Friendly Match vs Strongroom, 27th April 2008, London Fields

Rare Win vs Strongroom
by Simon Yates

Strongroom 226-9 (36 overs)
LFCC 228-6 (34.3 overs)
LFCC won by four wickets

A game that looked unlikely to be played turned into a great win for Fields, who start the season with a pair of friendly wins. First thing on Sunday it looked as though the gloomy weather forecast might be wrong, but darkening skies led to a late morning downpour which seemed to put paid to any chance of a game. However, the rain relented, the pitch was soggy but playable and apart from a couple of ten-minute bursts of rain during the game (including some traditional April thunder and lightning), we stayed dry.

Captain Jason lost the toss and after some deliberation Strongroom opted to bat, no doubt mindful of the huge score they ran up batting first last year. However, Jason realised that genuine pace was of no value on such a damp pitch (not that he would have been able to do anything different if he hadn’t) and opened with medium-on-a-good-day pacers Simon Yates and Tony Tedore. Simon and Tony - followed by Carl Death at first change - came out of close season mothballs successfully, bowling accurately and keeping Strongroom’s powerful batting line-up under control with wickets falling steadily.

Tony took a couple of early wickets, and then debutant Brock bowled a wicket maiden in his first over. All of this, coupled with some violently turning off-spin from Arthur Smart, reduced Strongroom to 75-5. Mention should be made of LFCC’s excellent catching: at this point, every chance was held and Jason in particular took a blinder at slip to dismiss last year’s centurion Jon.

There then followed a period of effective, if often slightly agricultural, lower order batting from Strongroom as LFCC relaxed their grip: one more quick wicket at this stage and the Strongroom total could have been markedly less. A couple of difficult chances also went down, though this was forgivable in a swirling wind and strange edge-of-a-storm light. However, control was never entirely lost and with Simon and Carl returning to complete their allocations Strongroom were held back to a very competitive but by no means unattainable 226-9.

Despite the early loss of Vince, Fields began their response convincingly with Paul and Ben batting beautifully to take the score past 100 at six an over without further damage - a perfect launchpad. Unfortunately, Paul, looking set for a century, proceeded to smear a harmless slow full toss to point. He had batted terrifically well before the aberration.

Jason followed, with an innings that could be described in the same way as Paul’s, except for the "he had batted terrifically well before" bit. With Ben holing out too, LFCC were wobbling a little.

After one or two early swipe and misses, man of the match Brock began to take control on his way to 55 not out, getting good support from Arthur and Rob. The required rate was kept at between six and seven an over in a well-paced chase, and a couple of late hoicks from Rob saw Fields home with an over and a half to spare.

A really good win against a side who have troubled Fields greatly in the past, on a day when it was a real bonus to get a game in at all.

Lazily, you can read the scorecard at the Strongroom site!