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

[shefellover93]

I love that song. great update!

 

[Pakistani Army]

Brilliant broadcast mate. This was a great interview.
Great works and keep up the good work.

 

[tonka998]

A bit of interest from the ladies I see! :P Great interview and hope Kent beat Scotland!

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Great interview on radio...and yeah lets hope u all can beat the Scots...

 

[Cricketdude]

It would be interesting if your girlfriend wanted a baby and you didnt so therefore it could make it very hard for your relationship.

 

[Karachi Xpress]

Interesting interview...love your storyline!

 

[Highlander999]

XI v Scotland Announced


I had managed to miss the rush hour traffic so arrived at the ground at 9:30. I could hear from the sound of willow on leather that the rest of the boys had started training. I knew that I was going to get a bit of ripping from them about the radio interview, especially Cooky. However, first things first I was due a full body massage. These are a bit of a lottery as you either get the hot 25 year old girl or the balding 50 year old guy with the beer belly. I was unlucky this time around An hour later I went to the gym and worked on my upper body, doing the bench press and just lifting weights. I then went for a quick dip in the pool and then spent the rest of my time in the sauna till lunch.

As I went into the cafeteria, the lads cracked up,

"Hey guys look, Elton John has turned up...."

"Tom! Can I get your autograph?"

"So when can we exepct to see your story on the cover of OK?"

"HAHA guys, very funny : Glad to see you missed me "

My leg already was feeling better and it was the type of stitches which dissolve away so I wouldn't even have to go back to hospital to have them removed. While I was eating my lasagne, Graham came in to tell us the plan for the afternoon,

"Right guys. This afternoon, the plan is going to be fielding practice with a nets session afterwards. We are going to be working on taking high catches so Niall, you will don the gloves, and be throwing the ball to Tom who will be hitting it as high as he can. Once you catch it you throw it into Niall. Afterwards, I want our batsmen to hit the nets, as I feel our batting has been quite weak recently. Ok, finish up eating and head out....."

I was pleased that I was being involved. I was sure just standing on one spot and hitting balls wouldn't put too much stress on my leg. I quickly finished my lasagne and headed out.

We set the fielders up in a big line and Niall got ready to throw the first ball to me to hit. As he threw it I lifted the bat up and all of a sudden collapsed to the ground. Everyone came running over, thinking my leg had given in,

":laugh HAHAHA, got ya "

"Tom you are an absolute w*****"

After that the session passed pretty quickly. The highlight of it had to be, Rob trying to go for the diving catch and sliding along the ground, with his trousers coming down. He won't be allowed to forget that anytime soon Or me slicing one of the shots so that it went over the pavillion and smashed a window. But in all honesty it was a very good session and I think the team benefited greatly from it.

After that everyone else got ready for the nets. I went over to the Youth Academy to look at some of the youngsters and see if any of them had potential. I was particularly impressed by one of the spinners they had. He could get it to turn a good way and was pretty handy with the bat. Plus he was only 16. I spoke to the Academy's Director and he said he was from the West Indies and had only arrived last week. I would keep my eye on him.

After spending a good amount of time there I headed back to check the team for the match against Scotland. It was pretty quiet with everyone else having gone off home after practice. The team sheet was up.

Pro45 Match v Scotland @ Canterbury

1. R. Key
2. D. Fulton (C)
3. T. Baker
4. M. van Jaarsveld
5. D. Stevens
6. A. Hall
7. M. Carberry
8. N. O'Brien (WK)
9. J. Tredwell
10. S. Cook
11. A Khan

Don't be late, especially Simon ​

It was great to see that Cooky had been picked again, showing that his new attitude to lfie was working. Also Rob was being given a chance at the top of the order with Matty being rested. We had a very agressive looking line-up with batsmen up to 10. I was pleased to be given a chance at 3 again, and hopefully could shine against a weak team.

I headed back home and checked my voice-mail. There was a message from Gemma :cheesy but nothing else. I had my Tesco curry and Naan Bread and went to bed early for another early start. My leg was feeling loads better and I was pretty sure I was going to do well tomorrow.

 

[thesweepmaster]

Great update again mate, but really you shouldn't trick your teammates like that!

 

[Gilly Fan]

Thanks for all the comments guys. It's really appreciated

I had just written up the next update which took about 3/4 of an hour and was looking very nice. I stupidly wasn't thinking though and instead of exiting photobucket I exited out of Planetcricket losing my stuff : I'll try and update it sometime this afternoon

Mate, do it in Word, then copy and paste it. That way you won't lose your work.

 

[formula1man]

that was a fun update to read good work keep it up.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Yeah that was a great update to read...cant wait for the match to start

 

[tonka998]

i cant believe i just clicked on the cricket 2008 link! im so stupid!! You seem to be a practical joker :P very funny.... Awesome update again and gd luck against the Scots!

 

[Kiko_97]

Lol, at the prank and damn the sig. Great update Tom KUTGW.

 

[Highlander999]

Match Day: Scotland vs Kent

I woke up at 6. You know when you really wish your alarm clock would just go away? I was having that feeling now. I really did not feel like getting up. I just lay in my bed listening to my iPod and thinking about the upcoming match. I was confident we would win but it would feel weird playing the country I had grown up in. I did some stretches with my leg. It did twinge a bit, but it was feeling much better than it had yesterday. I'd probably not be given too many overs and really focus on my batting, a bit how Flintoff is these days.

Slowly over the next hour I woke up and after a couple of cups of coffee and bacon and eggs I was in a much better frame of mind. I switched on Sky News and was shocked to see that Colin McRae had died in a helicopter crash I had looked up to this guy as a child and was really really sad to see he had passed on. He had crashed not too far from where my parents lived.

I spent a long time bandaging my leg again to give it added support. I would really need the extra support if I was to go the whole distance. After this I packed my kit bag making sure I had my spare bat, gloves, helmet and pads and lumped it into the boot of my car. The roads were pretty quiet and as I pulled into the ground I met Cooky on his damn motorbike. He had his bag perched perilously on the back of it and I was sure it was not legal As we headed in we discussed the McRae crash and how sad it was.

Over the next 30 minutes the rest of the team turned up and eventually everyone was here. Graham got up to give us a wee pep talk,

"Ok guys. As you can tell it is sunny however, I have spoken to the groundsmen and had a look at the pitch and I'll tell you now, it is very green. This is going to be tough to bat on. Your going to have to watch the ball onto the bat and you really are risking your wicket if you play across the line. I expect you bowlers to really show your class today. Right get ready and David it's time for you to do the toss."

: I didn't want to be batting on a green pitch. I wanted a nice flat pitch to score runs on This would now be a true test of my character as it didn't matter if it was Scotland or Somerset any pace bowler is going to get it to move when the pitch is like this. It did complicate things a bit more but we were still confident. David came back telling us he had won the toss and we were going to have a bat first. So as David and Rob quickly put their pads on, I also put mine on, but at a slightly more leisurly pace. I was hoping I wouldn't be called in to early, but honestly was expecting I would be needed and probably quite soon.

As David and Rob left the pavillion, I had a quick look at the Scotland XI. They had 4 All-Rounders with them and all these different bowling options might cause us some problems. It did also mean that their batting line up was extremely exposed and I felt that as long as we posted a score of 200 + we would be fine. I was a bit concerned with facing Amin. I had seen this guy bowling when I was still in Scotland and he could really trouble the batsmen with his swing. On a green pitch this would be very tricky. But I was being too cautious. At the end of the day it was just Scotland.

I flumped into my chair on the balcony to watch the first ball. I could see from here that Rob had taken a mark on middle and leg to compensate for the swinging conditions. That did seem like a good tactic as it meant that you had a lot of room to move and shuffle around in your crease. Meanwhile Andy and Martin were discussing the recent problems in South Africa. Apparently Martin's brother had seen some of the rioters and watched as one guy was beheaded. It was total chaos out there and both looked very concerned that there home country looked to be heading into political upheveal. Out in the middle the first over was negotiated by the openers although I could see that there was a hell of a lot of swing out there and Rob was beaten completely by Higgins at one stage.

However, Amin was now into the attack. Sure enough first ball up, David took one straight in the ribs and then second ball saw one slide past the edge of his bat. I don't think David appreciated this too much and the very next ball cracked one straight back over Amin's head. Disaster though, as he had forgotten a fielder had been placed back on the ropes and as I leant over the railings I saw Lockyear take a stunning catch. I couldn't believe my eyes. Lockyear had been at full stretch when he had taken it. Graham came over,

"In you go Tom. Watch out for those swinging conditions and don't play a shot similar to what David just did. Good luck and keep your head."

I wasn't too happy about having to go in so early on again as I felt it put unecessary pressure on me to perform as the number 3 role is so important, e.g. Ponting for Australia, Jayawerdene for Sri Lanka and Lara for the West Indies. However, there was no point in be-moaning my bad luck once again. I had to settle down and score some runs. Rob was a solid batsman and I could rely on him to give me support at the other end. Hopefully I could make another half-century although this time it would be a lot harder. I touched fists with Rob,

"Hey Tom. It's hard work this morning. Watch this Amin fellow he is getting a hell of a lot of swing. There is quite a bit patch of grass on your leg-side so watch for it swinging if it pitches there. Just play sensibly and keep your head."

"Cheers Rob. I'm not going without a fight."

And that was exactly my plan. I was here and I meant business.

 

[shefellover93]

v. good update!