Willoughby 2nds Vs Abington Phoenix & Friends

After the 1st game was cancelled due to the weather we were keen to get stuck into the season with a victory.

We thought with our own 'official' umpire we could stamp out the shenanigans from the 3 previous games against this lot. It turns out that if you are in serious trouble you can just call a few mates to come 20 overs into the game.

The toss of the coin was irrelevant as Phoenix always bat first even though it was a damp day. Martyn Norman and Fergus Deery opened up and we could tell that after dismissing the 2 usual openers of Subash and Sunjith they hardly any batting left. The next 5 batters poked and prodded around for 18 overs hardly troubling the scorer. (Which in fact was troubling as the score was a whopping 30 RUNS OUT after Play Cricket calculated the scores). With the likes of Jerry & Deepak missing who were the main bowlers we knew this was a weak team. At the 20 over mark they were in serious trouble at 56 for 6, like the 3 previous occasions we played them, usually they rely on a umpire to get them out of trouble which we had covered. So, a few of us knew something was up when a taxi turned up, there was a commotion of players pointing, laughing in a buoyant mood from the away end and 3 guys hopped out and immediately got changed and padded up. 3 other poor players who hadn't batted yet got undressed and cheered on the reinforcements.

So, as you would expect Harry Lacey got a breakthrough and 'Freddy' (name is obviously not!) arrived at the crease in a full Huntington and District kit. The 1st 2 deliveries were dispatched through the covers, front foot to the ball, high elbow etc. The next 20 overs were a bit of a blur, mainly because they scored a mammoth 200 off the next 20 overs. The away team clapped his hundred before he was eventually caught behind. But oddly enough the book said 84? Anyway just to add insult to injury Fijin came in at No.10 and hit the biggest 6 I've ever see 30 yards over the nets, this is all despite playing 13 games last season and not hitting one 6.

According to the scorebook they scored 163 plus extras in 20 overs. So I'm not entirely sure when the extra 47 RUNS came from. 252 for 9.

After the break Fijin (who was one of the 3 men in the taxi) opened up, despite only bowling 2 overs in 13 games last season - this 6'7 man mountain was sending down thunderbolts to rival Cessford. He got good over the summer. A few of us suck around but Aiden Porter was the only player to really get in and scored a excellent 72 not out. We ended the game 2 short of a bonus point at 148 for 8.

The 4th game in a row where there is a complete lack of respect for the opposition and the game of cricket. The fact the skipper didn't even mention he only had 8 players at the start means these ringers where clearly brought in after the game had started.

And just to compound things they left without paying for the umpire.