A light Summer breeze kissed the trees like a butterfly finding it’s perch. Mares tails hung idly in the sky. The scene was set for our greatest test. Having won the toss, a confident Wargrave skipper smiled saying “we’ll have bat please”.....

Easy to see why. A class opening pair batted for 13 overs without loss before Pasikanti retired on 50. I don’t think it’s uncommon for him to retire but our tidy bowling and determined fielding meant it was not as quick a run rate as they may be used to. At 65 off 12 Wargrave needed to accelerate. Despite good death bowling, some lusty blows from the big boys got them to a very good 142 for 2. Duxbury taking 2 catches off Charlie and Woody as the bat was thrown towards the end. Umpiring the whole match I saw our quality of bowling was much better in depth than Wargrave and Ollie T, Ben, Zander, Oscar, Henry should all be pleased with their returns against good batsmen. Oli G was as focussed as I’ve seen him behind the stumps. A task I set to concede less than 8 byes, the score book says 3 byes conceded. Incredible week on week improvements - well done Oli. Every run, every stop, every minute of concentration all the boys make at this level counts.

So 142 needed to win. We had the batsman to do this but our inability to see off the new bowl and it’s early swing again left us in dire trouble at 19 for 3 off 5. Some great shots by class act Harding gave us hope but like the Mare tails , when he aimlessly wandered out of his crease on a wide, our last hopes were slowly drifting away like the clouds above.... Or were they? 100 runs needed off 10 overs. Keith the Kite squawked as our Engine room started to fire. Bens left handed batting put the new bowlers off line and a 35 run partnership with Fred took us to 76 off 14 but we still needed 12 an over. Charlie joined his brother at the crease and 45 runs off four overs began to give the team and supporters hope. “Come on, you can do this came cries of encouragement from Pub. Wargrave were Panicking, they even tried to bring on their 3 wicket strike bowler for a 5th over. Fred hit a 6 and a 4 and to my delight was clapped off with his Maiden 50 for the club. Cometh the hour cometh the twins. 35 off 3 overs needed. Down the wicket they came. Scything cuts scampered byes and 17 needed off the last over. A great great effort got us to within 6 runs but If it was a game of cribbage we had died in the hole ....but I didn’t really care. I knew we were the best TEAM today. We shouldn’t fear anyone now. We have the individual components and the best attitudes to take anyone to the wire if we dig deep and believe in ourselves enough. Even Sam was the best scorer in my eyes.

Well done Toddy stepping in as Captain today - what a game to captain.