RESULTS

We've lost a few games recently. Reports to come once Birdcage sorts himself out.

FIELDS MAULED BY TIGERS

London Fields 152/3 lost to Bengal Tigers 154/3 by 4 wickets

Yes it was an evening of tension, sporting endeavor and lung busting effort, galvanizing a
rapped audience into a frenzied throng of ear splitting cheers and groans of despair mournful
enough to wake the dead.

But while John terry was about to take his fateful penalty pratfall, another bunch of sportsmen
groaned their own laments of dissolution at a match witnessed by a bloke on a bike, a couple of
dogs (Canine variety) and oddly a fire engine. Still, the Fields toiled and burst their lungs in a vain,
but valiant mirroring of Chelsea’s defeat, not once begrudging the lack of Russian soldiers dressing
up as man utd fans on the sidelines. 

Things Had Look oh so bright at the start of play, with a confident side engaged in some show
offish catching practice as the Tigers arrived. The Burly and tousle-haired captain duly won the
toss and appointed John Avery and Robin Friend to lead the big game hunt. And how they set
about the wayward Tigers bowling! With great relish, boundaries and extras flowed like the beer
in a Moscow hostelry. With the score racing along and the batter’s flashing blades cutting a swathe,
the unthinkable happened when a shock on the money ball, was tickled to the keeper by Robin. His
sturdy effort cut short on 14. Nick Isaac strode out and in possibly his last ever mid week match
suddenly had to face markedly improved bowling. John forced the ball away beautifully and survived
a couple of lives to retire on 50. Chris joined Nick in a very sticky mid period as Tigers new boy
Darren almost cleaned him up. But Bravely Chris employed some Pietersonesque swats to the
boundary to get the scorecard ticking again. Nick was caught and Dave Lane added his valuable
18. Robin Astley replaced Chris who’d been bowled and knocked the odd ball to fine leg The
Fields finished with 152 on the card. The innings rounded off nicely with an off driven four.

While not being complacent, the Fields felt confident as the opposition had only scored 70 odd in
previous games, as it turned out the Tiger was wounded but in no way finished off. They roared out
of the blocks as our heroes shipped runs in every corner of the park. Will Issac suffered a torrid
time, while Tyrone Graham fared better at the other end whilst first change bowler Robin tossed
up a mixed bag and lost his rag after seemingly harsh wide calls and a plumb L.B.W refusal. Ty’s
spell was over and still no wicket had been taken, the tigers on course with 95 scored after ten
overs. Birdcage finally made the breakthrough as he trapped the suspiciously good opening bat
in front. Bowling a clever mixed pace over things started to look up, but it was to no avail as another
big hitter smacked the ball around Victoria park. Rallying his shell shocked troops Chris Skinner
took the ball and tried manfully to wrestle back the initiative but despite fine work from Nick, John
and

Robin Friend behind the stumps, two run outs were all Chris was rewarded with. In total three
catches went down in murky light and the Tigers needed five from Chris’s last over. He made them
work for it but they crossed the line with two balls to spare.

Truthfully, if the tigers had held on to their chances, they may well have been chasing a smaller
target. The evening was summed up eloquently by Robin Friend. ‘Aw man, losing SUCKS!’

NB. Special thanks to Chris and his Austrian keg and John Terry for cheering everyone up
afterwards,

LFCC V BENGAL TIGERS SCORECARD

London Fields 152/3

J Avery         Retired              50
R Friend        caught behind        14
N Issac         caught                8
C Skinner       bowled               18
D Lane          not out              18
R Astley        not out              15

Extras                               37

Bengal Tigers 154/4

W Issac       2-0-29-0
T Graham      4-0-24-0
R Astley      3-0-25-0
J Avery       4-0-31-1
C Skinner     3-0-26-0

MEEK MARTIANS FLATTER FIELDS

London Fields 172/5 (16 overs) Beat Norfolk Martians 64/4 (9.3 overs)

In glorious conditions, perfect for cricket, (for once), London Fields beat Norfolk Martians after they quit midway through their innings.

Winning the toss for the first time since the Elizabethan era, Fields batted first and accumulated steadily, aided generously by a series of extra’s, overthrows and misfields. Openers Robin Friend (38) and Paul Teasdale (29) reached a fifty partnership with ease, mixing big hitting and more orthodox shots as they went.

Dave Lane briefly looked in good touch, but a mini collapse was prevented from being too troublesome by Jason Lord who stroked a mature 18. Things were brought to spectacular finish by Will Isaac (31*) and Stefan Proud (13*) who found the boundary regularly as the innings reached its climax. Extra’s narrowly missed out on a top score, accruing 35 runs.

Fresh off the boat from Uspidedownsville, Tyrone (2.0.20.1) troubled the batsmen with his pace, whilst Stefan (3.0.22.0) teased them with his nagging line and length, Tyrone shattering one openers stumps. Will Isaac soon followed with another wicket before a spectacular run out from Paul Teasdale, with just one stump to aim at. Chris took a further wicket with his first ball, but play was halted due to the Martians declaration soon after.

Two wins out of two makes it a great start, and it was a joy playing in bright sunshine, but a disappointing finish given that almost everyone wanted to continue playing. Maybe if Norfolk Martians had brought their complete kit we could have done.

Scorecard Below…

LFCC V NORFOLK MARTIANS SCORECARD

London Fields 172/5 (16 overs)

Name	How Out	Runs
Robin F	B	38
Paul Tea	B	29
Jason L	B	18
Dave L	B	6
Will I	NO	31
Chris S	B	0
Stefan P	NO	13
Tyrone G	Dnb

Extras 37
TOTAL 172/5


Norfolk Martians 64/4 (9.3 overs)

Name	Overs	Maidens	Wickets	Runs	RPO
Tyrone G	2	0	1	20	10.0
Stefan P	3	0	0	22	7.3
Will I	3	0	1	10	3.3
Chris S	1.3	0	1	7	5.4

London Fields won by 108 runs

ALMOST UNDER WATER, AND OVER THE MOON...

Old Fallopians 69 All Out
Stefan 3/27
Dave Lane 2 wickets, Taz 1

London Fields 72/3
Robin F 31 no
Chris 15 no

London Fields win by 4 wickets

Robin Astley on our first match of the season:

With a mixture of early season eagerness, tactical nous and sheer determination to play whatever the conditions, LFCC got their midweek campaign started in the best possible way. With A WIN!

The visible panty line league was aptly monikered as the heavens opened and players wondered if they were here for cricket, rugby or a wet t-shirt competition. (Without the fringe benefits of lithe female bodies.)

Our illustrious captain true to form lost the toss and was invited to field in the ever deteriorating, inclement conditions. Down to six players things looked tricky. With the batsmen hitting cleanly, opening bowler Stefan cleverly throttled back the pace and scoring was much more difficult. Late arrivals Taz and Robin bolstered the field and immediately Stefan struck. In total he took three wickets, one a crafty slow bowled Yorker,a la Harmison v Clarke circa 2005, removing danger man Freddie and setting up a hat trick ball with the next batsman caught plumb. With sterling support from Will at the other end, quickly the old Fallopian's batting had been removed, Midweek Virgins Dave Lane and Robin F (behind the stumps) combined with on line bowling and tidy glove work for a stumping and Taz ripped them in from the other end, bowling a fallopian with a slider. Modest as ever, Taz credited the pitch.

By now every member of the team was soaked to the bone but Chris marshaled his troops and the pressure was ratcheted up on the Fallopian’s. Taz and wickey Robin F got a smart run out and then Skipper Chris took a high swirling catch to finish things off.

Set 70 on the nose to win should present no problems even in fourteen over cricket but with every fibre of the batsmen drenched, the fields still had to apply themselves. Johnny come lately Robin A opened the chase with Will and was lucky to survive a good LBW shout first ball. With a mixture of runs and byes a twenty odd partnership was added until Robin (9) was bowled trying to sweep Fallopian’s South African spinner.

Soon Will followed for 7 but had been in good touch, unluckily hitting the cover fielder with crisp drives. VPCCL debutant Robin F then made a mockery of the condition with an outstanding 31 not out in partnership with Nick Isaac (3) and a bullish 15 from captain Chris.

With only two boundaries in the innings due to the Somme like outfield, sharp running for twos and threes were the signature of a fine win in ridiculous weather, this match was even wetter than the league triumph over Coach and Horses at Springfield park last year. The total was reached with two overs to spare for the loss of three wickets.

It’s worth noting that despite the atrocious weather both captains wanted to play and never was a grumble heard, only light-hearted banter from the superbly sporting Fallopian’s. Finally a great tradition of mid week cricket was upheld with the silly hat award going to Robin F’s flat cap and jumper combo. Well done everyone.

See you next week!

RESULT!

London Fields win their 1st game of the season, against Old Fallopians, played almost entirely in torrential rain. More to follow soon...

CUP DRAW

We have been drawn against Norfolk and Chance in Round 1 of the cup, on 16th June. Full draw here

WANTED - WEALTHY BENEFACTOR FOR 16 OVER MATCH

I would like to officially announce my intention for London Fields (midweek) Cricket Club to take on any team from around the world in a winner takes 60%, multimillion pound cricket challenge.

More exciting than Twenty 20, we only play 16 overs a side and already have a franchise in place. If the money's right, we'll travel anywhere, we'll even bring a crate of beer and dance the East London Haka.

Stanford? Modi? Clarke? Dev? Branson? Murdoch? Get in touch, lay down the money and bring it on!



Hey, we could even make it available live on terrestrial TV. Oh, and we're quite good at bus cricket too if that helps market the event.

BORED?

Is waiting for the season to start more irritating than the IPL? More spirit draining than, er, a London Fields player with a bottle of scotch? Rescue from your bordeom can be found on the below-left. Some good blogs to keep you reading about cricket, until we finally get to play in a few weeks.

PROVISIONAL FIXTURES 2008

It looks like we'l be meeting a mix of old rivals and new unknowns in the first part of this season; we play Victoria Park Juniors who we've never beat, Pacific who we have a 50/50 record against, and Old Fallopians who we've never lost to.

Adding an exotic feel, we also play a team of Martians, some Tigers and, er, Goodmayes.

More info on the VPCCL site.

Provisional 1st leg of fixtures:

29-Apr-08 Old Fallopians
7-May-08 Norfolk & Chance Martians
21-May-08 Bengal Tigers
28-May-08 Victoria Park Juniors
3-Jun-08 Goodmayes
9-Jun-08 Pacific

AGM OUTCOME

After last years league AGM, lasting 6 days, this years was finished in just 90 minutes. The results of which can be seen here

In other news, London Fields CC play in a Saturday league, the North East London Cricket League, that now has a new website.

2008! WE'RE BACK!

Following our AGM, we are unanimously back in for the 2008 season of the VPCCL, which we expect will start late April. We'll probably find out more at the AGM, announced on the VPCCL site.

The club are now netting every Sunday morning to top up on the extended fitness regimes of the winter, which has seen members lifting weights, practising martial arts and telling fibs.

Go to the club site for more info and contact details.

CAPTAIN MARVELLOUS

Your captain is a warrior...

26

RANDOM STATS # 3

MOST NOT OUTS...

RUBY QUINCE WITH … 3!




















(one to every two items of headwear, also a record)

TOUR WIKI

Can you remember what happened last summer?

Our first ever wholly interactive match report:

http://slovenia.wikispaces.com/

Rules: No lies, no swearing.

SHINY

It was the LFCC AGM on Saturday, before that I took a trip to visit league president Burt, along with Typhoon...



As you can see, I am pretty happy, and I don't think Burt is unhappy. All in all, this is a nice moment.
(Ty took the pic)

More from the AGM soon, but to conclude - we plan to be back for more next season. Woop!

RANDOM STATS # 2

Most times someone said 'COME ON ASTLEY!'

14 - Robin Astley

Most frequently snarled after bowling 4 excellent dot balls only to be hoiked away for a six next delivery.

And he's so calm off the pitch!








NB. This is only 3 below last seasons record.

RANDOM STATS # 1

I'll start with a nice one...

Best Bowling Performance:




Tyrone Graham V. Central London, 8/5/07...


4 overs, 5 wickets for 23.


Unplayable. The ball was moving more than his eyeballs on a Saturday night.

COUNTING THE DAYS

I'm starting to remember why I hate autumn and winter. There really is nothing to do except hope Spurs recover/collapse (depending on your footballing persuasion), watch poorly scheduled games of cricket half way around the world, and actually get some work done.

I was asked to send some stats in to the league as they are compiling a review or something, so I thought I'd use these for an occasional feature over these dull months. Keep your eyes open and relive some of the glorious, glamorous and totally shoddy moments of the last summer...