Duck… it's the Hayling Express!
A GROUP of Hayling Island cricketers are set for their five minutes of fame when they appear on Sky Sports' Cricket AM show - trying to set the record as the fastest club bowler in the land.
In common with almost every club cricket dressing room up and down the land, the burning question down at West Town's Hayling Park is - who is the quickest bowler at the club and how fast can he actually bowl?
Hayling's players decided to put their reputations on the line and took part in the show's Speed Gun slot.
So a group of eight wannabe TV stars headed to Shepperton, in Middlesex, and pitted their skills against fellow club cricketers in a bid to get themselves on to the Speed Gun leaderboard – with 82mph currently leading the pack.
But just two of them – James Swan and Alex Johnson – made the final cut for Saturday's programme and they're not even regular bowlers.
Johnson, who calls himself the J Train, came up with an unimpressive 43mph while Swan – otherwise known as T-Rex for his large body and small arms - managed 48mph.
Perhaps more worryingly for the club is that the second team's frontline bowlers Mike MacDowell and Gary Martin failed to get on screen and also failed to get up to anything like the 70-80mph they were anticipating.
And Martin, who is set to join the police force in the near future, fittingly claimed that a faulty speed gun was to blame for his woeful 58mph.
Martin said: "That's our excuse and we're sticking to it!
"How can you get an accurate reading on anything with a faulty speed gun?
"About three of us registered 58mph and then my quicker ball was 43mph so that tells you everything.
"It didn't make sense. We think it was set up for the shorter bowlers!"
It's fair to say Johnson and Swan didn't exactly take themselves too seriously for their brief appearances on screen.
But MacDowell believes he is Hayling's answer to Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar – the Rawalpindi Express – who once set a world record with a delivery clocked at 100.2mph.
Sadly on this occasion, the Hayling Express hit the buffers.
Martin smiled: "We just went up there for a laugh.
"We all watch the programme and Mike has been telling us how quick he is for ages.
"He likes to call himself the Hayling Express – and then he bowled at 65mph!
"He was telling us how he was the quickest at the club and got us all down there.
"He's come up with a few excuses and is still adamant that the gun didn't work."
Skipper Rob Cordell said: "We've had a bit of a giggle about it. The two lads who were on there aren't even bowlers.
"But I think they enjoyed their moment of fame."
The programme - presented by Sarah-Jane Mee and Matt Floyd airs on Saturday, July 17, from 9am.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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