Ley Hill vs Haste Hill, 3rd July 2004

So at last, the thirds were to play on the hallowed ground of Ley Hill. Due to the seconds fixture against the ethnically cleansed Booker leaving a gap in the home ground’s calendar and in response to the cries of the third team stalwarts (‘where do we want to play – Ley Hill’ ‘when do we want to play there – now’) the new fixture against Eastcote’s Haste Hill side (The Haste Hill in Northwood Hills, there isn’t one in Eastcote – I may explain later if I run out of waffle) was scheduled to happen at Ley Hill. This would also give the Bellingdon ground staff an ideal opportunity to flatten the burgeoning nettle crop and retrieve 437 lost match balls. (Fat chance!)

That was the plan anyway. Fate had transpired otherwise! As you are aware reader, a fair proportion of the third team is made up of Tim Kaye’s ‘Razor’ gang, the underworld equivalent of Ley Hill School’s teaching staff and horror of horrors, the 3rd July was the date for their annual fete! Not the Razor gang’s annual fete obviously, cut throat hoodlums don’t have annual fetes, but there was some link with a school in Ealing or something which meant that a number of regulars were not available.

So the all-star line-up consisted of the remnants of the thirds, those second team players who couldn’t face an afternoon of shopping/gardening/DIY/Wimbledon (delete as necessary) and anyone else who was unavailable for first team selection (for whatever reason!).

Haste Hill won the toss and asked Ley Hill’s ‘skipper-for-a-day’ Chris Jones (remember him?) to bat first. A strange decision as at this stage they only had 9 men. It being a friendly, Chris kindly offered the opposition an additional fielder and someone looking remarkably like Andy Spinks (although it couldn’t have been Andy, as he would be at the fete, wouldn’t he?) took to the field to help out.

Terry ‘lucky’ Rothwell and Kash ‘wonder kid’ Shakoor strode purposefully to the crease and four balls later Kash was returning being unable to persuade Terry to leave his crease for a quick single. Puddephatt followed shortly after, playing on for 4 runs. ‘Skipper-for-a-day’ Jones managed 2 runs before being caught. As was Rothwell Snr. when on 16. McCarthy emulated his skipper’s performance and was caught behind, also for 2.

Things improved with the bloke that looked like Andy Spinks scoring a solid, if not Lownesque (in terms of speed) 23, and Kevin Phillips (left) conversely thumping 2 x 6’s, 3 x 4’s and a single for a very quick 25, both being eventually bowled. Will Rothwell fell early for an uncharacteristic 3 and Jim Rainey (working hard to get back to + figures in the Fantasy rankings) scored 1. Gary ‘the third Mitchell’ Helm hit a crafted 20 before being bowled, further improving this seasons batting average, as did Paul ‘use my Google link or else’ Green who was on 4 when he ran out of partners.

With only 8 extras, the home side finished on 108 all out which was never going to be enough, even against only 10 men!

Following an excellent tea supplied by ‘skipper-for-a-day’ Chris Jones, Ley Hill’s pace men set about the visitor’s openers. Early victims for Rothwell Jnr with the slowest motion played-on ever and a caught and bowled double act with his father showed promise, as did 2 wickets for young Mr Shakoor and an audacious caught and bowled by McCarthy but the cultured 73 by Walker at #1 together with the usual comedy fielding by the home side brought the game to early close, Ley Hill loosing by 5 wickets.
 

Ley Hill lost by 5 wickets
Ley Hill 108 all out (Phillips 25, Terry Rothwell 23)
Haste Hill 110 for 5 (Kash Shakoor 2 for 17, Will Rothwell 2 for 21)

Man of the match: Terry’s catch (not bad for old bloke!)
Clown of the match: Thirds' fielding record (not as bad as usual but still poor!)

Click here for the scorecard