Friendly Match vs Archway Graces, 20th July 2008, Potters Bar

Dot Dot Dot Dash Dash Dash Dot Dot Dot*
by Jason Lord

London Fields 145 all out (c.39 overs)
Archway Graces 229 for 6 (40 overs)

On Sunday, we were treated to an afternoon on the main square at the Old Owens Ground just outside Potters Bar, complete with a scoring hut with an electronic board, which kept Tyrone excited and amused like a toddler with his first Fisher-Price toy for much of the afternoon. Unfortunately, the 'target' readout read 230 when we started batting, didn't move by very much for a long while, and still read 85 when we finished our innings.

So how did this happen? Well, we bowled very well, and in particular the opposition Captain was very complimentary about this. Well done to all - Tyrone bowling fast took two wickets with trademark inswing; Ryan bowled well and was unlucky to finish wicketless; Ruby, looking rather startled to be opening the bowling, was mostly very tidy; Taz took 3 for 52 in his 8 overs, including their top scorer; Arthur got 1 for 37 and Colin offered support for a couple of overs.

In spite of all this, one of their openers, Siraj, made 93 before jumping down the track to Taz once too often and being bowled. He left the crease with a couple of shouted expletives, turning the genteel Hertfordshire air blue. Another of their batsmen made a fifty and that was that. We fielded well and didn't drop or miss much, but it was just one of those days where nothing really happened for us. Still, credit to the opposition batsmen.

Unfortunately our chase never really got going either. Lots of us struggled to get the ball moving off the bat, and the pressure of the large total got some of us out. Steve F got a top edge for 9, Dave Wheeler threw the bat a bit after a quiet start and got 21, I got 6 and got bowled trying to force a shot that wasn't there.

So there we were, at the halfway drinks stage, miles away from where we needed to be and yet only three down.

Opener Vince was run out immediately thereafter, calling one that wasn't there in an attempt to add to his modest 7 runs scored in 20 overs at the crease.

Colin got a couple, Alec hit a typically swashbuckling 16 and Ruby an aggressive and stylish 22. Batsman of the day Arthur made 34, including some big hits, to show the rest of us that it wasn't impossible to score. Ryan and Tyrone did some good old fashioned swinging and missing to get bowled, looking like men who'd rather be in the bar than outside on what turned into an astonishingly cold evening in spite of the sunshine. Taz was not out on 6.

So there we go. A comprehensive defeat to a strong Archway Graces side who batted and bowled very well.

There was time for a pint in the pavilion and a quick post-mortem before heading our weary way back to London.

[* That's 'SOS' in Morse code of course, not Vince's scoring - ed]

Here's the scorecard:

Archway Graces Batting

Batsman	Scoring	How Out	Bowler	Total
Bromiley		bowled	Ty	0
Siraj		bowled	Taz	93
Siyan		bowled	Ty	4
Faizal		caught & bowled	Arthur	15
Safraz		not	out	56
Jahangir		caught & bowled	Taz	16
Ayaz		caught	Taz	2
Hancock		not	out	13
			Extras	??
Total 229-6 from 40 overs

London Fields Bowling

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average
Ty	8	1	42	2	21
Ruby	6	0	37	0	-
Taz	8	2	52	3	17.3
Ryan	8	0	44	0	-
Arthur	8	0	37	1	37
Colin	2	0	18	0	-

London Fields Batting

Batsman	Scoring	How Out	Bowler	Total
Steve F		caught	Ayaz	9
Vince		run	out	7
Dave W		caught	Jahangir	21
Jason		bowled	Siyan	6
Colin		bowled	Jones	2
Alec		bowled	Jones	16
Arthur		run	out	34
Ruby		caught	Safraz	22
Taz		not	out	6
Ryan		bowled	Faizal	1
Ty		bowled	Faizal	0
			Extras	??
Total 145 all out from 39 overs