After Thomas' fireman had stoked up his boiler, Thomas made his way to the railway station near the team hotel. Annie and Clarabel were very excited: "Tendulkar's last chance, Tendulkar's last chance," they chortled.
When they got to the station, they picked up the England team, the coaches and the backroom support staff. Annie and Clarabel were very full. Then they all set off for Vauxhall. They were delayed for twenty minutes due to a signal failure at Surbiton, but Thomas arrived at Vauxhall just in time.
"Good luck!" tooted Thomas, as he headed back to the yard at Clapham Junction for a rest.
Later that day, Thomas headed back to Vauxhall to pick up the players after the first day's play. The England players were very excited, because they had declared on 514-3 at the end of the first day. Thomas didn't know much about cricket but his driver said that was very good.
The next morning, Thomas was surprised to be told that he had to go back to Vauxhall, but the Fat Controller explained that it was such an important cricket match that it took five days.
Thomas was very proud to be associated with such an important cricket match, and he boasted Percy about it: "I've been entrusted with a cricket match. You only had to take Manchester United to a football match. Football only takes 90 minutes and the players behave like animals."
Percy just blushed, because he knew Thomas was right.
But in the middle of the afternoon, the Fat Controller returned to the yard to say that Thomas had to rush to Vauxhall: the cricket match had ended earlier than expected. Thomas was very upset: his driver explained that India had been bowled out for 42 after following on. Thomas didn't know what "following on" meant, but he carried on to Vauxhall anyway.
When he got there, the England players were waiting for him on the platform. They looked like they were trying to be happy, but were actually sad. Thomas asked Andrew Strauss what the matter was. Strauss explained to Thomas that he was worried that test match cricket was losing its validity because India hadn't tried hard enough. He was also sad because Sachin Tendulkar had announced his retirement, without having scored his hundredth hundred in international cricket.
When Thomas thought about the passing of someone great, he became very sad too. But he knew he had a very important job to do. He set off from Vauxhall to his destination. At every station, people stood and cheered the England team. Soon, Thomas was feeling better again. Finally, he reached the England team's station and dropped them off. They all thanked Thomas, and said goodbye.
Finally, Thomas head back to his shed at Clapham, and soon fell asleep. It had been a very busy two days.
No comments:
Post a Comment