Saturday 5th May ~ Swillington (Away)

Tongans Steamroller Swilly

It might have been a delayed start to the season for the Tongans but they certainly got into top gear fast!

With trees bursting into leaf and the sun shining it was actually like summer, even with the temperature being still somewhat low. Chris Horsley took his Tongan team to the east Leeds village of Swillington ('Swilly' to us locals Ed.) and started by winning the toss and naturally inserting the opposition somewhere!

Excellent field placing, tight off-stump bowling to the 7/2 field and superb fielding all restricted the Swilly batsmen from the 'off', and the tone in the field was set by an excellent catch by Nick Dee at mid-wicket to give the first wicket to Chris Williams. A steady stream of wickets was interrupted by the occasional edge and even more occasional good hit and the 'Swilly' innings was brought to a conclusion by Pat Sowerby taking two-in-two and leaving him on a hat-trick ball for the next game (watch out Fairburn).

In an effort to ensure plenty of drinking time the Tongans set about rapidly completing the victory, though Chris Williams (lobbing one up) and Chris Horsley (missing another straight one) tried to give the Swilly players some hope.

Apparently, Swillington is now considering building a pond in the village to cater for all the ducks!