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...

OPEN SESAME...

An apology, i published the wrong photo of our win over Pacific (a few posts below), this is the correct one...






























Back row – John Avery

Middle row – Chris Skinner (Capt), Tyrone Graham, Ruby Quince, Robin Astley

Front row – Alex LeMay, Jason Lord, David Miller


(Thanks to Jason Lord)

DOMINANT FIELDS SAIL PAST PACIFIC TO TITLE

After a disappointing July where we were let down by opposition and weather, we were still in a position where a win against Pacific would guarantee the Division 2 title. With a closely mowed outfield and glorious evening sunshine we were sure we could overturn last years defeat against our opponents, even after we (once again) lost the toss.

Ty and John opened the bowling with massively contrasting styles; Ty mesmerising the Pacific openers with a mix of wayward pace and unplayable swinging deliveries, John offering good old fashioned line and length. Pacific had little in reply and were barely into their 30’s after 6 overs. After a brief change of ends, bringing a wicket maiden, Ty finished his 4 overs with an excellent 2 for 20.

Robin and Dave ‘Taz’ Miller took control from here, initially baffling the opposition (Robin picking up 2 key partnership breaking wickets), until Taz had a go at Alex Le Mays bowling achievements from a month back. Despite managing to go for 22 off his 3^rd over he could only manage falling 2 runs short of Le Mays generous record, going for 41 from 3 – there’s always next season!

Chris and John finished the bowling off, John continuing his niggling medium pace and Chris bowling terribly, picking up a flattering 1 for 11 from his 2 overs (thanks to some sharp keeping from Jason).

With the heady scent of victory inflaming our nostrils, a strong start was needed if we were going to chase down the target of 126. The early loss of Ruby did little to slow down Lordy who opened his innings with fours to all corners of the ground. Joining him, John also played some cracking aggressive strokes and when he fell for 15 we were already ahead of the required run rate.

Excellent tip and run play dominated the middle of the innings, as Rachmaninov lover Alex and Lordy milked the Pacific bowlers like buxom Manatee’s. The two departed in close succession however, Alex for 12 and Jason for what was to be a match winning 50 – not only did he have the pleasure of retiring, but we could call on him again should the run chase get sticky.

Not to be slowed down, Taz (23no) embarked on some massive leg side hitting against the Pacific spinners, and he and Chris saw Fields over the line with 2 overs to spare.

A comfortable victory in a match that we never looked like losing. We fielded superbly (John Avery taking a superb running catch), bowled aggressive lines and batted with supreme confidence. Apparently we even get a trophy!!

(Scorecard below)

LONDON FIELDS V PACIFIC SCORECARD

London Fields won by 4 wickets...

Pacific 125/6 (16 overs)

Name	Overs	Maidens	Wickets	Runs	RPO
Ty	4	1	2	20	5.0
John	4	0	0	15	3.8
Robin	3	0	2	20	6.7
Dave M	3	0	0	41	13.7
Chris	2	0	1	11	5.5

London Fields 128/3 (14 overs)
.

Name	How Out	Runs
Jason	Retired (N.O.)	50
Ruby	B. Rees	5
John	C. B. Gledow	15
Alex	C. B. Purcell	12
Dave	Not Out	23
Chris	Not Out	5
Extras		18
Total:		128

CHAMPIONS!

What a difference a week makes... a 50 for Jason Lord and two wickets each for Robin Astley and Ty Graham see us to victory over Pacific and wrap up the Division 2 title...more to follow...

SKINNER'S A WINNER AND ISAAC'S WHACK

After East End Cavaliers failed to put a team out against London Fields, the 8 Fieldsmen, plus 4 New Boys and 2 (very pleasant) randoms embarked on a 12 over, 7 aside smashathon.

Isaac won the toss and decided to bat and openers Sudu and Jason made steady (slow) progress until Ruby finally broke the partnership in the 7th over (thanks to a great catch from Saif). Tyrone upped the run rate with some clean hitting but another wicket for Ruby and one for Chris prevented any serious partnership building. The Isaac brothers nudged the batting sides to a competitive 82 and the Skinner 7 needed 7 an over to snatch victory.

The chase started poorly with Saif and Ruby both bagging golden ducks to the bowling of New Boy Kashem, before his fellow New Boys Mosin and Nizmul got the score moving. Nizmul, Alex and Chris fell in quick succession (two for Rips and one for a lucky Will Isaac) which left Paul T(ea) and the returning Mosin (who had retired on 25) needing to knock off a nervous 23 runs from 3.3 overs. Despite the immense pressure, they kept their heads and completed a marvelous victory with 5 balls to spare.

A good fun contest with a rare opportunity for Fieldsmen to sledge their colleagues made a potentially cack evening a far better experience than anticipated. Best of luck to New Boys for the rest of the season too.

Will Isaac VII
(Will, Jason Lord, Kashem, Nick Isaac, Ty Graham, Rips, Sudu)

Chris Skinner VII
(Chris, Nizmul, Saif, Ruby Quince, Mosin, Alex LeMay, Paul Teasdale)

Isaac VII 82/4 (12 overs)
Jason 18 (Ret)
Sudu 15
Nizmul 2.0.1.12
Chris 2.0.1.12

Skinner VII 83/5 (11.1 overs)
Mosin 38 no
Paul 20
Rips 2.0.2.13
Kashem 2.0.2.17

(Apologies if I've misspelled/incorrectly named anyone)

CLOSE CONTESTS?

East End Cavaliers failed to turn up for our match last night, a bit annoying that they never let us (and one of their own players) know this was going to happen but at least we get the points!

In the end we played a friendly match seeing a Will Isaac VII against a Chris Skinner VII with numbers made up by a few lads from New Boys and a few other random netters - a good fun match was won by the excellent Skinner side and a report will follow soon.

On another note, we tend not to pay too much attention to the oppositions results, but check this amazing result out:

FIELDS PUT VALLANCE TO BED

Needing a win to attain 2^nd Division status against a team also needing success to qualify for the top league, an epic performance was required – three hours later we had delivered just that.

Losing the toss (again) and fielding first (again), Ty and Steve bowled perfect lines to the opposition’s openers. Ty rewarded with an early wicket after forcing the batsman into wild swings at the ball. Two more soon followed for Steve, with help from great catches by Alex and Will, and we were well set. After 8 overs Vallance had just over 50, were 3 wickets down and another bat had retired hurt. Our opponents have a fine record in this league though and fought back with a mix of clever singles and aggressive hitting. John, Chris, Ruby and Will all took a bit of a pasting and after the full sixteen overs, we were set a target of 156.

A quick start was essential, and Paul T(ea) and John got us going at 10 an over with some excellent exploiting of the gaps in the field. With boundaries hard to find, John ran five consecutive 2’s at one stage. Shattered, he was bowled by the Vallance spinner on 30. A similarly run happy Paul T(ea) followed soon after for a whippet-like 25 and we risked collapse. Needing 83 off the last 8 overs, Will and Alex consolidated before opening up. An injury to Alex left him needing a runner, but he was still able to find the gaps enough to get Will on strike. A huge 6 when on 48 gave Will his half-century and retirement and just 14 were needed from the last 2 overs…

The returning Vallance opening bowler finally took the wicket of Alex (17), and Chris and Ruby could only scratch 2 runs off the over. With 2 new batsmen and 12 needed from the last 6 balls things were tense. The fielding side’s tails were up and there were more than a few words…so the last over…

1^st ball – Chris hit for 4 and the game was back on…

2^nd ball – A wide. 7 needed from 5.

2^nd ball (again) – Chris managed to get bat on ball and a quickly sprinted 3.

3^rd ball – Ruby hit for 2 – 2 needed for victory.

4^th ball – Played and missed, momentum swung back a little.

5^th ball – Clump! Ruby hammered straight down the ground for 4.

A 4 wicket victory in fading light, our biggest ever successful run chase and a game where all 8 played a key role. Will’s 50 was a joy to watch, Ty and John kept their heads and umpired admirably in a pressure cooker situation, and a special mention to Turley who kept score when we ran out of players in the enveloping chaos.

Scorecard below...

Woop!

LFCC V. VALLANCE SCORECARD

London Fields won by 4 woop woop wickets!

Vallance 155/5 (16 overs)

Name	Overs	Maidens	Wickets	Runs
Ty	4	0	1	23
Steve	4	0	2	27
John	2	0	0	31
Ruby	1	0	0	11
Will	3	0	0	34
Chris	2	0	0	26

London Fields 158/3 (15.5 overs)

Name	How Out	Runs
Paul Tea	Stumped	25
John	Bowled	30
Will	Retired	54
Alex	Caught	17
Ruby	Not Out	8
Chris	Not Out	8
Extras		16
Total:	158	Ovs:	15.5

WOW!

London Fields win amazing match V Vallance with a ball to spare!




















...more info to follow!

TYPHOON DESTOYS CENTRAL LONDON

On a blustery early May evening where even Aleem Dar might have had trouble allowing play to continue, Fields were unsure if losing the toss was such a bad thing.

Opening the bowling, Ty and Pete were absolutely unplayable. Pete’s pace sent Central London into their shells before Ty ripped through the line up with an outstanding display of seam and swing. He had spent 20 unsuccessful minutes looking for stumps before the match, and as he hurled the ball at them with alarming consistency once play started, there was more than a hint of irony.

After finishing his spell with 5/23 (2 fine catches from Lordy included), Ruby and Robin (with his 1^st and only ball) soon wrapped things up with Central London amassing just 49. Surely an easy win was on the cards…

Dave(13) and Alex(6) started steadily and after the latter fell, Chris came out and hit a brisk 12 before playing on. With less than 10 needed Robin came and went quicker than you can say ‘random bag of porn DVD’s fell from the sky and landed in front of Ruby outside Pub on the Park’*. Fortunately, Jason and Ruby kept their heads and guided us home for a 3 wicket victory with half our innings remaining.

Over in less than 80 minutes, it was one of the more bizarre matches we have played in and a 100% record puts us in a good position for the four remaining group matches.

*That really happened, after the match, in POTP, quite amazing.

LFCC V CENTRAL LONDON SCORECARD

Central London Innings:

Name	Overs	Maidens	Wickets	Runs
Ty	4	0	5	23
Pete	4	0	0	18
Ruby	1	0	1	6
Robin	0.1	0	1	0

Total: 49 All Out

London Fields Innings:

Name	How Out	Runs
Dave	Bowled	13
Alex	Bowled	6
Chris	Bowled	12
Jason	Not out	4
Robin	Caught	0
Ruby	Not Out	1
Pete	Dnb
Ty	Dnb
Extras		14
Total:	50	Overs:	7.2

LFCC v OLD FALLOPIANS SCORECARD

LFCC Innings

Jason	Bowled	11
Robin	C & B	37
Alex	Run out	25
Will	Bowled	13
RJ	Bowled	0
Chris	Run out	0
Ruby	not out	0
Ty	Dnb
Extras		24
Total		107

LFCC Bowling:

Name	Overs	Wickets	Runs
Ty	3	0	21
Ruby	3	1	15
Will	3	0	23
RJ	2	2	10
Alex	2	0	14
Chris	1	0	7

FALLOPIANS IN A TWIST

Enthusiasm for the new season was heightened when the Old Fallopians won the toss and put the Fields in, particularly generous given the early sunset and the fact that both teams only had five players at the time of the toss.

Lordy and Robin opened the batting and were comfortably able to work the ball around for an opening partnership of 42. Lordy’s departure for 11 saw newcomer Alex strut to the crease to score a progressively manic 25.

With the loss of Robin who scored an excellent 37, the team embarked on a spectacular display of unorthodox nonsense which saw Will (13) thump a huge six before he and Richard were bowled by deliveries from late Fallopian arrival Freddie.

By now, the enthusiastic Alex seemed to be running to and from each end with little regard for the ball bowled, shot played or location of any fielders. A spectacular last over saw Will and RJ both bowled, Chris run out without scoring from a wide, Ruby padding up on the pitch and finally Alex running himself out of the last ball. Our initially gentle run rate had upped a little and our score of 107 from 14 overs left the match evenly poised.

Our opening bowling attack of Ty and Ruby kept things tight and Will also joined in with unsettling aggression. The introduction of RJ to the attack turned things around spectacularly when, after getting clumped for 2 boundaries off his first 2 balls, he then took 2 consecutive wickets. From here, the Fallopians were always off the pace and fell 14 runs short.

Alex, RJ and Ruby all made notable contributions on their debut, our fielding was unexpectedly excellent and Old Fallopians provided competitive and friendly opposition in a game that could have gone either way. Surprisingly, we then headed to POTP.

London Fields 107/6 (14 overs)
Robin 37
Alex 25

Beat

Old Fallopians 93/4 (14 overs)
RJ 2/10
Ruby 1/15

By 14 runs