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.