Story Hong Kong Days: Chapter 5: Where's Chris: Part 2

[Prithvi]

Richard Hobbis RIP:crying.

BTW, I liked the determination of your coach Mr. Aktinson!
Be with that spirit to be a successful one.

 

[riz7khan12]

drake thorpe is has tough mind. he saw someone die and he isn't affected by it.
nice to finally have some cricket.

 

[hedger_14]

It's Drake Thorpe, Riz

 

[riz7khan12]

^ sorry, drake thorpe :o

 

[TheGreemSim]

drake thorpe is has tough mind. he saw someone die and he isn't affected by it.
nice to finally have some cricket.

He didn't really know the guy and he couldn't really see when his face was lodged into Mr. Atkinsons big bum.

Ew what a horrible thought...

 

[Highlander999]

That image of the bus looks mightily like the one I rolled last year

 

[TheGreemSim]

CHAPTER 3: A TASTE OF TWENTY-20: PART 2​

Although we had bugger all training we were still all looking forward the match. We had little chance as they were now officially a division 1 team and we were a division 3 team however we would have to give it our best shot as we were going to be playing them on a number of occasions later this year. I wasn't to concerned about whether we won or lost, I was just pleased to see the lads bright and cheery again.

Until the morning of the match we had no idea about the squads. Nobody had seen Mr. Atkinson since the breakfast two days ago. Chris Newell insisted he had had a heart attack. I didn't rule it out, this wouldn't really come as a shock with all the drama that's been happening of the late. I reckon I either had a huge chance of playing as I was young and inexperienced and might not get much of a go in the tournament so maybe Mr. Atkinson would want to play me in the warm up match just to keep me happy. But then again I might have little chance if Mr. Atkinson wants to try and show how strong his side our to the rest of the world by beating UAE.

I was sitting on a wooden bench which had, had a rush paint job and the dark brown coloured paint was beginning to peel off. God only knows how many splinters I had stuck in my back side. From the distance you could see the ground. You could see the yellow dry dead grass and the cracked up wicket in the middle.

"I'm sure you'll get picked, mate" Chris Newell said, he was sitting next to me. I was beggining to form a friendship with the tall 26 year old, dark haired, half Asian.
"I certainly hope so." I replied
"Let's be honest Drake, why wouldn't you? Atkinson hasn't got a choice. Kruger's not here, Chilton, Sadler and Timms injured and well Hobbis, Hobbis can't really do much to help when he's up there having a blast partying his ass off with Cobain, Morrison, Hendrix and the rest of the 27 club."
"You're such a joker, Chris" I chuckled.

Our conversation was interrupted by a player, whose name I didn't know running up to me and informing me that Mr. Atkinson wanted to see me. I didn't bother thanking him or asking him where Mr. Atkinson was for that matter, I was so excited. I just ran off to the staff lodge where he was sitting luckily enough.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" I said gingerly as I walked into the living room. The staff lodge was a lot more luxurious than ours.
"Ah yes, Drake, good to see you, come and have a seat ol' chap." He pulled up a chair next to him and put down his newspaper.
"I'm not sure if you're aware of this sir, but your newspaper is in Swahili." I said as I sat down on the uncomfortable wooden chair. He peered over at the newspaper lowering his glasses. "Ah yes, it appears so."
"So what did you want to see me about?"
"Well Drake, as fate would have it I have no other available players left to choose from except you."
"Well that's great sir, well not great for the injured ones of course but thank you sir""
"No but here's the thing Drake. You may be getting a longer run than you and I had both thought." He had a much more serious tone now.
"Why's that then?"
"Well you see boy, Richard Hobbis, was the only other all rounder in the squad, he was the only one holding you back. Heck as long as he was fit I had no intention of using you. There was now an awkward silence.
Well run along boy!" He shouted.

And that was that, in just over two hours time I was going to make my international d?but for Hong Kong.

 

[riz7khan12]

You could see the yellow dry dead grass

just like our field in summer ,

good update there and nice to see mr.atkinson being honest.. what a character he is..!

 

[Chewie]

I have to say that I am loving this story so far, despite there being no cricket played

 

[TheGreemSim]

Just been adding real players from teams in WCL 3 to the database over the last two days, I've been a bit slack really but I'll finish it tonight and will proceed with the story.

 

[SIX]

That twelve year old debutant - wasn't Ishtaa Gidwani was it?

 

[TheGreemSim]

That twelve year old debutant - wasn't Ishtaa Gidwani was it?

Chan Sau Har was her name iirc.

 

[TheGreemSim]

WCL Division 3
Hong Kong to take on United Arab Emirates

Cricinfo Staff
April 25th 2009

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On one side of the world New Zealanders and Australians pay tribute to the ANZAC soldiers that were lost in WWI, on the otherside of the world Hong Kong are preparing for
a tough warm up match against a confident United Arab Emirates side who recently won the World Cricket League Division 2 finals against Uganda fairly easily beating the
home side by 96 runs.

Hong Kong have been the focus of the cricketing world over the last fortnight, having appointed a new coach and then being attacked by a bunch of ambushers which left
all rounder Richard Hobbis dead and another 3 players severly injured. The incident was similar to the incident that happened to the Sri Lankan team in Pakistan a month ago.
The ICC asked coach Steven Atkinson whether he wanted to pull out of WCL Division 3 but he made it very clear that he wasn't going to let an incident like this hold his team
back.

People ruled out Hong Kong's chances of winning the tournament after such a devastating event however if they can perform well in their warm up match against United Arab
Emirates they may still be in with a chance. The game between the two teams will be played in Tanzania tomorrow afternoon, all the money made from the game will be
donated to the Hong Kong cricket association.

Many of Hong Kong's regulars such as Afzaal Haider and Tabarak Dar were unavailable for the tournament due to other work commitments as well as having players
unavailable due to injury like Courtney Kruger.

United Arab Emirates XI: Lusith Alexander (capt), Rohan Ali, Chandra Javed, Gowkaran Roopnarine, Barry Bartley, Kahn Bai, Hassan Alie (wk), Nasir Awan,
Mohammed Ali, Gautam Massiah, Garry Romero

Hong Kong Probable XI: Mark Woods (capt), Nick White, Jonathan Pipe, Vikram Miller, Chris Newell, Jamie Atkinson (wk), Drake Thorpe, David Spellman,
Ian Sutton, Jason Timms, Rupert Huggins

 

[TheGreemSim]

Chapter 4: Vs United Arab Emirates: Part 1​

At 11 O'clock the team casually strolled over to the ground. I say casually but I felt like there was a new years party going on in my stomach.

"Hey Chris," I was walking next to him
"Yeah?" He replied
"What did you mean when you said Richard would be up there with the rest of the 27 club? I don't know any cricketers that died aged 27"
"You don't know anything about music do you? Hell, I bet you think The Meat Puppets is a children's cartoon show!"
"What does music have to do with anything?""
"Well have you ever heard of many cricketers called Cobain and Joplin?"
"Not that I recall no"
"That's because they were musicians like Richard"
"Richard wasn't a musician he was a lawyer wasn't he?"
"That's what he told all of his serious older hard working mates, he was in a local Ska Punk band, you should check them out sometime."

I didn't even know what this ska punk genre was. I wasn't going to tell Chris or I'd just receive some lecture from an annoying music purist who thinks he knows best.

The boundary was rather large and not completely oval, it was definitely a bowlers track as the wicket was as green as the leaves of an elm tree in summer. It's a shame we only had 5 bowlers available. I reckoned I'd get my full 4 overs as from what I've heard none of the batsman can bowl to save themselves.

The UAE team looked very intimidating all standing huddled together, they all looked very pumped and fully of team spirit there was no sign of my friend from the aeroplane though.

There was a small crowd of people scattered around the ground, I didn't think cricket was a well known sport here but there must've been a but of advertising done because there seemed to be a bit over a hundred and I wasn't expecting anyone to be here to watch.

"Well we better get this show on the road" Mark the captain said rubbing his hands together. He got us all in a huddle.
"Now listen guys, if we're batting first it's going to be long and hard-"
"Hah, long and hard!" chuckled Chris.
"Grow up you immature git!" snarled Nick Woods, our opening batsman.
"Hey no fighting guys, we need to work together on this!" Mark butted in.
"That's what she said!" Chris winked at me and I couldn't help but admire his cheek. The rest of the team just shook their heads.
"As I was saying, if we're batting first it's going to be a hard challenge. It's definitely a bowlers track that's going to have an unpredictable bounce and it doesn't help that we're all out of practice. So I don't want anyone going out there thinking they have to hit out, allow yourselves to get your eye in and get settled and the runs will come." Mark was now looking at me as he continued.
Bowlers, all 5 of you are going to have to give it 100 percent as you're all we have. You've got a wicket that'll be in your favour so capitalise on that. He then broke up the huddle and walked towards the middle to meet the captain of the opposition and the umpire for the toss.

As we waited for our captain to return I said to my new friend Chris
"I bet you're the kinda guy that sledges the poor batsmen"
"Oh believe me, I make it a living hell for the batsmen when I'l at silly mid on!" We both chuckled but we could see Mark returning in the near distance and he looked happy.

"We're bowling first fellas!" He called out. If I was 8 years old I would've punched my first in the air and said "Yes" under my breath.

Excitedly the whole team rushed onto the field eagerly running to their fielding positions, I had been popped at deep square leg, I asked to be in close as I had a very weak throwing arm but it appears that wasn't taken into consideration.

Fast Medium bowler Ian Spelman was to open the bowling. He looked confident but so did the batsman on strike. As he began his run up we all bent down and walked in a few paces but very slowly. the ball soared in the air, it was just a beaming red flash and BAM! What do you know the batsman hits a leg glance with ease that comes straight towards me. It's in the air, too high at first but it's coming down quickly. It's all I could see, not the crowd, not the trees around the boundary, not the players on the other side of the wicket, just the hard red ball heading my way at head height. Instinctively I leap into the air with my right hand held up high ready to grasp it...

TGS

 

[Mihir Doshi]

:hpraise:hpraise

Awesome and Brilliant update!!

Rearing to see real action with scorecards and all!!