Thursday, May 29, 2008

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,

1 comment:

Tyrone said...

Is this some unusual form of word game where the reader has to make up the missing text in the right margin?