Story A Season in Battrick - The TT Lions Story

[ZoraxDoom]

An interesting article has arrived in today's newspaper...

"Odd selections" claims former Lion Charles Griffin​

Former TT Lions allrounder Charles Griffin has claimed that not playing Xavier Eli in yesterday's match against the Armadillos 'Odd'
"It's an unusual decision really. The stage was perfect for him to make his debut. At home, first game of the season, poor opposition. Abdeen made his debut, I don't understand why Eli didn't. Really Odd."
Although the scorecards have yet to be released, Griffin was covering the match yesterday with the team, and found the decision not to play him unusual.
"It's quite odd really. Maybe he wasn't match fit yet, but he was bowling in the nets next to the ground during the game, and seemed perfectly fine. Odd. I think it's quite certain he'll play tommorrow though."
Griffin's opinions were backed up by long-time fans Rob Jupiter and Amol Subhesh.
"We want Eli! He is the next best thing to happen to the club since Rudi, who was the next best thing since Tuckett, who was the next best thing since Ryan!"
The match review and scorecards have yet to be released due to some technical difficulties, but we will deliver them straight to you as soon as we get them.
-Nosyparker News

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Match Preview​

West Indies Cup Match
TT Lions vs. boz-eyes
molinuex
Sunday 20/01/2007, 15:30 GMT​

Cup round two, this time at the moulinuex. No home games for the Lions as of yet. Now, in all fairness, boz-eyes are a decent team for one that has been around for only 2 seasons. But will htey be a match for the TT Lions, I doubt so.
First, current form. Since league games aren't up throughout the Windies, we only have his previous cup game to go by, which they ended up winning quite convincingly. Their strength lies in their batting, which explains the Hard & Fast pitch they are preparing. A batting beauty, but is their bowling good enough to stave off an in form Whing and co.??
At last look, the ratings were as follows:

		[B]boz-eyes	TT Lions[/B]

[B]Top Order:[/B]	mediocre	competent
[B]Middle Order:[/B]	feeble	        mediocre
[B]Lower Order:[/B]	abysmal		abysmal
[B]Seam Bowling:[/B]	woeful       	strong    
[B]Spin Bowling:[/B]	feeble   	proficient
[B]Fielding:[/B]       woeful		feeble

A good batting side they may be, but definately not good enough for the might of the Lion's bowling. It should be an easy win for the Lions, but they won't be taking any risks.
As for the team, there was a bit of suprise all over when Eli missed a spot in the first XI yesterday, but expect him to play tommorrow. Abdeen may continue to open, although we haven't the foggiest how he performed yesterday. But expect a similar lineup to that of yesterdays, Andrews could miss out. The Lions might experiment by having only one spinner in Tuckett and go with Atkinson, given the pitch, but don't bet on it.

Playing XI (Expected): Whing, Abdeen (+), Rudi, Gallagher, Crouch, Finlayson, Shipp, Spearitt, Eli, Tuckett (*), Folkes.

 

[surendar]

I am following TT lions only through this story.. But really amazed by the team's performance... just one question,

When did TT lions lost the last match ?

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Hmm...good question...let me see...

http://www.battrick.org/nl/matchInfo.asp?matchID=767918
Against Borncricketer's XI It was a tough game, had I won the toss I would have probably won.

 

[Jaztheman]

come on TT Lions another hard fought win

 

[zainawan89]

I think the next time u will be beaten by me.
We will play each other again after our cup runs ends.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

In your dreams

 

[The Spin]

I can't say that I have beaten Zorax either, having said that my starting squad was truely awful.

A couple of stats Zorax will not enjoy seeing, TT Lion's record in PC Tournaments is:
Battrick League: Semi Finalist (Lost to The Falcons)
Batrick League 2006: Group Stages (Jazz Messengers progressed from that group)
Battrick Shield: Quater Final (Lost to Old Wulfs)
Battrick Championship: Drawn to start in Division 2. Currently 2nd, but likely to end up in 3rd. That would put him in a promotion play-off position

He has been a tad disappointing in these tournaments, especially in the Shield where he was expected to win it.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Yea, I didn't really care then. Still don't. I used pretty much all my matches then as experiments. All of it is paying off. I am now a master of tactics

 

[aussie1st]

Good old cocky Zorax
Have you actually won anything with the BT league/cup?

 

[Pak_cricketer]

Yea, I didn't really care then. Still don't. I used pretty much all my matches then as experiments. All of it is paying off. I am now a master of tactics

Overall I still have a better record vs you..

*Waiting for Zorax to accept challenge*

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Because I experimented in all my games. My team is rather good now, since I've found a good settled XI. All I need is one more good batsman, which I'll get soon enough, and I'll have a near unbeatable team!
Anyways, yesterday's Review is coming up...

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Match Review​

One Day League
TT Lions vs. Armadillos
The Lion Stands
Sunday 13/01/2007, 15:30 GMT​

An excellent start to the season for the Lions, as they manage an imposing 214 run victory to boost them to the top of the table.
After winning the toss, the Lions had no hesitation to bat. The pitch was a little harder that usual, but still had some grass cover and was a bit two paced, so it was a tough call for the winning captain. But Bill Tuckett made the right decision, Abdeen and Whing got the team off to a flying start, Abdeen picking up a four and a six in the second over of the match from Christopher Botes. However, a poor umpiring decision meant a promising start was cut short, but this shows good signs for the future.
After that wicket, it was the Whing and Rudi show all the way. Whing continued on his fine form, and mixed defense with brute power and some very good running. Lennox Rudi got off to a rather shaky start as he usually does, nearly dragging on twice and edging one just short of the slips, but he soon found his groove. He was especially brutal through the offside, peppering the fence with sone beautiful cuts and some gorgeous cover drives. Whing tended to favour the legside more, hitting the more left-arm based attack with the angle and the spinner with the spin. The key thing that must be said for this partnership was that they never took the pressure off. They ran the quick ones and twos, they hit a boundary nearly every over, and kept the runrate above 6 for the entire innings. This set the launching pad for the last ten overs, which yeilded over 80 runs. Whing fell with just about 2 overs left in the innings, so will be dissapointed, although he now has an average of 358 for the season! Rudi fell just 4 runs short of his career highest of 155, but it was a great knock.
The Armadillos were never in the hunt from the start, as Ronnie Giles knicked Rudi to slip in the first over for a golden duck. Rudi bowled with excellent control, despite just having batted for 140 deliveries, and Folkes with good aggression, to set them back at 28/4. Rudland swung his bat for a while to take them past 50, but didn't last long. Tuckett was a bit more expensive that usual, but picked up two wickets, and the Armadillos had been reduced to 68/7. Keeper Mulligan figured there was no point in hanging about, and went about hitting Andrews and Crouch for some quick runs, but didn't last much longer. The tail were bundled out with ease, and the Lions made it 6 wins out of 7.
The big suprise of the day was the non-inclusion of Xavier Eli. All eyes will be on Sunday's match to see if he plays.

Ratings:

Excellent ratings for the Lions. The Armadillos were outclassed in all departments, never stood a chance. My MOTM would have been Rudi too, so I agree with BT for this one.

Attendance:

Excellent attendace, raked in ?195,000 in gate receipts alone! Also ?1,760 in merchandise, so quite a haul A ground expansion may be planned now for the future as the ground's max capacity is only 30,000...

Join us on Sunday when it is the second round of the cup against boz-eyes!

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Sunday's Youth​

Well, I got the trainee I wanted last week, so decided to experiment this week. As it went, I told to coach to get me a guy with:
11 ITS Batting
11 ITS Bowling
7 ITS Stamina
2 ITS Concentration
2 ITS Consistency
1 ITS Fielding
Bit silly, I know, but if I was lucky, I could get a real star
And as it turned out, here is what I got:

Al Cooksey (1063692)
RH Batsman, RFM Bowler, respectable batting form, respectable bowling form, fresh
A cautious player with superb leadership skills and abysmal experience.

Plays For: TT Lions
Nationality: West Indies
Age: 17 Years Old
Battrick Rating: 3,442
Wages: ?567 p/w

The Coach's thoughts on Cooksey here:

Eez a pesky bugger. Always running off 'eez ruddy mouth and making jokez with 'ee others. Ah yes, 'ee can bat a bit, bowl at a decent pace, and even keep wicket, but 'ee don't take cricket to seriously. But all 'ee players like 'im. I sayz he 'eez a pesky bugger. Glad 'eez gone.

My thoughts:

Not bad. As the coach said, he can bat, bowl and wickekeep. But he isn't great in either. But a decent trainee for a lower level team, and he's make a great captain. Up for sale.

Join us next week to see what the Academy can produce!

 

[plympilgrim]

great win zorax, rudi could have beaten them on his own though!!