Friendly Match vs Saracen Riffs, 13th May 2006, London Fields
Old Friends
by our getting-even-more-regular occasional correspondent, Andy
Wyatt
The shrinkage in the NELCL means we now have several friendly fixtures on Saturdays, including a three match series with Saracen Riffs, a new club formed by our old friends Peter Rank and Adam Stevens, of which this was the opener.
We lost the toss and were inserted on an interesting strip very close to the tree-lined boundary.
Riffs opened with an excellent spell of pace bowling from Adam, who did not get the wickets he deserved, but did end up with figures of 7-5-17-0.
Countering this, our best upper order batsman was Shaun Du Plessis. His debut 66 involved the destruction of two bats! At 98 for 4, with the game delicately balanced, he was joined by captain Jason Lord. They took the score to 142 in the 28th over, but Shaun's dismissal was quickly followed by two more wickets for no runs. Jason now took command, and supported by the tail, skilfully stroked the ball around for his 55 to take us to 199.
A splendid tea was provided by the visitors, but it did not weigh our bowlers down. All bowled accurately and with movement that bemused the Riffs, who never threatened to reach our total and were finally bowled out in the gloom well short. Special mention goes to Grant (7-1-21-3) for his three wickets (we will not mention his attempted hat-trick ball), and Paul Dodd (4-2-7-2) for finishing off the tail.
Here's the scorecard:
London FieldsBatting:
| Batsman | Scoring | How Out | Bowler | Total |
| Will | - | bowled | Floyd | 17 |
| Nick | - | LBW | Graham | 13 |
| Shaun | - | c & b | Green | 66 |
| Chris | - | c & b | Chris | 15 |
| Andy | - | bowled | Jones | 1 |
| Jason | - | caught Peter | Floyd | 57 |
| Alec | - | caught Peter | Green | 0 |
| Ty | - | bowled | Green | 0 |
| Ru | - | bowled | Floyd | 2 |
| Paul D | - | not | out | 0 |
| Grant | - | not | out | 2 |
| Extras | 36 | |||
| Total: 199 for 9 in 35 overs |
||||
Saracen Riffs Bowling:
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Adam | 7 | 5 | 17 | 0 | - |
| Graham | 4 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 19 |
| Chris | 7 | 1 | 33 | 1 | 33 |
| Floyd | 7 | 0 | 28 | 3 | 9.3 |
| Jones | 4 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 32 |
| Green | 6 | 0 | 56 | 3 | 18.6 |
Saracen Riffs Batting:
99 all out (30 overs)
London Fields Bowling:
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Ty | 4 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Alec | 7 | 0 | 22 | 2 | 11 |
| Grant | 7 | 1 | 21 | 3 | 7 |
| Ru | 5 | 1 | 18 | 0 | - |
| Paul D | 4 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3.5 |
| Nick | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 8 |