THEY’RE definitely Not the MCC – but they were still far too good for The Road.

Yet again, Battersea’s brave men in orange suffered a morale-sapping defeat at the hands of a team they’ve never played before.

This time it was Not the MCC who’s batting was just too hot to handle as they romped to a 163 run win.

Opener Boot set the tone with a brutal 91, and captain Tim Muttukumaru crashed 62 before retiring to set up the thrashing.

Williams also hit 29 and Penny, with 30, added a handy contribution to help boost an imposing total for The Road to chase.

The day began with King’s Road skip Raju Mazumder winning yet another toss – so far he’s got 14 out of 16 tosses right this season.

And on a hot day on the Lords-esque sloped pitch at Wandsworth Park, Raju chose to field opposite the Thames.

Matthew “Gladstone” Small – who’s played against The Road this season for Beershire – opened up with some menacing pace bowling.

His tidy inswingers got Not the MCC’s openers watching their wickets early on.

But the visitors still got off to a good start, hitting 56 before pace ace Dan Howard made the breakthrough, bowling Williams.

By this time Not the MCC were picking up runs with ease though with some elegant strokeplay. For The Road, fielding was becoming tough work.

Not the MCC captain Tim Muttukumaru’s footwork was given a thorough examination by King’s Road Karachi Kid Adam Majeed, who had a succession of leg before appeals turned down.

When Muttukumaru departed, his team had racked up more than 200 runs.

Tinkerman Raju varied his attack by bringing on the slow bowling trio of himself, the off-spinning Andy Saker and mystery man Amir Alipour.

The gamble brought about a series of chances – but the catches went down and all three ended up wicketless for their efforts.

The quickies, Dan, Adam and Matthew, came back on and picked up middle and lower order wickets as Not the MCC tried to boost their already imposing total of runs.

A burst from Matthew took two wickets in three balls before Adam set up a hat-trick with two wickets in two balls.

Unfortunately for him though, he’ll have to wait until next season for the hat-trick ball as Not the MCC promptly declared with a score of 261 for 7.

Predictably, The Road’s response got off to a bad start with Matthew’s bro Elliot departing on the fifth ball of the first over, caught in the covers by Muttukumaru for 0 off the bowling of Beacham.

James Pritchard then got caught, again Muttukumaru the catcher, with score on 16 in the sixth over after hitting a confident 9.

Fielding was tight from Not the MCC, employing an umbrella that prevented cheap singles and runs hard to come by.

Wickie Matt Cocken and Andy managed to put on 30 before Matt was castled by opening bowler Hannah.

From then on wickets fell regularly with Jamie Keating, Adam and ringer Ben Thompson unable to occupy the crease and keep Andy company.

The big all-rounder eventually fell on 30 to the bowling of Bartel via a catch off Boot.

It brought captain Raju Mazumder to the crease with his old Emanuel School mate Amir Alipour to face more than 20 overs to secure a draw.

the scoring rate plummeted as the pair blocked out a succession of straight balls before Amir fell with the score on 87 for 8.

The situation looked grim for The Road, and when Dan Howard stepped he lasted just four balls before mistiming a drive to mid off.

Matthew Small was next in and with a few overs successfully negotiated by the last pair, the possibility of a draw increased.

The Orange Caps’ captain tried his best but got run out on 5 – and the 161 run defeat was complete.

It was another disappointment for The Road but they’ll be desperate turn it around in the club’s last two games this season.