Story Three Lions on the Shirt? - Match Day: Northamptonshire fight back!!!

[Highlander999]

Match Day

"EVERYBODY DANCE NOW......."

"NOT THAT SONG!!!!!"

The alarm clock flew across the room, like a llama on heat *ahem, Jack* Seriously I cannot stand that song. You can go and bloody well dance elsewhere, not in my damn room (I'm always grumpy in the mornings) It was the probably the sort of stuff those gays down the road, Jack and James, danced to. Of course Mani across the road was a good example of what happens if you spend too long partying. He can't remember what happened in the first 20 years of his life. Talk about amnesia, that lad doesn't even know his mothers name. And it is all down to his love of vodka. That and llama's

Anyway, enough of my nutty neighbourhood. I was on time for the coach, as was Cooky which was a massive surprise. Matty brought along his iPod. God those Aussies have about as much taste as the French. Why we were listening to "Don't Stop Never Give Up" on the M6 will defy logic for the rest of my life. Eventually we managed to find Crofty's iPod which had decent music, UNTIL THE SHEEP SONG. It was only a minute long, but afterwards even the driver was looking at us in confusion.

"Crofty, you know what? You are a disturbed Welsh sheep shag*er "

After an.....interesting drive..... we eventually arrived at Edgbaston. I was one of the first out and me and Reesy went out to check the pitch. Jesus it was a road. 250 would be just about an average. There was nothing for the bowlers in it. No clouds overhead either so very little swing would be expected. With our new looking batting line-up we should be scoring plenty of runs. We went back to report this as the rest of the guys got themselves organised with getting their kit off the coach. Crofty was still in disgrace after the sheep song, but the rest of us were discussing the conditions and the pitch. Notts have a very strong team but we still felt we could beat them. Maybe us having the two spinners would be an advantage.

As we got settled into the changing room, Chris Read turned up and gave Mark the Notts XI. It wasn't good. Somehow they had managed to get Ashwell Prince available for this match That along with Wagh, Ealham, Read, Swann and Sidebottom. All we had was a sheep shag*ing Welsh man and a pisshead known as Simon Cook

"So Matty, fancy showing Swann what an average bowler he is."

"They won't even risk him. I'll be taking 36 runs an over off him."

Now that was fighting talk from the big man himself. We needed him to lead from the front against a team with a lot more big names than ourselves.

Nottinghamshire XI

Wotton came up to me,

"Hey Tom. The sweep is key today against the spinners. My last protege Chris Griffin could never master it which is why he failed. Hopefully you can."

"Ok Ian, I have taken that onboard. I plan on getting plenty of runs on this road."

Mark soon went out to the middle to do the coin toss with Chris Read. They shook hands and Mark signalled that he had won the toss and we would be batting first. A good toss to win, hopefully we could get plenty of runs on the board. Matty, Reesy and Mike dashed around getting their pads on, whilst I just ambled around. I was not expecting to be needed in the first 20 overs on this pitch, although with Glamorgan you can never be sure.

I put my pads on and went upstairs to watch the match from the balcony. There was a guy already up there. It was Glenn Sawyer the Glamorgan spin coach. I had never really spoken to him before, but he also advised me to use the sweep shot and slog sweep a lot. Glenn is called McGrath just down to the fact that he had McGrath's accuracy when he played for the Baggy Blues over in Australia. He seemed a pretty sound guy though.

Matty and Reesy were heading out to the middle. Matty was a pillar of confidence as he walked out there and he looked like he meant business. The two opening bowlers would be Francis and Sidebottom. A tough ask then, especially with Sidey bowling. Our openers would have to be careful.

They weren't!

Matty started off well, but Reesy didn't look comfortable. In the second over, Sidebottom struck. An in-swinging yorker caught Reesy unawares and trapped him plum in front of leg stump as he attemped to flick it down the leg-side. As the Notts guys all went running in to celebrate, Reesy trudged dejectedly of. I also was not too pleased, I had not planned on being in danger of going in this early. I really wanted Mike and Matty to have a good partnership. Hopefully the vice captaincy for Mike would help him perform.

Matty Hayden now showed why he was a quality purchase for the club. With an early wicket like this it would have been natural for the two batsmen to go into defence mode. However, Matty did just not do that. He targetted Sidebottom and managed to hit him out of the attack. Francis was keeping it tight, but Sidebottom really struggled against Hayden. Wherever Read moved the fielders, Hayden found the gap. Mike didn't really need to do all that much as the score kept on moving along at a steady rate. Matty even became slightly cocky and advanced down the wicket only to chip the ball over the slips for 4, which raised a cheer from us.

Crofty came over,

"Looks easy out there. You should score plenty of runs out there."

"The way Matty is going I won't even be needed."

As I said that Matty crunched a superb drive through the covers. It really was amazing to watch.

Matty did seem to be dominating. Hopefully he could keep this up as the run-rate was excellent. Mike had not really been needed yet, but I was more than confident he could make a big score today. It just felt like Glamorgan's day

 

[mattfb]

Brilliant update there Tom, awesome read. Sucks you lost an early wicket on such a road.

LOL at Wotton bagging out Griffo

 

[Griffo]

I can sweep better than your mother cleaning up leaves

 

[Mad Snake]

your story is like a book it takes you into it and imagine it all in your head awesome update

and lol at the first paragraph about the neighborhood

 

[Left_Hander]

20 degrees is warm for you in summer . Why is Hayden using a SS? Great start for Glamorgan, good to see Hayden dominating.

 

[shefellover93]

V Good update, what is it with your teams openers???

 

[saladguy]

I love the Sheep Song! It reminds me of sheep! . Btw, how come Haydo has an SG Bat?

 

[Dr. Pepper]

You know me too well.

I actually lol'd at that Sheep song. Seriously Tom, how the hell do you find that?

 

[Highlander999]

Haha. Do you ever have a normal day Tom????

Once. It was Tuesday

Still loving this story.

I've talked to Marky Wallace as he did a course at my Uni. Top bloke, really knowledgable about the game and sounds like he'd make a good captain.

Great to see you are still around and reading this Steve. If you still are in contact you should get him to post in here

20 degrees is warm for you in summer . Why is Hayden using a SS? Great start for Glamorgan, good to see Hayden dominating.

Spring not summer, it is early on in the season. And yeah, I assigned him the wrong bat.

V Good update, what is it with your teams openers???

One of them is Welsh so they will always fail

I love the Sheep Song! It reminds me of sheep! . Btw, how come Haydo has an SG Bat?

I refer you too LH's answer

You know me too well.

I actually lol'd at that Sheep song. Seriously Tom, how the hell do you find that?

I know a Welsh man on a different forum


:happy Cheers everyone for the comments. Keep them coming and updates later today :happy

 

[Roofrom50]

Good effort brother, this is looking really good, good to see Haydos in the uniform

 

[Highlander999]

Honours Even

"Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me....."

"Cooky. WTF have you been smoking?"

"Hey can't a guy be in touch with his feminine side?"

"Can't you just moisturise instead of acting like a poofter?"

"Screw you!"

"I'd rather you didn't"

Back to the action We had now established Cooky is gay, but we can deal with that later!!! Out in the middle, Matty and Mike were looking ok. Mike was nearing double figures and growing in confidence, whilst Matty was just dominating. No area was safe, and if he was given any room, he almost always found the gap. Read attempted to plug up the holes, so Matty started going aerial. The balance of the game was swinging towards us.

That was until the bowling change.

Adams was brought on and he straight away got the breakthrough. It probably was not the wicket that Notts wanted, but it was still a wicket. Adams managed to lure Mike into driving at him, but a slight bit of away swing meant that Mike got a thick outside edge and it flew straight to Carter at gully. It was a bit unlicky, although if you were a Notts fan you would call it good field placing. Still, no matter if it was luck, or good captaincy, Mike had a go and it meant I was now in, with the score at 36/2. Time for a nice big score from me As I was walking out, Sawyer and Wotton were there,

"Remember the sweep shot against the spinners."

Yes, it was firmly in my head to sweep the spinners. However, I would firstly have to negotiate the pace bowlers.

(Yes, ferret head has gone )

Matty was waiting out in the middle for me.

"Ready to score some runs?"

"Oh yeah. I feel a big score is on the way."

"Well that is good to hear. Just take it nice and easy to begin with, I'll keep the scoreboard ticking, you just make sure you keep that wicket of yours, intact."

It was a historical moment for me. I was finally playing with one of the greatest ever batsman to play cricket. It was rookie and master take on, scenario. Matty was well settled in, so there was no pressure on me, to play overly agressive. I wanted to just get mysef settled in. My first ball up was on my legs. I didn't quite get all of it, but I called Matty through for a single. Wagh came in with the throw and it was a direct hit!!!! Matty, however, had made his ground and was puffing away at the other end,

"Less of that Tom, I am not as young as I once was "

Looked like quick singles were off the menu

Slowly, but surely we began to build a partnership. Matty was still in agressive mode and was taking full advantage of the power play overs. Meanwhile, apart from a rank full toss which I had smacked back over Adams head, I had just nurdled the ball around and let Matty keep the strike.

In the 12th over Matty managed to break the ball He hit it with such power, that all the stitching came out and as the ball hit the concrete past the advertising boards, it just fell apart.

"Now that is the shizle Matty. Never knew you were a ball crusher *cough cough*"

"Next one is coming towards you, you cheeky bugger!!!"

"I am on a team full of gays. Sheesh!!!!!"

It took some time for the third umpire to come out with the box of balls as he managed to lose them. However, eventually play was able to get back under way. The change of ball did not affect Matty as he flicked the next ball straight of the pads for 4 more.

Eventually the Notts bowlers were able to breathe a sigh of relief as the end of the 15th over, meant that there was now no more power play overs. It did mean that my life would be easier as there were now a lot more gaps in the inner ring so I could score a bit more freely. I looked up at the big screen, and received a shock. Myself and Matty had already put on 41 runs and yet my score was still only 12 We could see who the danger man was now, and his nick-name isn't "Ferret head" At 77/2, we had built a good solid foundation, and we could now move up a gear.

Both Reesy and Mike had gone cheaply, but sometimes s*** happens, and there isn't much you can do about it. Surprisingly it had been Francis who had been the pick of the Notts bowlers. Out of his 7 overs, he had only given away 25 runs and had 2 maidens in there. Thank God, he was now off. Adams had been extremely expensive for Nottinghamshire, but he had got a wicket, whilst Sidebottom did not appear to be bowling up to his usual International standard which was lucky for us.

The drinks were now called on. I never see the point of drinks being called on after just 15 overs, but hey it happens so you just have to deal with it. The message from the coach was just more of the same. As it stood, we were on course for a predicted score of 231. This might have been too low on this pitch, however, as long as we kept wickets in hand for the final 10 or so overs, we could really let loose and look to aim to score 250+ It would not be a bad total considering we had lost two early wickets and certainly a lot better than some of our recent scores. The match could go either way at this moment, but I was determined to help drag it towards Wales

 

[Jaztheman]

We had now established Cooky is gay, but we can deal with that later!!!

I know how you'd deal with it, Tom!

Anyway brilliant update, the writing is very good. Hayden is well placed, as are you, despite your attempt at running him out early on but it seems the partnership is steadily increasing. Francis was their only really good over, although Sidebottom was average. I expect Notts to come right at you after drinks so you might lose a few wickets.

Hopefully you can make around 250.

 

[mattfb]

Awesome update, I always love reading your updates. You and Matty are going along really good. If you guys stay in for another 10 overs I think 250+ is definitely on the cards.

Brilliant presentation, loving the gfx. kiu!

 

[treva]

Yes, definitely ginger Tom. You now join Dalrymple and Scholes as 'Sporting Gingers'

 

[Dr. Pepper]

I lol'd at the "I'd rather you didn't" reply. No more ferret but you look really dopy now. Wait, didn't you always?