Le massacre au Stade de la Lumière

The red24 win streak was brought to a grinding halt last night at the Stadium of Light. Facing a well-drilled Lovers Plus team, red24 had no answers for their well placed yorkers and beautifully executed slog shots. red24 sufferred from a lack of experience in all departments and should count themselves lucky that the final scoreline didn't balloon further. On a positive note all members of the team are still alive, although Jon Tonker Vincent remains MIA. red24 will need to improve considerably ahead of their next fixture which may be a repeat against the same team. Talking to Petronius Maximus after the game, she put the loss in context "Andre!! Why didn't you stop the seven!" Well put :)

Scorecard: red24 78 (96 balls) vs. Lovers Plus 158 (96 balls)

red24 batting

Andre 11 (5)
Kelly 9 (19)
Petronia -3 (11)
Jonathan 14 (13)
Gerrit 6 (9)
Camilla 1 (15)
Rob 17 (12)
Taz 18 (12)

red24 bowling (overs-runs conceded-wickets)

Kelly 2-23-0
Gerrit 2-23-0
Camilla 2-36-0
Jon 2-16-1
Taz 2-15-2
Rob 2-16-1
Andre 2-9-4
Petronia 2-20-1

red24 make hard yards on the pitch

The red24 win streak continued last night at the Stadium of Light at the expense of Chatz Playaz. Batting first red24 piled on the early pressure with Cath and Dre putting up a decent 46 run opening partnership against the hapless CP bowling attack. Rob and Taz built on the early dominance compiling a modest 32. The talk of the innings was the emergence of Jon Tonker Vincent who caned like sugar farmer on red bull. His Lara-esque demolition of the Chatz bowlers showed the benefit of performance enhancing KFC prior to a game and ensured that the selection committee will have no choice but to select him in the forthcoming fixtures. Tonker was ably assisted by the in-form Camilla, the destroyer, who easily had her best batting performance of the season. The gloss of the near perfect innings came to a grinding halt in the 13rd over as Alice and Luke (replacement players) struggled against the Chatz fightback. The red24s finished their 16 overs on 108...way below there 12 over projected tally of 170+.

Chasing 108 was never going to be easy for the team affectionately known as alimentadores del fondo. Luke and Alice partly redeemed themselves in the opening exchanges with their combined 4 overs going for a measly 20 runs. After such a fiery display it was always going to be difficult for del fondo. With 80 odd to get off 72 balls the del fondos succumbed to the pressure and imploded to 93 in their 16 leaving red24 with a well-deserved albeit unneccesarily close 15 run victory. red24 will have much to do in the coming weekend ahead of their do or die clash on Monday 5 July (18:30) against Lovers Plus. Lovers have recently recalled star playmaker, Fabio Fantastique, who will be key to Lovers hopes of scoring...a victory.

red24 ready for Titanic struggle

The red24 Fireball/Spartans play against the newly relegated Titans on Tuesday night at the Stadium of Light in Kenilworth. Although much of the current focus of the world media has been on the FIFA World Cup, this match has drawn international attention. New York Times correspondent, Henry Wakefield, explains after being contacted by the24s blog earlier today for comment, "yes, I do live in New York. Do I own a telephone? Of course, you're talking to me right now, whats this about?" Proof enough that we called him.

The red24s will be keen to build on their most recent demolition of Chatz Playaz, the current log leaders. A victory on Tuesday night will move the red24 outfit to second place two points behind Chatz and within touching distance of eternal glory and legendary status. The red24s kickoff @ 19:40 local time and all squad members are urged to check the team sheet prior to arrival. The game will be broadcast live on the stadium's CCTV.

Blazing Glory as red24 demolish Chatz

Like a John Edward's show on fire, the red24 mixed cricket team showed blazing team spirit last night at the Stadium of Light arena against the lowly, and often blue but with plenty of z, Chatz Playaz. Batting first the red24s compiled a massive 134, their highest innings total in their first three games of the Revival Season Tour II. Opening stands of 40+ by both WMD Colling / Catherine TNT and Rob the Flash Mob / Odette "time to pay" Dabesterest set the red24 superstar outfit up for a well deserved first win. With such a mountain to climb the task for the blues was nigh (always wanted to use that in a sentence) impossible. Petronius Maximus spun a spidery web of extras to utterly confuse the opposition while Emil "Steely glaze" Bishoff aka the Hoff, cleaned up with well placed yorkers, stunners and belly flops. After the Chatz first 8, the crowd sensed a massacre and the red24 gladiators duly delivered. With Camilla Roger Milla (we'll get a better nickname, but this fits with the Fifa thing) and the Cuervo Mascot Gerrit sending down blazing red hot and unplayable balls of spirit it was apt that the expectant crowd would lable their new found heros, the eight that decimate. With this first win under their belt it was up to Captain Petronius Maximus to sum up the mood after the game, "LETS DRINK! WOOHOO!". Well done red24, bring it.

Greatest defeat in the history of sport

Great defeats are measured in how close one gets to unlikely goals and that was the story of red24s second league fixture against Friendz. Friendz batted first, and led by Captain Chandler amassed an impressive 112 in 16 overs. Red24 bowling and fielding resembled a chain saw juggling contest gone wrong at times; however, there were a few surprises with Odette “the Lion Heart” taking three superb diving catches, managing on the third to wave at the cameras as she flew through the air to catch a well placed hit by Friendz strongwoman, Rachel. Bryn “Line up the KFC buckets” also fielded well nearly taking a number of run outs. The bowling was particularly poor at times and red24 will have to work hard on this discipline going into the next game on Monday night (31 May). Speaking to the press after the game Emil “take one on the leg for the team” said, “I definitely think we need to give one hundred and ten percent ….or at least 10, yip, lets start there.” Tear jerking stuff form the debutant.

The batting began well with the happy couple (Cam & Jason) putting together a stand of 28 in the opening four. The next few partnerships added 20 odd and unfortunately left the “anti-Klusener” Colling and Fighting Gill too much to do in the end, with red24 falling agonizingly close to their first victory in season one of the revival. Red24 will take heart from the fact that 75 percent of the female players on the opposition team tested positive for high levels of testosterone but were not disqualified as the men of Friendz threatened the arena manager with a "n lekker beating nay" if they forfeited their win…not too sure how any of that connects to the cricket…forgive me its late. Next game is Monday 31 May. LET’S GO GET EM GUYS! RARA!

red24 Rock n Roll Revival Tour '10 - red24 return

red24's Rock n Roll Action Cricket Revival Tour 2010 kicked off last night at the Stadium of Light to great fan fare and delirious scenes, reminiscent of the 1983 All Stoke Championship Kite Flying Contest. red24 had last toured the hallowed halls during the Corlett, Noak, Merrett and Harrison era, a glorious age of gold medal triumphs and butt slapping. The first game back in action for the fabled team of myth and lore was not as successful as their sponsors, KFC, or fans would have liked. red24 batted first and put on a respectable total in the postive numbers. Allan Gray, a seasoned outfit of angry accountants, bowled and batted well but only surpassed red24s total by a digit. That digit took them into the hundreds past the red24s total which was in the tens.

All in all it was a great start for the team which picked up a number of KFC awards on the night. Bryn picked up the KFC Junior chicken nugget award for best supporting act in a short innings while Rob and Cathy surprised all in attendance with the KFC Feast award for the most runs in a pair. Andre and Camilla were unlucky to lose out on the latter award but had to settle for the KFC small chips award for their efforts in trying to run each other out at every opportunity. In a surprise twist KFC's upcoming youngsta award went to the hugely impressive Odette, whos talent shone brighter than a UK L2 alert on Neil's Blackberry. Jon Vincent's performance on the night was marred by lapses into semi-comatose states of awareness and he rightly received a 12 week stay in a KFC Rest Lodge and Diner. Kudos must go to organiser supremo, Petronia "Always" Reddi who's leadership and pure dam amazing never to be repeated brilliance raised morale to levels never ever, ever, before seen in the history of human kind (yes, she paid me to say that).

red24 look forward to next weeks game which will feature a number of new faces, including Jacque Kallis and Ricky Ponting. red24 will also be staging a contest for a name change. So far a number of suggestions have been put forward including "red24 - Pow pow, we win" "red24 Spartans" and "red24 Ra ra Ra with a R" More suggestions are welcome and can be sent to Petronius for considerationz.

End of season for Spartans

The red24 Spartans 2010 campaign came to an inglorious end last night when plate final opposition and slackers, Inter Yer Maw, forfeited prior to the game leaving hundreds of red24 supporters disappointed. The forfeit handed the mighty Spartans the plate medal, crafted by dwarves from the hallowed mines of Silvermine at the top of Ou Kaapse. The Spartans have enjoyed a reasonable season, however, injuries and mass resignations stifled consistency and made it difficult for the flare players to get into any sort of rhythm. Despite these setbacks the Spartans can be proud of their achievements...which are too many to mention on this humble blog. The team will take a well deserved break for the next season amid rumours that the squad will be transformed into a cricket team. Reports that the soccer team has in fact been relegated to women's netball are as yet unconfirmed.

Playoff fever

The red24 Spartans have drawn the lowly Scorpions in the semi-final on Tuesday at 19:10 at the Stadium on Main. The Scorpions will be looking to sting the Spartans after two successive league defeats at the hands of the Greek gods. When successful the Spartans will play the final on Thursday.

 

The team in no order of greatness (in their own mind)

 

1. Rob

2. Andre

3. Ryan

4. Jon

5. Terrence

6. Sub 1 (TBC)

 

See you all at the stadium on Tuesday! Spartan! Hoo-raa!

Spartan's face-off in playoff

The Spartans playoff campaign begins this Thursday (25 February) at the Stadium of Light. The game is scheduled to start at 19:10 against Dream Team. The team to represent the mighty red24, in no reverse order of amazingness:

 

1. Rob

2. Ryan

3. Jon

4. Andre

5. Terrence

 

 

Spartan experience overcomes sting of Scorpions

The red24 Spartans struggled to contain a energised Scorpions side in a Division 8 showdown at the Stadium of Light last night. The Spartans started the better of the two sides scoring two early goals to put pressure on the "desert biters"; however, a late first half own goal by Shifty added some respectability to the half time scoreline for the away team. The second half was a frantic affair with the Scorpions coming out determined to pick up their first win of the season in 8 attempts. The youngsters showed a lot of energy and determination but were let down by their more experienced campaigners who threw away possession at crucial times during the half. This gave the Spartans an opportunity to further their lead with goals by Yosh and Andre (and a determined effort by the Wall and Shifty at the back) sealing the closely fought 5-4 win. The Spartans next victory is on Tuesday against an Inter Yer Maw side currently languishing mid-table - a crucial game first both teams ahead of play-offs later in the week.