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

[Dr. Pepper]

How could you hit the guy in his special place!?

 

[tonka998]

Painful stuff.. his fault for sitting in that seat i suppose! Good stuff though - BIG score coming up!

 

[navin-boss]

That was a bad start.But however you can get it to a good score.And @ your first ball lol an evil Bouncer That man is unfortunate to be got hit!

Good update asusual mate.

 

[treva]

I hope that man already has kids, because he won't have any from now on!

Score is pretty respectable, but on this pitch you should be aiming for 300.

 

[bladescape]

Mushtaq was supposed to get You and not Mike!

 

[madmusician]

Er, national selection?

Great stuff as ever, hopefully you can push up for a nice big total now and get something to bowl at.

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

Good story you got going on here mayn

 

[Amiya]

You are showing Aggresive intensions there. Be carefull while facing Saqlain.
P.S - Please think before hitting.

 

[surendar]

Tommy your aim of that six seemed to be perfect lol really a huge hit it was

 

[Highlander999]

Match is in the balance, but the rookie has perished!​

Hmmmm. Saqlain Mushtaq. There is no denying that he is a world class bowler. Apart from my moment of spirited resitance where I smacked him away for 6 runs, I had just been coping on surviving against him. I was having a lot of difficulty trying to pick the ball as he bowled, and more than once I had been a bit lucky (That's more than lucky ) Jamie down at the other end was also struggling against Saqlain and so we were just looking to score runs of the quick's.

Unfortunately for me, I had a rush of blood to the head. I had decided that I would try and be a bit more positive against Saqlain. Jamie wasn't too keen, and at the end of the day, I should have probably listened to him with all his experience. But that is the problem with the youth, they are too hot-headed. A ball on my leg-stump, which was quite short...I decided to try and advance down the wicket and flick it away. I mis-judged it though, and ended up getting an inside edge. I looked around in horror, just to see the ball hit my off-stump

"Baker!!!! You are an idiot!" (I like to talk to myself in the third person I'm not mad, honest )

Saqlain came over to me:

"Bad luck there. You did well to fend us off for so long. Once you get a bit more experience, you won't be prone to do shots like that which aren't needed."

Yeah he was probably right. Still his attitude proved to me, that he is a gentleman of the game.

We were in all sorts of trouble now, with my wicket having fallen. 143/5, meant that was a hell of a lot of pressure on Jamie and Mark to perform now. Both were capable batsmen and we did still have some batting to come, but we definetly needed some magic by them. Back in the pavillion, I was throwing everything around and only stopped when I managed to hit myself with my own bat :o I was particularly annoyed about getting out in the 40's, so near my half-century. FC cricket is the true form of the game, in my opinion, and I had yet to really shine in it. Shaun came down for a few words:

"Hey Tom. Bad luck and all on getting out. Don't be too annoyed though. You've top scored and you were looking to play positively. Nothing wrong with that. Just got to learn which balls to go after and which ones to just keep out. It all comes down to practice and experience."

"Aye, suppose you're right Shauny."

"Of course I'm bloody right. I'm an Aussie."

"Piss off! "

Things did actually look to be improving for us out in the middle as I returned upstairs to the balcony. Mark and Jamie were looking to be positive. Mark was playing a few cheeky shots against Saqlain, including late-cut's and reverse sweeps. Jamie was continuing from where I left off, and his score began to move forward at quite a rate now. The Surrey bowlers were also getting quite sloppy, with front foot no ball's being given away which cost 2 runs. All this culminated in the 50 partnership soon being brought up

I leant over to speak to Mike

"These two have looked good, I'm expecting Jamie to make a half-century."

"Hey...hey...hey. Don't say that man, you'll jinx him."

HOWZAT!!!!!

Jamie had just been bowled Mike looked over at me, with his eye-brows raised. I don't go for any of this weird mystical, lucky stuff, but I had to admit that the timing of that had been very uncanny.

Jamie had done exactly the same mistake as I had. He had been too agressive. Jamie had attempted to walk down the pitch to Saqlain and swat him through cover. Unfortunately for Jamie, Saqlain had seen him coming and put it slightly shorter than he normally would. The end result was that Jamie failed to reach the pitch of the ball. The ball spun around the edge of his bat and shattered his castle. This was a massive blow for us and now meant that Tango-Tom was being called into action. He is decent with the bat but still he would have to deal with a fired up Surrey bowling attack. Jamie soon arrived and put his bat straight through a window. Cooky piped up:

"25% of his match fee gone "

I doubt that was the last thing on Jamie's mind.

194/6 and we were nearing tea. The plan now would be for Tom and Mark to survive until the interval, and concentrate on trying to get as many runs as possible afterwards. The atmosphere up in the pavillion was not good. We were still looking for our first win of the season and it was not looking too likely at the moment.

Luckily for us, Tom and Mark did make it too tea, without any major scares. Mark was on 16* and Tom was on 7*, leaving us on 207/6. It wasn't a total disaster, but it could have been better. Saqlain Mushtaq had just destroyed the middle order. Nicholson had also been impressive and got a wicket for his efforts. The scorecard made for some sorry reading for the statiticans. Five people had made starts, and not a single one had carried it on to make a big score. It was very disappointing. Still everyone began to cheer up as we all sat around eating. I was pretty hungry so did more listening then speaking. We were discussing the recent India vs Aus series. Shaun was saying how gutted he was not being picked and how he really wanted to prove himself to the selectors. We all felt that he was easily the best batsman here and so did stand a good chance of selection, as long as he made some good scores.

After everyone had finished eating the skip got up, to talk to us all:

"Right guys. Things have been ok. It could have gone better, but then again it could have been worse. Basically I think it is important that we try and get ourselves to around 250-275. That means we have a pretty competitive score on the board and will have something to work with. We can then focus on bowling them out and buidling ourselves a nice lead. Ok?"

There was a general consensus of agreement throughout. As soon as we had finished this, the umpires turned up and told us it was time for the final session of the day to commence. We all wished Tom and Mark good luck as they headed out. I coulnd't help but feel they would need it.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Lol you're a right idiot. First you go for a big shot, then you jinx Jamie. Lol at throwing the bat through the window. Should be another loss under your belt now. Why are you so crap ? Another hilarious update though Tom.

 

[surendar]

That Saqlain always tempt the batsman to go over him & finally will achieve his aim of getting the wickets. You should concentrate more on matured game play, Tom!

 

[Dr. Pepper]

We're talking about the guy who threw his fridge out the window. So yeah, maturity is out of the question.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Well what the hell were you thinking of hitting Sqalain ???:: You got yourself bowled and put your side in some pressure. Glamorgan are recovering well but the match is still evenly poised. Poor shot Tom....

 

[Karachi Xpress]

Nice update! LOL!! Bad sportsman! Threw the bat out of the window Nice stuff!

Saqlain was awesome today! KUTGW!