression with steady singles and Brown progressed to a well-crafted half century. With nine runs required he picked up the ball over the leg side for a much needed six and the pressure was off. The winning runs were scored by Jonathan Miles and the YCs were victorious by two wickets in the 47th over. Brown (65 not out) played an excellent knock in seeing the team home from a precarious position.

With pink cricket balls in use, ICC Elite Umpire Simon Taufel - in London attending an ICC Cricket Committee meeting - was asked by the Club to officiate for the first 10 overs of the game.

With MCC and Imperial College London researching the colour and consistency of cricket balls, Taufel’s expert opinion on how the pink ball behaves in matchplay would be of great value (read his verdict). Undoubtedly, the pink ball trial was a success in this low-scoring but good-quality match.