Brooklyn 1a match report

stream of consciousness match report: Brooklyn 1A vs Easts Originals, 13 December 2008.

easts late no stumps or gear get defensive when reminded of time
skipper remembers how much hates easts brook win toss elect field
overnight rain. slow start sarb strangling easts solid opening stand
though catch goes down catch goes down runout at keepers end better
throw than last week lbw andy bowled kev howzat not out plumb lbw
howzat not out totally stumped skipper hates easts with power of
thousand suns. drinks 75 for 4. some big overs but not bad another
wicket or two from andy/sarb/kev can't remember how but certainly not
caught. stereotype fat guy w. good eye comes in joins test match dude
who ended up 95 but to credit walked after given not out for fourth
time. keeping relatively quiet at the death catch goes down williams
bowls two out swinging at the end last ball catch goes down easts
191-6. matt h out swinging early te kare soon after troubled by weird
action dude andy settles down team miss tim where is he that him on
sideline? i think it is. kaine out too for duck miserable day mental
note to place on cricketing suicide-watch still have faith he'll come
right put down order get confidence back. justin looking awesome
laraesque compact organised about time due for big one oh no how did
he catch that man justin unlucky. drinks 74-4 still in this boys need
8 an over need andy to stay in. andy out. josh w in easts sticks on
shane warne rip-off right down to the tongue in cheek except no turn
getting tonked. other josh out good contribution. kevin in got game
face on too all belligerence four, four more. keeping up with run rate
reqd still in this. skipper feeding off easts rage opener back on
don't care fkin slap him around too. kev takes to shane warne 14 from
over may have broken back we only need 17 from last three overs ring
field now oh no kev brain fade gets bowled sarb in looking solid oh no
bowled! russ lbw game over brooklyn 174-10. hate the close ones coulda
shoulda woulda.

SULTAN OF SWING TO MAKE BEGGARS DEBUT!

STOP PRESS

Slaphead swingbowler Sarb Johal has stunned the Indoor Cricket world by
confirming he will make his debut for the Brooklyn Beggars this Monday.
After two straight seasons of sad excuses, Johal broke with traditon to
confirm his availability and will add an extra shine to the already red
hot Beggars, joining fellow-follicularly challenged team mates Josh
Williams, Stephen Metherell, and Justin Gregory in a deadly quartet of
cueball class.
"I've looked forward to this moment for a long time', said Johal to no
one in particular. "Joining the Beggars has always been a dream of mine,
along with making it into double figures in an outdoor game and someone
holding a catch off my bowling".
Beggars supremo Justin Gregory welcomed Johal into the team, saying "It
was about bloody time!".

ENDS.

Ongoing Injury Saga

In an exclusive interview with the Journal of Irreproducable Results star Brooklyn Beggar The Reverend Dr. Saint Russell reveals the strain of his non-stop action lifestyle is taking it's toll.

"Even though I'm obviously in much better condition than most of those slack bastards, I'm still not getting any younger, yet." said the debonair and stylish right arm bowler, and occasional cricketer.

"you can't expect me to bowl these long spells without it taking it's toll. 2 overs? That's enough to get through 1/2 a team in real cricket. The whole team if you can find some one as good as me for the other end."

Asked about his recovery programme the exquisite DIY enthusiast stated "Well, I'm planning on spending a fair few hours on the massage table this weekend. If that doesn't work, maybe I'll try getting her to give me a massage instead."

With a looming controversy over physical appearance looking likely the floccinoccinihilipilificationist gardener responded "I'm not getting involved in that again. And anyway, at least one person other than my mother has told me that I don't look that bad. In the right light. Or the dark."

Quizzed on his performance in the nail biting win over 5th placed Beamers the straight laced father of pre-post-modern left handed grouse appreciation replied that "look, I was doing my best to make sure we ended up in a nice easy grade. You can't blame me for Josh taking a catch and a stumping off my bowling. No one could possibly have expected that. Any further questions can be relayed through my lawyer, or axolotyl portfolio adviser."

P.S. Russell will, of course, be taking the field on monday, even if it is after his bed time.

Metherell pays Tribute to List

Forgotten hero Stephen Metherell today paid an tribute emotional tribute to
former Brooklyn Beggars captain Kevin List. Tonight the Beggars take the
field for the first time since List stood down from the captaincy; the
beginning of the D-List era. "While Lists playing performances never reached
the hights of Stephen Flemming's trousers in that air conditioning ad"
Metherells said, "I think we'll all miss the dogged determination with which
he counted the money before every game and how he almost always remembered to
nominate a bowler for the coming over. In fact he was so fastidious that he
more often than not nominated two bowlers for an over. I know Justin brings a
lot of short man's complex to the captaincy but defending our Minor Final
Runner's Up title without Kev's back turned to the helm will be an up hill
struggle."

Ends

Breaking News

Michael Hollings has issued a statement to the beggars through his agent
Heath Davis " it is untrue that mr Hollings is unattractive...this
slander is nothing but fodder for the underlying jealousy attributed to
Mr Hollings outstanding preseason form in the other form of the
game....a swashbuckling 85 splattered with a lost ball and many other
glorious shots" Hollings finds it "repugnant that there is a tall poppy
syndrome acting within the beggars who he thought were Good Guys"

New Beggar Nervous, has Second Thoughts, and feels the Weight of Expectation.

A clearly nervous Grahame Morton confessed to having second thoughts as his Beggars debut loomed. In a stunning exclusive with Women's Day, he confessed to the awe that all have felt when confronted with the step-up to the awesome past and reputation of the beggars.

"Quite honestly it's going to be harder that following Flem," he said, "at least international cricketers have all the support staff to help them out and cope with the hostile press. What do I have ? Nothing. I've been out of the game for a while, the spotlight will be intense and I'll be my own trying to match the high expectations of the rest of the lads."

"Let's face it, I've heard some of the stories that these boys have come up with on their past exploits," he added. "The fragile combination of egos, talent and rouge in the side can't be taken lightly and as a newcomer to the set-up I know that its not going to be easy to fit in. I know there's only one way that has ever worked in the past - extravagant flamboyance and perhaps over enthusiastic sledging on court - and that's certainly the route I'll be taking."

I'm looking forward to it.

Ends

List Rescues Beggars

Brooklyn Beggars allrounder and all-round good guy Kevin List rescued
the team this afternoon with an emergency ring-in to replace the
unreliable and unattractive Mike Hollings.
Sources say that List has secured the services of Joe Beaglehole as the
final Beggar for tonights game. Beaglehole becomes the 43rd player to
don the rouge and is also the most oddly-named to ever take the court
for the ageing superstars.
New captain Justin Gregory was relieved, hopeful, and lightly flatulent
after hearing the news: "Wouldn't it be great if Kev organised the team
each week, and I just had to do the onfield captaincy, you know, Methers
bowl now, Josh stop doing that, use your hands not your face Jason, that
sort of thing".

ENDS

Gregory Reaches Out to List

A reflective Justin Gregory reached out to former Brooklyn Beggars
captain Kevin List today, as news came through of opening batsman and
pie-merchant bowler Michael Hollings shock withdrawal from the team,
only hours before the first game of the new season.
Gregory, the Beggars' new skipper, spoke candidly to a group of
confused passers-by about the pressures of captaincy and his new found
empathy for List.
"Clearly, the stresses of organising a team each week, will weigh as
heavily upon me as they did upon Kev", said Gregory. "It was sad to see
Kevin reduced from the fine, upstanding, Coronation Street watching sort
of chap we all knew and tolerated, to the, well, to the wreck you see
now."
Gregory went on to say that, having walked a mile in Kevin's shoes,"I
can definitely confirm that he should have bought a pair with more grip
for the last outdoor season."

Ends.

Hollings "a total flake" says Williams

Freed from the shackles of the public service code of conduct, Josh Williams wasted no time in calling scooter-wielding teammate Mike Hollings "a total flake" mere minutes after word came out that Mr Hollings had pulled out mere hours before the triumphant return of the Brooklyn Beggars.

"Look, I'm not OIA-able anymore, I can say what I please. This is simply outrageous pulling out of the debut match this close to the game. I simply cannot imagine the scale of the catastrophe that would warrant such an action, and so I'm looking forward to a public apology, and I'm sure that Beggars' management will see fit to issue the appropriate censure."

Williams denied that the real reason he was happy Mike Hollings had pulled out was that he is a very short man and finds it difficult to 'keep to Mr Hollings invariably short-pitched bowling.

Beggars Inflict Stunning Default on Cougar Hunters

News Briefs

In a stunning top of the table clash at the WIS Hyperdome yesterday the Brooklyn Beggars' blood red shirts and media savvy PR campaign cowed the Cougar hunters into submission even before hostilities commenced. Speaking on behalf of the Cougar Hunters, a bland and effeminate auditor (indistinguishable from his team-mates even to himself), put the Hunters' loss down to down to bewitching cocktail of p*nis envy and performance anxiety. "For a start the prospect of facing the famous red shirts of Brooklyn caused a serious bout of introspection, we didn't really feel manly enough for the task, Then on Friday the Beggars publicity machine cranked into life and we realised we were simply not equipped to handle the pressures of celebrity which is part and parcel of bathing in the Beggars' reflected aura. Frankly, we couldn't compete with their hyper-celebrity mega-stardom and we had no choice but to cringe pathetically back in Wadestown where we belong ."

WIS officials have been similarly effected, failing as yet to register the hard earned default despite it's importance to the Beggars aspirations to finish at the atop the regular season standings.

Williams soaks up more pressure

Sports very briefs

Josh Williams is reported to be "unperturbed" in his exclusive government department this afternoon, despite the string of revelations concering his team-mates physical and mental fragility. The young firebrand spoke to media outlets this afternoon driven by a wish to reassure his legions of admirers he can continue to outshine his beggar colleagues for many weeks to come. "the physical breakdown of hollings and cameron, the mental breakdown of metherell and list, and the absence of gregory are all very sad, Probably it's the pressure to not be totally outshone by me that's a contributing factor to people falling to bits, and for that i'm sorry but it's nothing that beggars supporters should concern themselves with." Williams said. "I eat pressure" was the only other thing he added.

Williams then politely declined a number of proposals from attractive members of the throng of journalists before returning to his day job.

Bureaucracy Threatens Beggars Season

Jonathon Millmow, 12 October - WIS Hyperdome

In a shock move yesterday Brooklyn Beggars Captain and anachronistic establishment figure Kevin List apeared to deny a place to an actual cricketer in the Beggars line-up for Sunday's clash with the John Rowles Experience. Actual cricketer Grahame Morton, fresh from a three year stint representing New Zealand in the testing Chinese leagues has been denied a place in the Beggars lineup based on an obscure and unenforced law which has been routinely flouted by all other teams. Law 111 b (i) states that "Players must play at least on third of all round robin games or a total of 5 throughout the season" the law doesn't state to which games this applies, nor was it applied to the Beggars' las Semi-final appearance.

"The law's an ass" said team mouthpiece Stephen Metherell, "does it mean that you cannot field a player in the second game of the season who hadn't played in the first? If this rule is enforced the consequences could be greater than the D'Oliveria affair. I note also", he went on, "that rule 111 b (ii) states that "Players may not play in two teams in the same grade". This is a thinly veiled threat on the life of List's fellow anachronistic establishment figure Ozzy Ozzmeister whose psoraisis is thought to become life threatening without constant astro-turf exfoliation.

Actual cricketer Grahame Morton has had a successsful if peripatetic career, appearing in the national competitions of Dunedin, Tauranga, the Cook Islands as well as China. He is best remembered as the subject of the "grannygate" controversey when, after being selected to trial for the Cooks test team it was discovered that poor handwriting had led to the belief that his grandmother was born in Rarotonga, not Rotorua.

Another actual cricketer, Mark Richardson, remembers Morton from his days in Dunedin in the early 90s. "I owe Grahame my test career" Richardson said "the sight of him striding to the crease at number 8 for University Grange sparked off my bowling yips and if that hadn't happened I'd never have worked on the full range of nurdles to third man that took me to the test arena". Actual cricketer Brendon Bracewell recalls a game against Morton's Tauranga Boys' High School First XI "by that time my back was well b*ggered but my sledging was still international class, and that spotty opener (Morton) copped a real spray". Actual cricketer Dean Jones, reflecting on a Hong Kong Sixes tournament featuring Morton said "I may have called him a terrorist, but that particular misquote was taken out of context".

Seasoned Beggars observer, Adam the Umpire opined "we can't get the league table correct, how do you think we're ever going to enforce a qualification rule? In my opinion the Beggars can't afford not to blend a cricketer into their collection of sham artists and fakers."

ENDS

External Link: World Indoor Sports Laws of Indoor Cricket: http://www.wis.net.nz/assets/PDFs/Winter%202007%20Cricket.pdf

Injury threatens Beggars season finale

In what some are describing as a sickening blow to team morale just days out from the most important few weeks of the Beggars season, two of the stars of the team have succumbed to career threatening injuries. With Michael Hollings managing to get his foot placed in plaster (to avoid having his opening spot usurped by one J Williams according to insiders), the team was left having to beg, borrow and steal whomever came there way in their last sickening loss.



However Inside-Out-Sport is today able to reveal that star all-rounder, and perhaps the loudest man ever to play indoor cricket, Andy J Cameron III, will have to miss at least the next two weeks of the Beggars faltering campaign due to a recurrence of his early career back injury.



Cameron is expected to hold a media conference in the next few minutes, but Inside-Out-Sport have managed to travel back in time via an as yet undiscovered worm hole in the space time continuum and can reveal this startling news ahead of other media outlets.



At the conference Cameron’s spokesperson S Metherell is expected to say something like; “Well it’s a shame that the over-hyped show pony has had to give up playing again because of his fragile mental state – but hey – the team is bigger than any one man, particularly one of his stature!”



ENDS

Flat Track Bully Reveals "Egos Rule Beggars"

Hollings says he got it wrong about Cameron.."he is not a glory boy but an Australian in Disguise"



Michael Hollings with Jason Tekare (the premiere batsmen of the beggars)have said that "it had always been too hard to get any words in with the constant ranting of "Kevin.work the nets..field on the nets kevin" and had thought that this antagonising of fellow team mates to be "less than encouraging and quite Australian in behaviour .we wouldn't lower ourselves to that level, we let our bats do the talking..at anytime we are ready to swap positions with the glory boys from Australia". This has raised an interesting dilemma within the beggars as to whether Captain Kevin List is willing to change such a fantastic and very productive opening partnership.

All Eyes Turn to the Beggars

Richard Boock - World Indoor Sports Hyperdome, Newtown

After a year of minor disappointment for New Zealand sport, with the Cricket, Yachting and Rugby lost, and the Netball World Championship to be contested by women, the eyes and the specially purchased 50" flat-screen Televisions of the nation will be turned to the World Indoor Sports Centre as the playoffs of the WIS Fifth dimension approach. The beggars, top of the table however the order is published, have an easy run in to the playoffs provided they remember the start times and their shirts, and will expect nothing less than three crushing victories before advancing to a probable semi-final date with the surprise packets of the tournament, Team Maad. With a solid core of loudmouths and an absence of quality back-up players, the Beggars have not experienced the controversies of rotation and leadership issues. Indeed, the continued selection of Andy Cameron and the subtle and caring manner in which the beggars have dealt with his on-field problems seem to have paid dividends with the slightest inkling of form shown in his edgy innings of 32 last week.

Booked Tickets
Cheryl from Levin, clad in a replica of the pink Beggars change strip, was so confident that the boys from Brooklyn would march all the way to the finals that she has already booked her bus ticket to Wellington for the final. "I'll sleep in the queue outside the hyperdome if that's what it takes to get in" Cheryl said, " this is the trip of a lifetime, I've never been overseas, let alone to Wellington before, I just know they're going to do it this season, nothing can stop them this time. go the reds!"

Mood of the Nation
If the tone of talkback callers is anything to go by, the nation is confident that the spoils will go to the Beggars. Wayne from Upper Hutt, calling radio sport in the wake of the All Black's wholly predictably capitulation in the weekend, spoke for the whole country: "Mate" he said to a somebody he has never met, "I'm not worried about the blacks' result because I knew all along they weren't mentally tough enough to handle the pressure. These boys from Brooklyn though, they've put the hard work in in their government departments and what have you, so they know all about the trials and hardships of life, that means they'll stand tall, they'll dig deep and show passion for the jersey, they'll show some pride and do it for the fans back home, they have kept in touch with the grass underlay traditions of indoor cricket and they have the ticker to deal when it comes to the wire." Mate" he went on "I'm not ashamed to say that I cried when they went down in the semis last time but they've learnt from the experience and they understand what it means to the country for them to win so I just know that they'll do it for us this time".

Note of Caution
Veteran journalist Ozzy Ozzmeister, talking to Wayne on his indoor cricket talkback show "Stroking balls indoors", sounded a note of caution. "All last week's result proved" he opined "was that the Beggars are the best team when it comes to beating the minnows but that means nothing when the completion moves to the knockout stage. The standard of their next matches isn't enough to key them up for the big tests to follow. Also I'd question the distraction of their marketing campaign, I mean that vial filled with little squares astro-turf from all the courts in the country they've played on, how's that help? I heard they actually took the turf from a netball court anyway! And those little figurines of the boys have them drinking out of glasses, how stupid's that! Sure they're looking good but I wouldn't put my house on a beggars victory".

Wayne from Upper Hutt replied "too late mate, I mortgaged me house to bet on the beggars. 5 to 1 and it's a sure thing! You negative bu**ers really p*ss me off."

Beggars campaign manager, Gordon Copeland, denied the weight of expectation placed undue pressure on the Beggars. "We don't take any notice of all the talk" he said, "my job is to mentor them, keep them focused, and united, and I know I'm the best person to lead them to the title".

Beggars Captain Kevin "Party" List denied Copeland had any connection to the team.

Nicky Hager: New Book Exposes Indoor Cricket Corruption

Hollow Men Author Nicky Hager this morning held another shock and awe
press conference to announce that his new book is called "Beggaring
Belief: World Indoor Sports". Mr Hager has announced he has come into
possession of a "huge" number of e-mails and electronic discussions
between Ozzy Ozmeister and his stable of running mates that will blow
the door wide open on player insider trading, team-stacking, grade
fixing, and deliberately making bad captaincy decisions to aid
poor-performing oppositions.

"Ozmeister turns out to have been a voracious forum poster" Hager said
"and was occasionally prone to very free and frank ranting about the
teams and even individual players. I think what emerges is a picture of
a man who no doubt contributed greatly to wellington indoor cricket, but
once he took control was able to manipulate teams and games on a nightly
basis, was very confident in his judgements of other peoples' abilities
but a bit of a blind spot where his own were concerned.

Of more concern is the results manipulation Ozmeister has managed.
Ozmeister has developed an elaborate and sophisticated scam where he
rotates a stable of players into several "placeholder" teams in most
grades, and other teams that were simply invented on the night as the
result of defaults, if the teams ever actually existed in the first
place. The system was so sophisticated, that it involved player
rotation to ensure that genuine oppositions, like Brooklyn's famous
"Beggars" never caught on to the truth. Genuine teams, like the Beggars,
were therefore turning up and paying their money on a weekly basis
thinking they were playing in a genuine competition against genuine
teams.

Nicky Hager said he had spent hours this morning poring over the
materials and released a selection of excerpts from the discussion
forum. Including the following scandalous quote from the match report
of 7 June 2007, when superstar Brooklyn Beggar Josh Williams found
himself accidentally playing in Ozzy's team having been roped in by his
mate Simon:

"...And still only had 7 and was going to play with 7 till Simon spotted
someone from the previous game who he knew, from a div 3 side, and who I
recognised as an average div 3 player but better than noone at all, so
roped him in to make 8."

Williams, through a spokesperson, wwas reported this afternoon to to be
"apopleptic" and "incensed". Williams is widely regarded as the
greatest player the game has ever seen, therefore the notion that he was
an "average div 3 player" to be complete and utter slander.

Brooklyn Beggars management are reported this afternoon to be
considering an injunction on Hager's book, based on the excerpts
relating to their team, which clearly demonstrate the extent of the
manipulation.

10 July 2007 "Anyway saw BB play tonight, they're a typical div 4 side I
spose, love slapping slow medium bowlers, but couldn't hit spin with an
oar."

26 July 2007: [beggars lost the match 130-20] "Had a slightly strong
team for this game, mostly cause I found out bout it just before the 6pm
game and had no time to arrange a more appropriate team.

We bowled first with a 1 game old ball, they struggled to hit a thing,
we had a bash, the end."

13 August 2007 "Had a slightly strong team, so again tried deliberately
helping them out with my bowling selections intended to help feed them
runs as much as possible, but theres only so much I can do without
taking a bat myself..."

In a statement, Beggars Management were said to be "deeply concerned"
that the sport had been brought into disrepute, and were considering
legal options.

Points Fiasco Sparks Protest

Sports Briefs



Beggars officials are expected to lodge a formal protest today after they were only awarded 9 competition points instead of the requisite 10 for their pants down 141 run (ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY ONE RUN) annihilation of the toothless Vipers.

Beggars return to preferred late night slot

onathon Millmow, Allied-Prime AMI Westpac SuperCheap Auto WIS Hyperdome

The Brooklyn Beggars will hope that a return to their favoured 9.20 (Nine
Twenty, or Twenty Minutes Past Nine in the old money) prime-time playing slot
tonight will spur a return to the winners circle after the mediocrity and
confusion of the past couple of weeks. Beggars starlet Jason Te Kare,
speaking from a hospital bed after his having his pectoral implant removal
operation reversed, said he thought that the timing left other teams at a
distinct disadvantage "Nine Twenty, being twenty Minutes after Nine O'clock
and forty minutes before ten o'clock, leaves most other teams in a state of
confusion. Players lacking the state sponsored intellectual stimulation of
the Beggars work in wholes and halves, but a third past nine or, if you like
two thirds to ten leaves them cold just when we're warmed up, tuned in and
ready to go".

Slimey Fingers
C*nt struck ex Lothario Josh Williams agrees that the twenty one Hundred
Hours and Twenty Minutes time slot plays into the Beggars' slimey Sunday
morning fingers: "the demands of the hyper-celebrity culture surrounding us
means that we're often two busy posing and preening earlier evening whereas
our Jetset party animal body clocks mean we are only really fully alert
approximately twelve hundred seconds after Nine O'clock."

Poseur
Michael Hollings, after denying any link between the size of his preferred
mode of transport and appendages considered vitally important to the average
indoor cricket groupie, claimed that the extra two hours and twenty minutes
after seven o'clock afforded him time to trim his errant sideburns. "I'm
really a bit to shy to eye-up the netball chicks without a quick trim of the
short 'n' curlies before hand" he said.

Jesus Christ
Beggars Kaumatua the very Reverend Russell Hewitt, Bishop of Berhampore, said
that recent biblical scholarship has all but confirmed that the first nail of
Jesus' crucifixion was hammered home at ten twenty am Jerusalem time, or nine
twenty in the evening, New Zealand Summer time. "The direct connection
between that event, Josh's pre-match communion, and the nail hammered into
the oppositions prospects in the match at that time cannot be put down to
coincidence" he said.

Daylight Saving
Having heard this, the captain's minder, Justin Gregory, blurted "Sh*t, does
Kev now about Daylight Saving!"

All this, and more, will become murkier at NINE TWENTY-TWENTY PAST
NINE-9.20PM-2120 TONIGHT.

Metherell - Williams will take it on the chin

International SuperStar Times 17 September 2007

Modest family-man allround superstar good guy Stephen Metherell today offered his unequivocal support to lame team mate Josh Williams. Williams, in common with many, has found Metherell's supersonic thunderbolts to hard to handle behind the stumps and has resorted to taking balls on the chin. Metherell today announced his support for the idea and promised Williams he will do his best to rest his team mates' limp wrist by delivering a short pitched barrage. Observes at a recent Beggars closed practice session reported that Metherell's bowling reached speeds unseen since Concord was decommissioned, with perennial Beggars bench warmer Saab Johal lucky to survive while captain Kevin List had to receive an emergency tea transfusion after his blood pressure reached dangerously high levels.

After the session an obviously engorged Metherell modestly made a favourable comparison between himself and former New Zealand "fast" "bowling" "great" Derek Stirling, pointing out that "for all he achieved in the game he [Stirling] never made the Beggars' starting eight, let alone reaching the fifth dimension." With one eye staring lovingly at his reflection while the other perused his own bottom, Metherell went on to promise to replicate his practice performance in the Beggars' top of the table clash with the ghey-monikered "Cougar Hunters" on Wednesday Night. "With Williams' hand no longer a concern, I feel I can really let rip on Wednesday, it'll nice to know that my team mates' mediocrity wont hold me back any more".

Williams takes it on the Chin

Williams Weekly, 17 September 2007

Humbled superstar Josh Williams says his thumb injury needs to take the lion's share of the blame for the Beggars' ignominious defeat last week. "I think the boys have gotten used to having me behind the stumps there, saying inspirational things like 'let's go fullas' and 'come on brookers' that sort of thing. At our age people don't like their routines being upset so i think my absence behind the stumps knocked the boys' confidence. "We've all come to expect a certain look of dazed bewilderment from Kev" Williams said, "but it's a bit scary when it's the rest of us as well"

Clearly Williams' left hand was not to blame, as he bowled a world-record over of negative 18. But his batting was sorely affected, hampered by the horrific thumb injury that meant he was not able to nurse the shockingly out-of-form Stephen Metherell through their mind-bogglingly dreadful partnership.

Looking forward to Wednesday's match, Williams has confirmed that while his thumb is still "giving him jip", he will resume his keeping duties. "I'm prepared to take on on the chin for the team" Williams said". "In fact, I'd definitely prefer taking one on the chin than another one on my thumb."

ENDS