Lindfield was a new fixture to The Mighty Greys last season and we meekly rolled over and let them have their beastly way with us, so this season it was important that we showed them what true Greysmen are made of.

Unsurprisingly, as monsoon season continues, the pitch was a little damp and parts of the outfield swampy, the toss lost Biff and Jerry went out to bat, both looked solid, against some decent bowling from the Lindfield opening pair Lillywhite and Davidson. Jerry in particular looked in good nick, playing a series of lovely back foot cover drives that deserved 4 but on the soggy outfield only earned him 2’s. A decent opening partnership was burgeoning when Skip looking to push on fell for 27 with a very respectable 92 on the board, the perfect spring board for a Greys’ middle order collapse… 3,4,5,6 failed to get into double figures, with Jerry going for a crafted 59. Lindfield were getting excited but as we know a certain Double D lurks down the order and he ain’t no rabbit, unfortunately Richie P proved he was, and 8 went as well, at no.9 was Robbie H, after staunching the flow of blood from his nose caused by the lofty heights he found himself in the battingl order he shuffled to the crease muttering and farting, and toying with his loose change. The score stood at 130 with 4 overs to come, normally when The Overlord and The Undertaker are working in tandem it is harassing top order batsmen, but today they had to bail out their own batsmen…Crash bang wallop…Dave’s a big lump and he hits a ball very hard and a long way and it looked like fun so Rob though he should have a go especially as the field was in, with two massive heaves and divots replaced the Skip’s voice came to him- Obi Wan like- “Wait for the ball Rob” and you know what? it worked! first ball pulled for 2; next ball “Play through the line Rob”, smack, straight back over the bowlers head for 4, Rob was putting Shadow’s bat through its paces and it hummed in his hands, what could the 2 of them achieve next? Well, the answer was an audacious sweep slog 6 that landed just outside of Lewes, PSM? thank you very much. Of course Dave was at the other end heaving the bowling to all corners and at the end of our allotted overs the score was up to 177, Dave 40, Rob 16 both not out.

An excellent tea duly seen off, a very sweaty Dave and Rob, set about doing what they are in the team to do. Dave’s 1st ball: swung in, seamed out, bounced, turned Lindfield’s no.1, Davidson, inside out clipping his glove and into the gloves of Jerry at keeper. The umpire couldn’t call it because he was unsighted so the batsman walked, that’s why we play on Sundays and he should really have won PSM.

The die had been casted Dave steaming down the hill was bowling at his brilliant best, final figures 5-2-4-2, Rob puffing up the hill at the other end struggled a little with his length (?) but with yorker after yorker the batsmen couldn’t get him away. Dave took another wicket and scared the next batman off, retired hurt, only to return once the pace had abated.

The opening pair retired to the field, after 11 overs with Lindfield 3 down and barely into double figures. Sometimes a Greys change of bowling can elicit a significant change in the fortunes of the opposition batsmen, but not so today, Ricky is bowling with good line and length and the odd one that really nips through, Ibu at the other end after his mauling at Bodle Street, bowled with better variation, and flight, best moment: Ricky’s act of contrition caught and bowled.
Another very strong PSM contender was Chubby Greaves, making ground to his left like a man of half the weight, to throw back-handed to the keeper to run out the Lindfield no.5.

Richie P may have failed with the bat, but he was at his fully inflated best with the ball, seaming the ball back up the slope, and worrying all the batsmen. The match was not a conventional 40 overs game or village rules, but rather the bastard son of the pair, limited overs, sort of, but victory was only achieved if the bowling team removed all of the batters. Perfect time for the Skip to “bring on the wall”, yes that’s right A. Gallagher left arm over, the collective Greysmen clenched expecting the worse, but actually he did ok: 3 overs, 2 wides, 1 no ball, could’ve been a lot worse.

The Lindfield tail was clinically mopped up by the deadly duo of Fenton and Partridge, we had successfully asserted ourselves, Don’t Fuck With The Mighty Greys!

And here’s the link to the corresponding match report from Nathan at Lindfield.

…and some superb images shot with the long lens by Robin Jones from Lindfield (thanks Robin!!) originals found at:

http://www.eos-magazine-forum.com/showthread.php?12350-Some-cricket-at-last!