Report - LYNE CC  v  WOKING and HORSELL

(Courtesy of JG)

at Woking on 3rd June 2007

H G Wells started his epic tale of a Martian invasion, War of the Worlds, just down the road on Horsell Common.

Players from Lyne CC arrived to find strange holes in the ground surrounding the pitch with alien machines at work, but it appeared to be only Surrey county council doing the drains.

That did not stop Matty going to war on the top order batsmen from Woking. Beaming in like a death ray his bowling sent them crashing to earth, ably assisted by a very tidy spell from ex-asbo Adam.

There was a time when missed catches from the slips, Smalls and even venerable but no longer nimble Ballroom seemed to be about to bring them back into the game.

Then came a moment of brilliance alien to all but the most gifted sportsmen, a flashing drive from their number 7 batter sped through the air inches above the ground, Richard Teale reached, dived, held time itself in his fingertips then reached once more to take what was the best catch I have seen in playing for 25 years for Lyne CC.

The opposition were stunned, the fight back over. Keith and Richard  mopped up the tail like a couple of sheets of moist tissue.

After a modest tea a solid performance with the bat from Jess helped by three missed chances lead Lyne to a comfortable victory.

Mention should be made of Martin who scored for us though injured and Plum Senior who appeared ten minutes before the bar opened to help with the festivities.

As the team drove away into the night a light shone out from the top of one of the machines they left behind, then disappeared, as its operator left for home.