Intra-Club Friendly Match, 30th April 2006, London Fields
Andy Wyatt XI vs. Dave Hickey XI
by our regular occasional correspondent, Andy Wyatt
A good turnout for an intra-club game saw 18 members take the field on a chilly grey day. Will and Jason being the last to appear, both looking slightly 'sambucca-ed'.
Dave won the toss and inserted Andy's team, who got off to a sprightly start with Richard taking a shine to the bowling. Fresh from dashing the country's world cup hopes* he knocked one boundary after another on his way to 35. Mark and Spike consolidated the good start and Andy's side were rolling along to large total until Dave's bowlers clawed the game back. Grant's fierce spell helped clean up the innings for 137. Surely a gettable total in the allotted 30 overs?
Doug made a welcome return to the Fields and we were looking forward to one of his splendid innings before it was nipped in the bud by the catch of the season, nay the decade, nay the .... well it was blinking good. As the ball left Doug's bat, it appeared to be flying for an uppish four, but diving and stretching high to his left at point, Richard plucked the ball out of the air with two fingers and held on, to the delight of his team-mates.
Robin and Donny both played solid innings attempting to rebuild, but the damage had been done. Neil took a blow on the chest, then learnt a lesson for the future about running his bat in. Simon was overjoyed to have played himself onto strike for Jason's over, until he popped the first ball straight to Will. Lordy had a quiet chuckle.
Tony hit a brace of boundaries as he tried to inspire the fightback, but he became the first victim of the day's surprise package, Andy's bowling. Bamboozling the batsmen with flight and guile Andy finished off the innings to finish with the figures after auditing, displayed below.
His opposing captain was left stranded, and Andy's side were victorious by over 50 runs.
* Nutrition experts have suggested that, if our young children still received their daily school milk allowance, they may be less likely to fracture metatarsals when fully grown.
Here's the scorecard:
Andy Wyatt XI Batting:
| Batsman | Scoring | How Out | Bowler | Total |
| Spike | - | bowled | Robin | 32 |
| Richard | - | caught & bowled | Simon | 35 |
| Mark | - | caught | Grant | 17 |
| Paul D | - | bowled | Donny | 5 |
| Parmod | - | bowled | Grant | 4 |
| Will | - | not | out | 8 |
| Rupert | - | bowled | Dave H | 3 |
| Andy | - | bowled | Grant | 3 |
| Jason | - | caught | Tony | 0 |
| Extras | 25 | |||
| Total: 137 all out in 27.4 overs |
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Dave Hickey XI Bowling:
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Simon | 5 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 15 |
| Davin | 3 | 0 | 42 | 0 | - |
| Robin | 5 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 20 |
| Tony | 2.4 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Donny | 5 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 20 |
| Grant | 5 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 4.7 |
| Dave H | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
Dave Hickey XI Batting:
| Batsman | Scoring | How Out | Bowler | Total |
| Doug | - | caught Richard | Will | 3 |
| Robin | - | lbw | Rupert | 14 |
| Neil | - | run | out | 0 |
| Donny | - | caught Will | Paul | 16 |
| Simon | - | caught Will | Jason | ? |
| Tony | - | bowled | Andy | 11 |
| Davin | - | bowled | Andy | 15 |
| Grant | - | lbw | Andy | 3 |
| Dave H | - | not | out | 3 |
| Extras | 18 | |||
| Total: 83 all out in 21.2 overs |
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Andy Wyatt XI Bowling:
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Rupert | 5 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 5.5 |
| Will | 3 | 1 | 12 | 0 | - |
| Paul D | 3 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 28 |
| Jason | 5 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 24 |
| Andy | 4.2 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| Parmod | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - |