League Match vs Village CC, 28th June 2008, Highgate

Fields Pay for Low Total
by stand-in captain Jason Lord

London Fields 161 all out (32 overs)
Lost to Village 164 for 6 (35 overs)

Two weeks ago, I led a Fields side which put on a near-flawless display, scoring 248 and then bundling Village out for 45. It was a thoroughly convincing show by a side on top form, and one which I thought would have given even Crescent and Star a run for their money.

Unfortunately, this was not a repeat of that performance. Lots of small errors of judgement added up to a defeat to a side who have only beaten us once before, and that nearly three years ago.

Making our first trip to Albert Rec, at the toss there were only five London Fielders present. With the opposition all there, on winning the toss it seemed the polite thing to do to bat rather than ask to delay the start and bowl, in spite of a strip which promised to do a bit.

And so it proved, with the short ball bouncing and the full ball staying down, Peter bowling down the hill caused some problems, particularly to Arthur whom I had pressed into opening on the basis that he was, erm, at the ground. Shouldering arms to a ball pitching way outside off stump, it jagged in and took the off bail - a classic Graham Pontin memorial dismissal.

This brought Paul Teasdale to the crease who looked good on the dance floor. There was a big shout for a catch off him at second slip but the ball had clearly looped off the back pad. Clear, that is, to me (as non-striker), the batsman, the umpire and, I suspect, both the Village bowler and their Captain. But the appeal from others went on and on, culminating in one senior Villager doing a fair impression of Ricky Ponting's dissent the previous day in Grenada. Nice. Any distant Village outfielder or spectator must have been fooled into thinking that a most egregious piece of cheating had just taken place. Well it hadn't, and to imply otherwise is one of the things which I believe can make games much more tetchy than they need to be.

Paul made a solid 36 before calling a quick single which may or may not have been there. Ben Sanders certainly didn't think so, staying in his ground to leave Paul stranded. This might sound harsh on Paul if it wasn't for three points as follows:

1. It wasn't Paul's call
2. It was Ben's call
3. Paul had run me out ten minutes earlier.

Yep, that's right, clipping a full toss smartly straight to midwicket, Paul confidently called for the run and ran down the hill towards me. Like a fool I trusted him and ran up the hill to be run out by a yard. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Ben scooped one up to cover, and the next four batsmen were bowled. Richard batted well for his 19 as did Taz for his excellent 33. Simon Lee looked for a while like he might help us to the 180 mark but his eyes lit up at a short slow ball and he was stumped on 13, leaving Simon Yates, who had looked promisingly watchful, high and dry.
Between us, we'd managed to miss out on batting through the last four overs, a collective mistake which probably cost us the match.

Still, 161 was a defendable total and the two Simons set about the task brilliantly, restricting The Village to 44 for 2 off their 12 overs. Yates had 'walking wicket' Graham Pontin caught at silly for a duck which neatly completed his pair against us for the season. Lee bowled the other opener.

The next pair to bowl were John and Arthur. How I wished ex-member Peter was still playing so I could bring him on next. 'John Arthur Rank' would look brilliant in the book wouldn't it? The next 12 overs went for 43 for 2. So far, so symmetrical. John bowled the limpet, Thomas, who survived well for his 2, and Arthur got a wicket at the end of his spell, bowling Marrow.

When Village skipper Alan was run out for a well compiled 32, I can't have been alone in thinking that we were well on course. 70 were still needed off the last 10 overs with two new batsmen at the crease. Taz held down one end, going for just 19 off 5 overs, while a variety of seamers coming down the hill bowled pretty well. Matt C had Plimmer caught, bringing in Richardson to the crease. 63 were needed off 9 with six down - so far still so good.

But there was a big twist in the tail. Village's genuinely charming new recruit Gupte batted really well with some strong shots and, in partnership with Andy, put on 65 to win the game. Of course things could have gone differently: One difficult chance - a big sky-er - went down in the field. A catch was taken off a low full toss, but the ball was subsequently called 'no ball' - a very late call, and from the bowler's end umpire to boot. And a run out was missed - my fault mistakenly calling for a soft throw from Arthur when in fact a quicker one was required. And suddenly the game was gone, Gupte finishing it with two fours and a couple of sixes.

We bowled really well, on a surface which seemed to do less and less as the day went on, without ever taking a cascade of wickets, we fielded well on a difficult outfield and Paul 'kept well. But it wasn't our performance in the second innings which decided this game - it was the first, coupled with a good chase put together by the opposition. So congratulations to The Village on their victory. After this, we certainly can't afford another slip-up if we are to cling on to the title this season.

Here's the scorecard:

London Fields Batting

Batsman	Scoring	How Out	Bowler	Total
Arthur		Bowled	Peter	0
Jason		run	out	12
Paul Teas		run	out	36
Ben		Caught	Gupte	4
Richard		Bowled	David	19
Travis		Bowled	Andy	4
John A		Bowled	Andy	0
Dave M		Bowled	Sam	33
Matt C		Caught	Graham	5
Simon L		Stumped	Graham	13
Simon Y		not	out	1
			Extras	??
161 all out 32 overs

Village Batting

164-6, 35 overs

London Fields Bowling

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average
Simon Y	6	0	23	1	23
Simon L	6	1	20	1	20
John A	6	0	16	1	16
Arthur	6	0	16	1	16
Matt C	2	0	9	1	9
Dave M	5	0	19	0	-
Richard	1	0	7	0	-
Ben	2	0	19	0	-
Travis	1	0	17	0	-

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