Friendly Match vs The Shakespeare, 22nd June 2008, London Fields
Fields Tick The Boxes
by Robin Astley
It was with the vital edict, "tell the new guys just how important it is to beat the Shakespeare" ringing in our heros' ears as clearly as Henry V's Saint Crispin's day speech, that London Fields took on their traditional must-win fixture.
Deep waters of history flow through this clash and some of the wizened and
grim faced old hands thought on past victories, battle scars and, as Shakespeare
stalwart Alan was not in evidence, would Toby or not Toby, be captain of the
opposition. It was thus...
Our own brave prince and Hotspur, William, strode back from the toss declaring
that his trusty yeomen must take to the field and dispatch their adversary.
Robin Astley, resplendent in fearsome, some say ludicrous moustache, donned the gauntlets and immediately felt the ball slap into the gloves as Carl passed the bat. Within three overs the aforementioned had the No 1 trapped LBW and the fight was on. The Shakespeare's top order boasted talent, and skill and it was with line and length bowling and dynamic close fielding that the partnership of Kevin and Adrian never got away from the Fields. Indeed the pressure brought three very smart chances and out of these Carl was particularly unlucky with a caught and bowled attempt. Travis beat the bat regularly without reward and then William threw himself into the fray. Bowling a mixture of sharp lifters and "corridor" deliveries he induced a flashing edge, which cut keeper and slip in half. Outrageous fortune seemed to be on the Visitors side as drinks were taken, their experienced batters now making progress.
It was the variety of Chris Skinner which did for Adrian, as his sliced drive was taken beautifully with one hand by Gully. In came captain Toby, a committed competitor, and his innings started confidently. Pressure now turned to wickets as the fields unleashed their Dunsinane. Ryan attacked with his bewitching left arm swing and soon tempted Toby to drive straight to the panther like Troilus, capping his feline performance at cover with this fine catch. Greater heights were soon reached in this sensational over when two further batsmen trudged back, both for ducks, in a triple wicket maiden!
With the Umpire reluctant to give any further LBW decisions, the Shakespeare rebuilt, as the fluent Kevin attacked and reaches 93 before Rob Harries had him caught in the deep. A Valliant effort by lower order batsmen Rob and Simon saw the Shakespeare reach 192, with a further run out off the last ball. Super stuff from the Fields, as they restricted a strong batting line up with accurate bowling; only eight byes conceded and very fine close fielding from all concerned. Dave Lane chipped in with an economical last over to add to his boundary catch while Troilus turned his arm over in support. But would all of these labours be lost?
Steve F and Dave Lane strode out to the crease and faced excellent bowling from Simon and the "in yer face" Batty. Scoring was slow but the board ticked over. Dave stroked a couple of nonchalant boundaries and just as the partnership was building, Steve was bowled through the gate by Simon. Jason stepped forth and was soon joined by the Hotspur as Dave holed out at square leg. The Shakespeare threatened to strangle the chase as Simon bowled maiden after maiden. The wind rose and whirlwind eddies of leaves danced over the outfield as the tempest blew down. The sky turned dark as Jason and Will grafted out the runs. Then, in a comedy of errors, William was dropped three times and how he made them pay, finally being bowled for 40.
Jason, playing his best innings of the season so far, played his trade mark dab to third man to great effect and also cleared the boundary to add to his tally of seven fours. Chris Skinner clocked up successive fours before being trapped in front by the Shakespeare's energetic young off spinner, who then bowled the ball of the day, castling Troilus with an outrageous googly that turned a mile. The Fields were wobbling and a counter was needed. Travis provided an eye catching cameo with, measure for measure, some of the sweetest sixes ever seen at the fields. Jason's anchor innings now accelerated as the tension built. Nearly at the finish line but running out of wickets, the Shakespeare tried to put the squeeze on Rob Harries but he threaded the ball through the gaps.
But there was a twist in the merry tale, as with fourteen needed off eleven balls, Rob was neatly caught. Jason notched up another four but he too fell for an outstanding 58. Robin and Ryan found themselves needing ten runs from nine balls, while neither had faced a ball. First up Robin pulled a short one fortuitously to the mid wicket boundary via a mis-field. Two singles later, Ryan had the strike, he powered a full ball through cover, and the match was won with four balls to spare. This was an excellent team effort to overcome the tenacious bowling and the talented batting the Shakespeare brought to The Fields. Every member of the team contributed to the cause, whether batting with grit or flare, fielding like tigers or simply popping down to the "offy" for supplies, as club mascot Russell did during the interval.
This was a match played in excellent spirit, although there was much ado about nothing when Travis was pulled up for supposedly bowling eight overs. But the important thing was, "as you like it", we WON!
Here's the scorecard:
Shakespeare Batting
| Batsman | Scoring | How Out | Bowler | Total |
| Lawrie | lbw | Carl | 2 | |
| Kevin | caught Ryan | Rob | 93 | |
| Adrian | Caught Rob | Chris | 34 | |
| Toby | Caught | Ryan | 7 | |
| Tom | Caught | Ryan | 0 | |
| Johnny | LBW | Ryan | 0 | |
| Rob | run | out | 16 | |
| Simon | not | out | 17 | |
| Extras | ?? | |||
| Total 192-7 from 35 overs | ||||
London Fields Bowling
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Carl | 7 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 26 |
| Travis | 7 (or 8!) | 0 | 49 | 0 | - |
| Will | 5 | 0 | 38 | 0 | - |
| Chris | 3 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Ryan | 5 | 1 | 21 | 3 | 7 |
| Troy | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 | - |
| Rob | 2 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 15 |
| Dave L | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | - |
London Fields Batting
| Batsman | Scoring | How Out | Bowler | Total |
| Steve F | bowled | Simon | 7 | |
| Dave L | caught | Batty | 13 | |
| Jason | Caught | Johnny | 58 | |
| Will | Bowled | Lawrie | 40 | |
| Chris | LBW | Tom | 9 | |
| Troy | bowled | Tom | 0 | |
| Travis | Caught | Johnny | 27 | |
| Rob | Caught | Johnny | 4 | |
| Robin A | not | out | 6 | |
| Ryan | not | out | 4 | |
| Carl | did | not | bat | - |
| Extras | ?? | |||
| Total 193-8 from 34.2 overs | ||||