VPCCL League Match vs Tower ravens, 23rd May 2006, Victoria Park
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
by our Visible Pantyline League correspondent, Chris Skinner
London Fields 95/3 (16 overs) lost to Tower Ravens 96/3 (13.2 overs) by 4 wickets.
Once again it rained all day, yet at 6 o'clock conditions were sufficient for play. Winning the toss for the 4th time on the trot Fields batted first, and lost.
A steady start by openers Jason (18) and Nick (21) followed by Pete (25) made sure that the scoreboard ticked over, but as each tried to kick on they were dismissed. The Tower Ravens bowling attack was accurate and probably the paciest we have faced in this competition. Finishing on 95/3 it was going to be hard work in the field.
Tower Ravens, batting like they had somewhere to go, set about reaching their target as quickly as possible and only an early wicket from Ty did anything to slow their scoring. Late wickets for Chris (with his 1st ball) and Pete, the tightest of our bowlers, weren't enough to stop the Ravens reaching their target in 13.2 overs.
It's worth noting that there was some exceptionally committed fielding from the Fields, highlighted best by Nick Isaac; chasing a ball to the boundary, he was beaten to the ball by an excited Pitbull Terrier. Unperturbed, he threw himself like a man possessed straight at the poor mutt, sending it flying. Instead of biting Nick's face off, it merely ran off with its tail between its legs as its owner and Nick exchanged verbals. Given the look on Nick's face, he'd have probably taken on a werewolf at the time so the owner soon backed down.
I cannot stress just how surreal and comic this moment was, I will remember Nick 'Pitbull' Isaac's flying take-down long after I forget this third consecutive defeat.
Here's the scorecard:
London FieldsBatting:
| Batsman | Scoring | How Out | Bowler | Total |
| Jason | - | bowled | Ron | 18 |
| Nick | - | bowled | Alfie | 21 |
| Pete | - | bowled | Alfie | 25 |
| Shaun | - | not | out | 10 |
| Robin | - | not | out | 14 |
| Chris | did | not | bat | - |
| Ty | did | not | bat | - |
| Paul T | did | not | bat | - |
| Extras | 17 | |||
| Total: 95 for 3 in 16overs |
||||
Tower Ravens' Batting:
96 for 3 (13.2 overs)
London Fields Bowling:
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Paul | 3 | 0 | 21 | 0 | - |
| Ty | 3 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 16 |
| Pete | 4 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 21 |
| Robin | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | - |
| Chris | 1,2 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 10 |