London Fields (177 for 7) lost to The Village (189 for 8) by 12 runs

Summary
The Village won the toss and elected to bat
Conditions

 Dry(ish), cold; more like April than June.

While the skip was busy dressing himself up in Italian suits, shoes, scarves and stuffing pizza/pasta to best other physiques in a pic at the Collosseum, VC Toby had his neurons bursting overtime trying to get 11 on the field and plot the downfall of our traditional rivals.

On a day when a Dragon became the unofficial sigil of the Village, and WAG’s/kids (and a half nearing completion and pop out) made their way out to support the Village, the day was full of joy, colours, contradictions, expectations and a pair of socks searching chaos.

Toby won the toss and decided to bat first. Well coached Graham and self taught WLD opened the innings. Graham was soon back in pavilion talking about how good a run a ball innings of 10 felt. Alluri, who not long ago, had asked people to have trust and not pad up, did wonders to that confidence, by deciding to have lunch before his second ball.

 

P Bosh was forced to drop his sandwich and banana; wash his hands and face, and go out to bat when Village lost JdM (8) after striking two beautiful boundaries. 3 down and not even 30 on the board. The Village had much to do against their traditional rivals. At this point, the WAGs (if they were watching!) must be wondering, how the hell do we keep hearing these stories of victories every week.

Ice cool composed Oli and Bosh managed to get to the drinks with the score being 60 odd in 17 overs - happy with their work so far, having injected some pace.

After the drinks, the two started to shift pressure, gathered momentum and got past 100 in next to no time. Oli (32), who looked comfortable with his powerful slaps through the offside and some elegant leg glances, got unlucky when he got out to a filthy long hop. Toby (4) struck an exquisite drive, Cressey (8) looked the best that he has this season; Bossy (11) once again woke up from sleep and used his muscle until he decided to only half use it; Dravid impersonator wristy Ramesh (3) and “Mate, I’ll just scamper a single anyhow” Pitcher contributed towards the fighting end total of 189/8 off 35 overs against a good bowling attack. Bosh finished with 92*.

Fuelled up on brownies/ Prosecco/Pasta (was it there?)/confidence/belief and leaving the WAGs to do some drawing (to distract them from our fielding displays!), the Village started their defence with some exceptional bowling from both Bossy and Ramesh, who created a number of opportunities. Fields opener Hughes was snapped up through a brilliant low catch by Oli off Ramesh. Bossy then removed the next two batsmen, without any help from any of the fielders.

Village were looking good but having issues removing the other opener Graham (91*), who made the most of his chances to keep up with the run rate and was batting really well. The ever so canny 100 club member Louse and TGO Cressey, in tandem, followed on from the opening combo. Louse had Goodwin (15) caught and then bowled Utz (13). The match was still tight and could go either way.

A partnership between Graham and Glover (27) looked threatening. Toby then introduced himself into the attack, kept it tight before eventually removing Glover. Cressey removed Thornton but it still went down to the last over. Bossy had enough to defend and bowled a fantastic last over to take Village home and keep the streak dancing.  Good bowling changes, clever field placements need as much recognition here as a brilliant bowling display by the whole unit.

All entertainers need an audience and The Village rose up to the occasion. The WAGs enjoyed their day thoroughly. Village is thankful to all of them who made their way out and to the Social Sec.

“Pub on the Park” hosted us where the win was thoroughly celebrated, copious amounts of alcohol consumed; fag factory ran out of fags, final pre-Brexit heads banged, social options and fitness tips exchanged. A fantastic day and all kinds of success enjoyed by all and sundry! Others were missed!

Time to realign and refocus onto the next one… Long way still to go and there is a chance to be invincible 2016!

Runs 4s 6s
GC Pontin b Glover 10 2 0
OL Morgans c unknown b Tony 32 3 0
A Shriram b Glover 0 0 0
J de Mellow † lbw b Glover 8 2 0
P Misra not out 92 10 3
T de Mellow * c unknown b Tony 4 1 0
RM Cressey c unknown b Tony 8 1 0
C Bosshardt c unknown b Goodwin 11 2 0
R Bedadala b Rupert 3 0 0
C Pitcher not out 1 0 0
C Woodhouse 0 0 0
(Frank) Extras 3b 0lb 1nb 0p 16w 20
Total for 8 189 (35 ovs)
Bowler O M R W
Glover 5 0 18 3
Goodwin 1 0 12 1
Rupert 5 0 29 1
Sam 6 1 34 0
Tony 4 0 29 3
Troy 7 1 36 0
Tyrone 7 1 27 0
Fall of Wicket
No data recorded
London Fields Innings
Runs 4s 6s
Graham not out 91 0 0
Hughes c OL Morgans b R Bedadala 0 0 0
Croft b C Bosshardt 0 0 0
Killian lbw b C Bosshardt 4 0 0
Goodwin c GC Pontin b C Woodhouse 15 0 0
Utz b C Woodhouse 13 0 0
Glover c RM Cressey b T de Mellow 27 0 0
Thornton b RM Cressey 4 0 0
Tedore not out 1 0 0
Ek 0 0 0
Graham 0 0 0
(Frank) Extras 6b 2lb 5nb 0p 9w 22
Total for 7 177 (35 ovs)
Bowler O M R W
C Woodhouse 5 0 26 2
C Pitcher 3 0 35 0
R Bedadala 7 1 39 1
RM Cressey 7 1 25 1
T de Mellow 6 1 27 1
C Bosshardt 7 1 25 2
Fall of Wicket
No data recorded