Cookridge v Tong (by Nick Sowerby)

With the previous week's game called off due to weather which would give Ben Ainslie kittens, the Tong team were relieved to arrive at Cookrdige to find a playable and above water square. That is with the exception of Karl 'if we dont find it soon im going home' Banks and Nick 'its next left' Sowerby who had been enjoying a 2 hour tour of North Leeds, taking in the splendid and scenic sights of Tinshill and Adel, and Masood 'Mini Me' Akhtar, and Khuram 'Yogi' Khan, who never actually gave a reason for their late arrival.....2 men alone in a car in a leafy suburb....thats how rumours start chaps.

By the time the full contingent had arrived, Martin had for once shown some form of astuteness on a cricket field and lost the toss, leaving the opposing Captain to make a seemingly simple decision with damp, overcast conditions and a wicket with more green dots on it than a portrait of the Yorkshire Dales. The sight of a giggling, erect Martin walking back to the Pavillion, although the stuff of nighmares, indicated that Tong had been given the opportunity to make first use of the ball.

14 overs, 11 maidens, 5 runs and 3 wickets later, the decision seemed on a par with that of Frankie Gavin's to eat 17 cheeseburgers and 11 pies on the plane to Beijing, with the weigh in taking place the following day. Led by some inspired bowling from 'Mad Dog' Minnett who finished with the amazing figures of 1 for 1 off 7 overs, swinging the ball both ways at a sharp pace, and displaying a new found composure and control, highlighted by the fact only 2 slower balls were attmepted in his spell, a complete contrast form his usual more experimentations than a Nazi scientist in WW2, made sure a strangehold that was put on the Cookridge batsmen from the off. A strangehold which, due to tight bowling and uncharacteristically sharp fielding.....the only game a catch hasnt been dropped all season, despite Inzi's best efforts at 1st slip, was never relinquished. A mention must go to Masood who produced a sharp, short..sorry, keep saying that word when talking about him, accurate spell which yielded 3 wickets, after not bowling for a few weeks. And also the joint wicketkeeping efforts of Nick and Haseeb, the latter replacing the former after the oversized back-stop allowed a wide one to crack him on the kneecap, nearly bringing tears to his eyes. A slip fielder now on one leg, and a wicketkeeper with one eyebrow.....a strange combination.

However, once again the star of the show was the Tong's very own Cannine, 'Dog boy' Hawkins who used the favourable bowling conditions and pataches of 'grrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssssssssssss' on the wicket to his advantage to produce a fantastic spell of 5-20 off 16 overs. With Cookridge all out for 39 the Tong boys could smell a few early beers, with the exception of course of Martin who was already 4 hours late for his own holiday, and Graham who had gone 4 hours without Facebook.

After a quick fag and discussion on how bowler friendly the wicket was, the Tong openers went out to chase the 40 runs required, listening intently to the call's of 'take your time', 'no risks needed' etc, from the rest of the side. After crashing 2 quick boundaries and wondering what all the fuss was about, Nick realised halfway through his next shot that the ball had not actually reached him, which was unfortunately slightly too late as the boundary fielder was already picking the ball out of the sky. Next over Inzi followed, blaming a Tong style low bounce for his dismissal, little realising the rest of the team were fully aware it was his nap time. 7 balls later and the game was won however, thanks to a typically patient knock of 21 from Adam, who even found enough spare balls to produce a pirouette that Jayne Torvill would have been proud of.....unfortunately for him....you don't get stumped on the Ice Rink. With only a few runs needed and the rest of the team getting changed, including Haseeb due in next, but far too busy 'skinning' up to take much notice of proceedings, it seemed that there would be no more highlights left in the game.

That is however until the Umpire decided to give a dubious caught behind against leading run scorer Moazam, who after a expletive riddled, twenty minute rant, and gentle persuasion from the rest of the boys, decided to accept the decision graciously and left the field....his bat reaching the Pavillion 45 seconds before he did. After achieving a world record time for putting batting apparel back on, Haseeb walked out to the crease and within 2 overs he was taking them off for the second time, after closing the game out in partnership with the stoic Geoffrey Sellars at the other end.

After been told at the start of the game that we would get a much better game than the previous encounter earlier in the season, Tong walked away with 25 valuable points, having bowled the opponents out for 4 runs less and completing the run chase 20 minutes earlier than in the aforementioned first game. Wise words indeed.

With Caribbean 'A' rained off, Tong now face a massive game at Scott Hall Road next week, a win taking them into second place in the league with 2 games left. Time to be counted boys...its ours if we want it.