League Match vs Coach & Horses, 16th July 2005, Low Hall Farm

Fielders' Rare Joy On Low Hall Farm

On a rare lovely day at Low Hall Farm Sports Ground, London Fields ran out winners against a Coach & Horses team missing "one man batting line-up" Azmat.

London Fields arrived slightly late at Low Hall Farm, to be greeted by the astonishing sight of a clear blue sky and a light, cooling wind. Well, I say a clear blue sky, but in typical Low Hall fashion it was only slightly spoiled by a plume of black smoke from a fire on a nearby industrial estate, which constantly threatened to come down on our pitch but thankfully stayed away all afternoon.

After winning the toss, Captain For The Day Dave Hickey (Captain Jason Lord was away, and Vice-Captain Andy Wyatt was present but hungover) chose to bat, to the relief of the rest of the team ensconced in the shade under the trees.

Opener Alec McCrindle was quickly back with us in the shade, bowled for a second ball duck by Ian, and opening partner Rupert Nightingale quickly followed. With Andy Wyatt "indisposed", Divan went in next as he was padded up, and scored a typically quick-fire 41. When Andy Wyatt joined him at the crease, he too scored freely to reach 22.

Batting hero of the day, though, was Dave Hickey, who scored a rapid 93, including two sixes in succession at the end, before being caught on the boundary attempting to launch another onslaught.

With none of the other batsmen reaching double figures, London Fields set Coach & Horses 200 to win in their 35 overs.

Tight bowling at the start saw the Coach restricted to about 20 runs from the first 10 overs, for the loss of two wickets, and it was clear that they were serously behind the run-rate, and losing batsmen at the same time. After an erratic first over, opener Stuart Gunn bowled three maidens on the trot, backed up superbly by Divan Vermeulen who kept his figures down to two an over.

First change bowlers Rick "Rack" Derons and Colin "Killer" Black continued the miserly bowling, as did second change bowlers Rob "Gully" Harries and new-boy Richard "No Nickname" Gorman, with Gully completing an unprecedented and unique (for him) maiden over in league cricket.

Coach & Horses' hopes rested mainly on Mohammed, who played several variations on the swipe to mid on, most of which evaded our fielders. Finally he was prised out, but not until he had made a fine half century and caused some concern in the Fields' ranks.

Andy Wyatt took the last wicket, his first wicket in league cricket he says, to leave the Coach all out for around 150 in 30 ish overs, and London Fields returned to the Pub On The Park for our warm-down exercises and re-hydration regime. Or several pints of beer, if you like.

Man Of The Match: Dave Hickey. Not only for his batting, but for his positive captaincy when fielding - moving the field around for different batsmen and keeping us and them on their toes. At one stage we had two slips and two gullies*, probably the most attacking field we've used since Channel Four came to London Fields in 1998, when we had five slips and two gullies because everyone wanted to be in the camera shot.

* As we all know, there is only one Gully at London Fields. He was at gully. The other player was at backward backward backward point.

Anyway, here's the scorecard:

London Fields Batting:

Batsman	Scoring	How Out	Bowler	Total
Alec	-	bowled	Ian	0
Rupert	-	bowled	Ian	2
Duvan	-	bowled	John	41
Andy	-	bowled	Barney	22
Dave H	-	caught	Mohammed	93
Colin	-	caught	Barney	0
Richard G	-	bowled	Barney	2
Rick	-	bowled	Barney	7
Chris S	-	caught	John	2
Rob	-	bowled	John	1
Stuart	-	not	out	1
			Extras	??
Total: 199 all out in 31.5 overs

Coach & Horses Bowling:

not sure

---

Coach & Horses Batting:

150ish

London Fields Bowling:

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average
Stuart	5	3	9	2	4.5
Divan	5	2	10	0	-
Rick	5	0	26	2	13
Colin	3	0	14	0	-
Rob	4	1	27	2	13.5
Richard G	5	0	31	2	15.5
Alec	2	0	19	1	19
Andy	0.4	0	5	1	5