The Village (204 for 7) beat South Bank Cricket Club (73 all out) by 131 runs

Summary
South Bank Cricket Club won the toss and elected to field
Conditions

Conditions:

That same old familiar place. An uncomfortably hot and humid, energy sapping day – like a restaurant kitchen. Pitch still like pudding (refer to report 1) with variable bounce, movement, turn and a bit of Fox shit in the middle – or like the top of a Makhani Dal sprinkled with extra loose coriander

Report

Big time Hollywood director Thomo was spotted at Fishponds again, following on from his hit debut directorial venture in the Village Franchise – a prequel shot at the same set

In moving away from usual storyboard, he made a major move in promoting some Supporting extras from last venture to feature as opening acts. Big risk!

In a first for the Village franchise, the opening extras Abrar (46) and Bosh (68) put on a 100+ run partnership, batted 20 odd overs and gave the franchise a decent opening. The set was so hot that costume changes were required.

As is the case with any movie, there is a shift in momentum, changes and layers in story lines, characters developed, suspense build up, sub plots revealed and the ultimate climax culminating into an ending. After the initial opening act, some cameos were played by the stellar cast of TGO (14), Toby (12)- must say who hit a might six and a beautiful four and then, like a character from Game of Thrones, got stabbed by the ONLY man he didn’t suspect was even there or would reveal a dragon glass sort of edge in fielding at deep square leg. Ollie (7) sacrificed himself like a character artist, who was there to lend a bigger meaning to the entire plot of end runs. So did Naz (who wasn’t an ex anymore).

There has to be a descriptive tangible pick up in the movie for the audiences to be still interested in what lies ahead. Two new Cameos, Troj (19) and Gupte (11), provided that flourish with their performances.

Then there was a brief Popcorn/Samosa/Slush/Sausage/Sweets half time break, and then almost like that, the stage setting changes. There was a brief rain sequence as well no song and rain dance. Remember this is a Hollywood movie, not a bollywood one. The songs are at the end here.

It was time for the change of roles, and other characters (namely bowlers) to take centre stage. For those not aware, this director is himself a pretty good actor delivering consistently good performances – 6-3-9-2 to deliver punchy start to the second half. The oppo said he was like Jimmy Anderson (who is not an actor) There was a brief monologue from Bradshaw (17) which entertained audiences but then performances from Naz (12-4), Leg spinner Louse (14-3), and curry in-charge Village legend Gupte (12-1) had more impact with their performances to make the climax worthwhile.

The success of the movie was celebrated while watching some European round ball hit with legs sport, AD using a tray to bring drinks and apparently being told off, videos captured, Pound value discussions, Brexit (yes again!!) inclinations and a lot of fags from fag factory dispersed.  Village 8/8 in this edition. Long may it continue!!!

Runs 4s 6s
A Abbas c unknown b Cohan 46 6 0
P Misra lbw b Arnold 68 11 0
T de Wit b Cohan 0 0 0
RM Cressey c unknown b Arnold 14 2 0
T de Mellow c unknown b Hillsein 12 1 1
NP Troja not out 19 2 0
OL Morgans † b Hillsein 7 1 0
N Choudhury b Porter 1 0 0
E Gupte not out 11 2 0
N Price-Thompson * 0 0 0
C Woodhouse 0 0 0
(Frank) Extras 0b 7lb 4nb 0p 15w 26
Total for 7 204 (40 ovs)
Bowler O M R W
Arnold 8 0 28 2
Cohan 3 0 19 2
Hillsein 8 0 44 2
McIntyre 8 0 45 0
Porter 8 1 22 1
Rennison 5 0 44 0
Fall of Wicket
No data recorded
South Bank Cricket Club Innings
Runs 4s 6s
Dollin b N Price-Thompson 1 0 0
Dyson b N Price-Thompson 7 0 0
Bradshaw b E Gupte 17 0 0
Arnold b N Choudhury 8 0 0
James stumped (OL Morgans) b C Woodhouse 4 0 0
Truss c&b N Choudhury 7 0 0
Cohan b N Choudhury 2 0 0
McIntyre c OL Morgans b C Woodhouse 16 0 0
Rennison b C Woodhouse 2 0 0
Porter not out 1 0 0
Milshan b N Choudhury 0 0 0
(Frank) Extras 1b 0lb 0nb 0p 7w 8
Total all out 73 (29 ovs)
Bowler O M R W
C Woodhouse 5 0 14 3
E Gupte 4 0 12 1
N Choudhury 6 2 12 4
NP Troja 3 0 9 0
N Price-Thompson 6 3 9 2
RM Cressey 5 1 15 0
Fall of Wicket
No data recorded