League Match vs The Lamb, 30th April 2005, London Fields

First blood to LFCC as Lamb Roasted* on London Fields

* Fourth use of this pun in four years. Probably. It will now be officially retired.

Skipper Jason Lord writes...

Our League season curtain-raiser started in damp conditions with the Captain carelessly losing the toss. Lamb elected to field first and made quick progress in difficult conditions for the batting side, removing both Dave Hickey (6 - Editor's note: runs, not age) and Rupert Nightingale (0) in quick succession. With LFCC reeling at 16 for 2, Vice-Captain Andy Wyatt and Captain Jason Lord dug in to steady the ship (if you see what I mean). (Editor's note: further mixed metaphors will be punishable by forced renditions of "Sunshine Mountain".)

When Andy Wyatt (19) was out, drilling a drive straight back into the bowler's sternum, the initial damage limitation job had been done, then Jason Lord (28) chipped up a catch to bring Divan Vermeulen to the crease at 106 for 4. Batting with Richard Johnson, the 5th wicket pair really started taking the game back to the opposition. With the sun starting to dry the pitch and the outfield, and Lamb having to mix the bowling changes, LFCC scored at a good rate. Divan (51) enjoyed his first half century characterised by strong straight hitting and Richard (40) also scored quickly and remained unbeaten. Steve Donelan (2) was the other not out batsman.

Having set Lamb 201 to win, LFCC needed to turn the screw – batting conditions had improved enormously since the start of the game and Lamb have great strength in the depth of their batting. However, we would have to do it without Richard Johnson's bowling, given that he had aggravated a hamstring injury while batting. Divan (4-15-1) opened the bowling tidily enough for his first game of the season sharing the "new" ball with Carl Death (5-27-2) who helped keep the openers tied down. Tony Tedore (5-1-14-2) and Nick Isaac (5-34-3) continued the good work, also taking wickets at crucial moments. Paul Turley (5-26-0) and Dave Hickey (4-27-2) also made vital contributions in a game that was always going to go all the way. Steve Donelan's (4-12-0) economy put pressure on the batsmen and finally the tide turned in LFCC's favour once and for all, with Carl taking a good catch at midwicket off Divan's bowling to wrap it up for the Fields.

Special mentions also for Rupert, keeping tidily on a typically difficult London Fields strip, taking 2 stumpings and a catch, and the other catchers – Steve Donelan holding on second time to one that threatened to get away, and Tony Tedore running round in the deep to take a really challenging 'sky-er' off Dave Hickey.

This was a classic 'team effort' with contributions from all XI players. We need more of the same, and then some, if we are to continue our winning form against Crescent and Star next weekend.

Scorecard coming soon...

Meanwhile, here's a picture of the scoreboard from the equivalent game last season.