Friendly Match vs Jason Lord Birthday XI, 25th May 2008, London Fields
Old Git’s Old Gits’ XI win by 3 wickets
by Simon Yates
London Fields 111 all out
Jason Lord 40th Birthday XI 112-7
Old Git’s Old Gits’ XI win by 3 wickets
Famously, Johnny Rotten once described sex as "two minutes of squelching noises". This game seemed bound to go the same way, the squelching noises in question being underfoot on a good length half an hour before the scheduled start time. That said, given the Biblical conditions earlier in the morning, it was faintly miraculous that there was even a pretence being made that we might play a game.
However, this was a special occasion. Former club captain and long-term (i.e. old) servant Jason Lord had picked a side of cricketing friends who he had shared a pitch with in some cases for decades (i.e. most of the rest of the team were Old too). Jason's side was a heady mix of Wandsworth Gods and London Fielders (mainly, obviously, from the older end of the membership).
Fields batted first, by agreement: fearing that the Old Gits would be bowled out for next to nothing, all were keen for a semblance of a game. In true testimonial fashion Jason took the first over – a spectacular mix of the mediocre, the bad and the ugly – before tossing the ball to Simon Yates and Paul Wakerley who tried with mixed success to bowl properly, if off shortened runs and through clouds of sawdust.
Simon quickly accounted for Rob Harries, who played all round a middle stump full toss [I doubt this will survive Rob’s editing... [I'm too lazy to edit, - Rob]] before Alex Chase and Arthur Smart settled down. Gloriously, Alex was then bowled heaving at a straight one the ball after his skipper had encouraged him to get on with it from the boundary edge: the wicket goes down as "bowled, Yates" in the book, but only because the Laws do not recognise "provoked, Johnson" as a mode of dismissal. Brock Martin was then LBW first ball to a terrible shooter - amazingly the only serious piece of misbehaviour from the soaked pitch we saw all day - and improbably the youngsters of Fields were on the rack.
At this point Jason turned to Chris Skinner and Roger Goodchild, who both bowled really well. Chris's medium pacers and Roger's leg spin gave the batsmen all sorts of trouble; wickets fell consistently with useful bowling support provided by Alec McCrindle, Tony Tedore and Dave Hickey. Fields were finally all out for 111 (David Shepherd would still be hopping now), which was clearly under par though not indefensible in difficult conditions.
The Old Gits began their reply well, racing to 29 in five overs under the guidance of Mark Earls and Andy Wyatt (with considerable help from Extras). However, excellent bowling from Steve Donelan and Arthur Smart put the brakes on before the fall of the second wicket brought Jason to the wicket through a more or less sincere guard of honour. Jason had resolved to "grind it out", and was true to his word. He would eventually make the day's top score of 27, with six fours, three singles and a lot of dots: but the target was low and keeping wickets was key.
Old Gits wickets fell steadily with only Paul Wakerley managing to build a partnership with Jason, and when Jason was eventually out there was a real possibility of Fields snatching a victory. Despite Jason's urgings to take it steady, Alec McCrindle and Dave Hickey both batted as though they were cold, thirsty, and generally done with cricket for the day. Although Alec was out to his second big shot, Dave's two straight sixes, the second of which was as big a hit as we have seen on the Fields for some time, wrapped up the game.
A good day's cricket was had by all, made all the sweeter by the earlier apparent inevitability of a washout. And from the perspective of the Old Gits side, a remarkable result was conjured when on paper the much younger Fields side should have been looking at a comfortable win.
Here's the scorecard:
London Fields Batting:
| Batsman | Scoring | How Out | Bowler | Total |
| Alex C | - | bowled | Yates | 13 |
| Rob | - | bowled | Yates | 1 |
| Arthur | - | caught | Skinner | 11 |
| Brock | - | LBW | Yates | 0 |
| John A | - | caught | Skinner | 20 |
| Steve D | - | caught | Goodchild | 8 |
| Travis | - | caught | Goodchild | 5 |
| Jon Post | - | Run | Out | 3 |
| Richard | - | Not | Out | 6 |
| Simon L | - | bowled | Tedore | 16 |
| Ryan | - | c & b | Goodchild | 6 |
| Extras | 22 | |||
| Total: 111 All Out | ||||
Jason Lord XI Bowling:
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Lord | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - |
| Yates | 5 | 0 | 20 | 3 | 6.7 |
| Wakerley | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 | - |
| Skinner | 5 | 1 | 23 | 2 | 11.5 |
| McCrindle | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | - |
| Goodchild | 5 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 5.3 |
| Hickey | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | - |
| Tedore | 2 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 18 |
Jason Lord XI Batting:
| Batsman | Scoring | How Out | Bowler | Total |
| Earls | - | bowled | Ryan | 5 |
| Wyatt | - | bowled | Simon L | 11 |
| Lord, Jonty | - | bowled | Arthur | 4 |
| Lord, Jason | - | caught | John A | 27 |
| Tedore | - | Run | Out | 2 |
| Wakerley | - | bowled | Brock | 11 |
| McCrindle | - | caught | John A | 4 |
| Goodchild | - | Not | Out | 1 |
| Hickey | - | Not | Out | 13 |
| Skinner | did | not | bat | - |
| Yates | did | not | bat | - |
| Extras | 34 | |||
| Total: 112-7 | ||||
London Fields Bowling:
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Ryan | 3 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Simon L | 3 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 17 |
| Steve D | 4 | 2 | 10 | 0 | - |
| Arthur | 5 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Travis | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | - |
| Jon P | 3 | 0 | 17 | 0 | - |
| John A | 3.5 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 11.5 |
| Brock | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4 |