A fine victory for the Red Lions

Who would have guessed it? After a fairly comprehensive loss a couple of weeks ago the Red Lions on Saturday put on a breathtaking performance to beat the Ankara Tigers by a massive nine wickets.

After winning the toss the Red Lions decided to send the Tigers in to bat, not because the pitch was going to get better as the day went on but purely because fielding in the morning would be a lot less strenuous than under the blazing midday sun.

Speaking of the pitch, and the ground. One can only say it was the best I've seen for a long long time. The groundsman had not only mowed the ground providing for a nice and fast outfield, he did so in concentric circles to give the field a lovely picturesque look. Not only that he had the roller out on the pitch itself which certainly meant the ball bounced a lot higher than usual. A few of us congratulated the groundsman for his great work and it was great to see how proud he was of his work and he was clearly very proud when a few of us offered our personal thanks for his efforts.

Onto the field and the Red Lions started off wonderfully. Some nice quick bowling from the likes of Tamir keep the Tigers scoring the odd single here and there but not much. Wickets started to come our way, including a couple of lovely balls that sent the wickets flying.

The Tigers tail wagged a bit with the last couple of batsmen hitting a few fours but in the end they were all out for 104. That total could have been quite a bit higher if it wasn't for a great day in the field for the Red Lions, with keeper Lloyd Freeman especially deserving a mention, taking a catch off Steve Bryant's bowling. One other person to mention must be Avichal Sharma who scared a few leg side pigeons before bowling two great balls that clean bowled the batsmen.

Another shout-out to Cagaltay who stepped up when two of the Red Lions failed to show up. Cagaltay had never played cricket before, had no idea of the rules but still helped out the Red Lions in the field. Thanks mate.

Freeman and Sohail opened the batting for the Red Lions and immediately were well above the required run rate before Freeman fell being caught at short cover.

Liam O'Toole then went to the crease and well, the rest of might as well have opened the beers on the spot as O'Toole and Sohail slaughtered the attack. Fours and sixes started to come regularly before O'Toole finished things off with more than 10 overs to spare with a six over deep square leg. The Red Lions finished at 109 for 1. A very nice result.

Sohail deservedly won the man of the match award for his half century and the result means the Red Lions finished top of the League B, meaning they have qualified for the final in October when they will take on the winner of League A.

All up, a great day of cricket (even if most of the Red Lions didn't get a chance to bat) :)