Ledger was bowled in the first over for a duck. Rohan and Matty played some good-looking shots but both fell when the score was 49. The innings lost momentum until Tahir Saeed, coming in at no.7, smashed 35 in 14 balls. Game on – then suddenly Tahir and then San in the same over bludgeoned the ‘Colonel’s’ gentle long-hops straight down the fielder’s throat. It was left to Neeraj and the still hung-over Steve Thomas to put on a heroic 52 run partnership for the ninth wicket only for Steve to get stumped in the last over to fall a meagre 3 runs short of victory. We would have won, of course, if our NO SHOW had turned up. We finished a batsman short with 3 balls remaining.

Declaring on 238 for 6 after 44 overs, Nomads skipper Michael Blumberg confounded KCC expectations by opening the bowling himself, and profited from some unnaturally low bounce to dismiss two of KCC’s top order. KCC’s innings never got going, and wickets fell regularly, with only Neeraj Nayar managing to score more than 30. With Nomads’ spinners tweaking their merry way through the batting, KCC subsided to a very poor 144 all out in just 28 overs. Hopefully KCC will be able to give Nomads a much better contest next season.

But Merrow are always a formidable bowling side and Matt Syddall fell cheaply to Andy Windus. Then a second wicket partnership of 90 between Chris Neilson and Matt Marshall launched KCC towards a well deserved win. But a typical mini KCC collapse was a bit worrying until San Gore with 20 and Tahir with a no-nonsense couple of hits saw Kensington home. Always an enjoyable fixture at Merrow and the inviting bar and camaraderie was great, as ever.

Adhocs batted first but struggled to put together any meaningful partnerships. Lilly showed a stout defence at number 5 and was not out 22 at the end of the innings. The rest of the Adhocs batting fell away in the face of an unrelenting KCC attack. Tahir Saeed and Mark Johnson bagged a brace each, and Nikunj Gupta on his debut for KCC bowled 6 brisk and tidy overs and claimed the wicket of Windsor. Adhocs all out for 108.

There was no complacency in the Kensington ranks as KCC had only managed 120 batting first in the previous game between the 2 sides. However, Jamie Keleher and Neeraj Nayar posted an untroubled opening partnership of 51 before Brett Hatfield came in to play an entertaining cameo at 3 storming to 42 in just 32 balls.

No doubt Adhocs will give a better account of themselves next year. With that expectation, here's to 'staying close'.

In reply, despite an early run out, HAC’s top order was in no bother at all against KCC’s opening medium pace attack, and scoring freely, so skipper Ledger turned to spin unexpectedly early in the innings to try to slow the run rate. Doug Keay, starting an excellent long spell, flighted his left-arm spin superbly, taking one wicket, and conceding just 7 runs in his first 6 overs to change the complexion of the game.

With 18 overs to go, and two wickets down, HAC now required 6 and a half runs an over. Lewis-Jones was going strong when run out on 69 by Tim Keleher’s fine direct throw, but HAC’s star player Brooksbank now looked like stealing the show. Smashing boundaries at will, he took HAC to within 15 runs of victory with one over left to be bowled. Appropriately, KCC’s man of the match, Doug Keay, bowled the final over, with Brooksbank facing. A four off the first ball left 11 runs needed off five balls, but Brooksbank’s fine effort ended next ball when caught on the boundary going for a six, and at the end HAC were 8 runs short. KCC much look forward to the return fixture.

But KCC were soon in trouble at 23/3 after 7 overs and the target looked a challenge. San Gore dug deep and played the anchor role while Pierre Formosa smashed 5 unorthodox fours in his 28 to frustrate Pinner. The stand of 61 came in 11 overs and set the stage for Doug Keay to apply some big hitting tactics. When San finally departed for a well-crafted 48, Doug found a willing partner in Elias Hussain. 54 required in 9 overs. Both batsmen made it look easy, even though Elias was run-out in sight of the victory which was achieved with 11 balls to spare.

KCC batsmen have enjoyed the Leigh wicket in the past with opening batsmen having scored especially well and this year was no exception. Nayar and Ledger opened the innings and took the score to 98 before losing a wicket (Ledger bowled for 65 from 62 balls). With few runs left to win David Behar ambled to the crease and immediately ambled back again for a golden duck seemingly as untroubled as the scorer. Still, that put M. Kyte on a hat-trick. Tim Keleher was never likely to want his average spoiled in a no-win situation for a batsman and while avoiding the hat trick finished on 2 not out while Nayar took KCC to a comprehensive victory.

Debutant Richard Cooke and Boe scored freely at the top of the innings against some loose Little Hallingbury bowling. San, Tabby (briefly), Pierre Formosa and Amitabh Banerjee all kept Richard company for periods as he proceeded to a comfortable 50. Sunny Bharambe and Olly Turner slowed down the run-scoring for KCC in the middle of their innings and took wickets when Little Hallingbury needed them. Although some suicidal running between the wickets by KCC's batsmen also contributed to the fall of wickets. With 6 an over required off the last 10, Doug joined Chris to smash the bowling to all parts and take KCC to victory with 5.2 overs to spare.

Thanks to Little Hallingbury for a wonderful tea with an authentic Gujarati flavour, and compliments for fielding a genuine Sunday 11 without any players who'd played league cricket the day before. We look forward to a rematch next season.

The chase was going nicely before some brilliant fielding from James ran Bowden out with a direct hit leaving KCC at 28/1. The Keleher brothers steadied the ship taking the score to 104/1 before another run out dismissed Jamie for 27. Another quick wicket slowed the scoring down and this forced the error from Tim Keleher who holed out chasing some quick runs for a well made 72. All of a sudden KCC needed 82 off the last 10 and a fourth consecutive loss was on the cards. This only galvanised KCC into action as Marshall was joined by the first innings wrecker Saeed. Three lusty blows from Saeed increased the rate dramatically as he took 17 off the 33rd over. Not to be outdone, two overs later Marshall decided that he wanted to end this now murdering the over for 25 runs including 3 sixes and a four leaving KCC with only 7 to get off the last 4 overs. The powerful display of hitting left DB shell-shocked and the game was over 3 balls later with KCC comfortable victors. One of the best team performances by any KCC side left everyone grinning from ear to ear.

Hawley’s chase was put firmly on the back foot by opening bowlers Tabrez and Sunil Amar, both proving very difficult to score off. As the run-rate crept up, only 68 coming from the first 25 overs, the wickets started to fall regularly. Saurav Sen’s off-spin turned prodigiously and Steve Thomas kept it full and straight, all 4 of his wickets clean bowled. Gentle threatened to keep Hawley in it until becoming the 7th wicket to fall and despite Miles’ 29 not out the home side were bowled out 48 short.

Great dinner and lots of money raised for the charity - and we even ran off with a lot of raffle prizes! I think that’s three wins in a row now. Four on the trot in 2008?

Royal Ascot batted first as they had only 9 players and it seemed logical to let them bat as some of them had had a boozy previous evening would have time to recover before they would amble in to bat – well, two of their top order certainly ambled out after some ghastly mix-ups and smart run outs by Saurav and Sumaer. Only opener Harding made any runs to speak of, creeping up to 47, almost more runs than the rest of the batsmen could muster. Corbett, Wajid, Nick and Elias all bowled well and restricted Royal Ascot to a crawl. Wickets fell at regular intervals until their No. 9 batsman came in – none other than 8 year-old Stefanos Nayar, generously given to Royal Ascot for the day by proud Dad Neeraj. Stefanos did well to keep his end intact but couldn’t resist having a go at Elias and was caught by Chris Neilson. Ascot were all out (royally) for a paltry 124. Elias Hussain was our star bowler finishing with figures of 10-2-17-4.

KCC started well with Chris Neilson and Saurav Sen scoring 45 before the first wicket fell. Chris departed an over later, but the dependable Neeraj Nayar and the elegant Tabrez Khan put up a good show. Then the rout started with the dismissal of Tabrez. Kevin May’s second spell was deadly, ripping through the heart of KCC’s innings; Corbett Chellew, Shray Amar, Elias Hussain and Nick Power didn’t trouble the scorers at all. At 109/8 Wajid Tahir wanted to win the game on his own smiting a six first ball. Neeraj then became May’s eighth victim leaving KCC to get 9 runs in little under 4 overs with last man Skipper Sunil on strike. Sunil dabs a single, then plays out a maiden. Two byes are added in the next. Last over and 6 runs required. Sunil pushes another single. By this time Wajid loses patience with this softly-softly approach and twice thwacks the ball into the deep and both scamper like headless chickens for two each time. Scores level and Wajid finishes in style with a massive six, and KCC win by one wicket with 2 balls to spare.

Moral of the story – don’t panic, keep your head down, fight for every run and don’t give up until the last ball is bowled…. and have Elias Hussain bowling for your side so you don’t have that many to chase.

The game was about a lot more than this painful last over. This needs to be stressed. Tim Keleher, Kensington’s outstanding player of the summer, had crafted another fine century. Newman had bowled a fiery opening spell to put us on the back foot. Tim and I put on 99 for the third wicket before I had smacked a fat full toss straight at mid-off. Marvellous. Nobody else got into double figures. T Drake had picked up 3 wickets at the end of our innings.

In reply Horsley had struggled. Never really in it. Elias bowled with great control to stifle the top order and claim 2 c&b’s. John Behar had spun his way to 4 wickets. Horsley players had made starts but then blown it. Tabrez had picked up 2 quick wickets, but the last 2 wouldn’t come. They just refused. More than that, P Drake and C Seipp started to biff the ball around and threaten the target. This was all, from a Kensington captain’s point of view, wholly wrong and unjustified. Time to put a stop to this nonsense. Bring yourself on. That’s the ticket. Introduce some order.

With 2 balls bowled I was struggling to maintain order. Somehow Drake missed the next one. Or it squirted to point for a single. Or there was no run. It’s all a blur. Brilliantly, only 4 runs came from the last 4 balls and we escaped with a draw. Well done. It would be best if somebody else captained this one next year. It could happen again and I for one do not wish to think about that.

After tea, a disastrous start. All three senior batsmen, Neeraj, San and Jamie were back in the pavilion after 10 overs (55/3). The rescue came from a most unlikely quarter. Sarwar the Mighty, playing his first match of the season, and his friend Osman Fatani guesting on this occasion began to rebuild the floundering innings in a spectacular manner. The fifty partnership came in only 5 overs, and the next fifty in 9 overs in a thrilling riposte. Osman was particularly severe on all the bowlers lofting 3 sixes and scorching 12 fours to get to 75 in just 61 balls. When he was out we needed 93 to win in the last 10 – still a mountain, but not impossible. Tahir threw his bat at everything with a quick-fire 18 in 10 balls. Sarwar fell 3 short of a well-deserved fifty. 56 to win in 6 overs, now very much on. Tabrez and Chetan kept up the charge helped by some panic-driven overthrows. But it looked to head for a tame draw with 2 overs left and 39 to get. However, the next over was clobbered by Tabrez for 23, and Chetan struck an almighty six off the first ball of the last over for the excitement to reach fever pitch in the pavilion. “Ten to win – go for it” shouted San, and Tabrez tried, but ran himself out. Ben Quinn needed to hit a six to win off the last ball, but missed.

James and San put on 53 runs to open up and it looked like a cruise but it never is with Kensington. From 53 for no wicket Kensington slumped to 93 for 6, Harvey snapping up 4 wickets. Enter King Singh - he who could do no wrong - and together with Tabby, the bowling all-rounders were transformed to batting all-rounders. Skipper Neej had no need to fear. KCC reached the target with the pair unseparated. An exciting game eventually discussed in the bar with our friendly opposition. Same again next year.

Merrow struggled themselves initially on this wicket that did batsmen no favours - both Steve Thomas and Chetan were making the ball sing. The first 14 runs were eked out in 13 overs and it was Neeraj who finally put the openers out of their misery (14/2). KCC sensed an opportunity. But after a period of consolidation the wicket began to ease and Merrow gained the ascendancy. With a small total to defend the game quickly slipped away from us. Chandler was the best batsman of the day making an excellent 78 as he and Steer knocked off the runs with a minimum of fuss.

San (glory be!) won the toss and KCC made a bright start, both Tim Keleher and Brett Hatfield putting on 73 in 16 overs. But Priory skipper, Andy Lewis, came on to bowl his left-arm spinners and immediately had Tim well caught. Two quick wickets followed, then for the next 12 overs only a meagre 23 runs were added as the batsmen were unable to get the ball off the square. Both fell in trying to force the pace off Lewis and Bhatti. Marshall and Masters, normally big hitters, scratched around like pussy-cats for the next 5 overs for just 6 runs before both were snared by the wily Lewis (120/7). A few lusty blows from John Behar and Elias helped KCC to finish on 157, with Lewis ending on 7/47 in 14 overs.

We would have to fight like tigers to defend this small total. John Behar bowled his offies from the end at which Lewis had so much success, and in his second over took a wicket, a smart stumping by Jason. The hostile Wajid blew away the other opener with a fast yorker. A fifty-run stand ensued between Jago and Faal and at 67/2 the Priory Cavaliers were cruising to victory. And then, an amazing turn of events – three run outs; the first, a sharp pick-up by Tim and a direct throw accounted for Jago; the second, a fast, flat and accurate thunderbolt from Wajid at deep cover gave the new batsman no chance;. the third run out, again Wajid from the deep. Priory were now tottering at 82/5. Such gifts are not easily squandered and Elias and Donnie saw to it that they weren’t, taking 4 wickets between them – and another run out from Tim – to close off a famous victory, despite a last-ditch flurry by Andy Lewis with the bat.

After the break KCC got off to a solid start reaching 103/2 off 24 overs, opener Jason Moores compiling a well made 41. The chase was looking comfortable as skipper Jamie Keleher thumped a fifty in just 57 balls. But the introduction of spinner Andy Northway (5/51) changed the game as he took the important wicket of Jamie for 53 with the score on 145/4. No KCC batsmen were really able to collar the bowling after that and the run-rate began to climb. With 45 needed from 5 overs and 4 wickets in hand some lusty blows were the order of the day. Unfortunately, we were not quite good enough and were dismissed for 215 in the final over still trying to go for the win in true Kensington fashion.

KCC began poorly. Rohan was caught behind to complete a miserable day for him. Three balls later Matt was in the pavilion followed soon after by Steve Thomas (41/3). Tim was joined by David Behar and they both played their shots all round the wicket in a 96 run stand in 90 balls. The match looked good as won despite Tim departing lbw for 68. But then David copped one on the nose and had to retire from the scene in a bloodied mess. Elias and San kept up the momentum and when both were out with the score on 172 Sawbridgeworth sensed an opportunity. This was quickly snuffed out on the return of a patch-upped David who continued where he left off, cutting and driving with panache. And Will provided the finishing touch at the end. Victory was sealed by 2 wickets with seven balls to spare and Dave didn’t wash his blood-stained shirt for several weeks in case his form was also cleansed!

Great Missenden started well with 34 from Nichols and 28 from Griggs, but when they had gone only Kankate (33) hung around for any length of time. KCC bowled and fielded well – 2 wickets apiece for Quinn, Neilson, Massard and Masters – and Pelicans were all out for 145. Young Assad bowled some leggies and picked up 1/4, to help to finish off the 98-run win.

A great day out in Roald Dahl country and it was even, in his words: “a calm sunny evening with little wisps of brilliant white cloud hanging motionless in the sky.” (Danny the Champion of the World)

We got off to a solid start in the run-chase with the experienced pair of Hatfield and Gore looking largely untroubled. However when Gore fell for 18 with the score on 46, KCC began to lose wickets regularly and no pair seemed to be able to form a partnership that was going to trouble the ever distant WGP score. A bludgeoning 55 from 40 balls from Cornehls was the only spark of resistance at the end and the while Singh and Amar tried desperately to bat out the overs for an improbable and undeserved draw the end was finally brought about by R. Lazarczuk who finished with 2/13 from 3.3 overs. The WGP bowling attack shared the spoils with four bowlers taking two wickets and ran out well deserved winners. The after-match function was as usual full of great spirits and laughs and KCC look forward to the next match if not the ever increasing youthfulness of the WGP team!

KCC had a disastrous start as two wickets fell without a run being scored. Then Brett Hatfield steadied the ship while Steve Thomas pulverised the bowling with a quick-fire 32 containing 1 six and 6 fours. With the score on 50 Steve was out lbw to Shahn. Next man Waqar Siraj just enjoyed his outing with the bat and in his unorthodox way smashed a cool 35-ball fifty. He was unbeaten at the end with 61 with Boe Pahari chipping in a useful 14 not out once Brett had gone. The game was won in a mere 21 overs. It was not that B.O.E. bowled badly but with a very small total to defend they were up against two players, Steve and Waqar, who were in tremendous form. Marsh and Shahn both bowled well and Down who is a very useful bowler couldn’t turn on his magic this time.

Old Wets reply was solid and the opening pair of Pike and Stringer-Jones put on a cultured 89. Both fell in successive overs, and with Neej bagging another quick wicket the game looked to be turning our way. But Nick Power smote a highly entertaining 62 before falling to Elias, and with Alex Rankine looking secure right to the end we had to settle for a draw – 222/6 at the close. Nevertheless, this was a great fixture at a wonderful venue and was played in the right spirit and ended with a fair result. Virtually all 22 were found at The Pub afterwards with several Jugs being passed around. We all look forward to 2008.

Matt could not recall losing the toss. Or at least he knew we fielded first which amounts to the same thing. Short-handed and with Saurav Sen bribed by batting position into taking the gloves we got down to business. Elias opened up, exercising his senior pro status and making Wajid bundle up the hill from the other end. This proved a bit much for the unfit Waj given his magnificent run-up and he had to be replaced after a handful of sharp overs by Will Douglas. Both openers fared well but when debutant Steve Thomas joined Will in the attack, the wickets started to tumble. Grahame Smith and Fishpool worked hard to rescue the innings but missed the players lost to the cup game. The innings was declared at tea-time on 155, a very modest score on such a good batting strip. Saurav kept wicket like a natural throughout - he really shouldn’t hide his light under a bushel.

Openers Tim K and Ledger picked off the new ball in a hurry (51 in 7 overs) before settling down to put on a measured hundred partnership. With the target within easy reach they set about the bowling again and raced to victory without loss. This by no means represents recent history between the sides and we can expect a backlash!

Maidenhead's reply was swift with Evans and Vaja piling on 61 for the first wicket. Evans went on to score a very fine 59. A couple of wickets from the wily Sunil Amar offered KCC a glimmer but M&B cruised to the target with 5 overs to spare with Amin weighing in with 41 not out. The bar was enjoyed by all.

The total seemed well below par on this good track and fast outfield and with KCC reaching 100 for the loss of just 1 wicket it looked like a cakewalk. But this is KCC, so don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched! Suddenly we lost 4 wickets in 4 overs for just 9 runs, and now Richmond had a sniff of victory. But any comeback was quickly quashed by the outstanding Tim Keleher who carried his bat all the way through to make a match-winning 112.

We began our innings disastrously. In-form Tim Keleher, who in his previous innings had scored a memorable ton, was bowled second ball. Jamie stepped in and immediately was in tune with the true bounce of the pitch. He treated us to an awesome display of Aussie strokeplay off the front and back foot – glorious drives, cuts and pulls - that Ricky Ponting would have been proud of. He raced to his hundred in only 82 balls in a partnership of 148 and then, next ball, rocked back once too often to be given out lbw. All this while San was keeping the other end going and, with only 5 an over required in the last 20, San upped the anti with some wristy Indian strokeplay of which VVS might have approved! The run chase became a cruise with Matt Marshall weighing in with some lusty blows to finish the match with almost 5 overs to spare.

In reply, Neeraj Nayar, Rohan Ghosh, David Behar and Brendan Ryan all batted well, leading KCC to the brink of seemingly certain victory. But Kensington, of course, never like to make things easy – that would be just too boring. In sight of the finishing post, late wickets clattered, and suddenly the game was in the balance at 171 for 7. Only two more wickets were seemingly required for a Warborough triumph, as KCC had managed to turn up for the game one man short. Scenting victory, all-rounder Richard Beer, Warborough’s quickest bowler, returned to the attack, but KCC’s tail-enders resisted stoutly, inching the score ever upwards until KCC, on 188 for 7, were within a single boundary of Warborough’s total. A final effort from Richard Beer, however, and suddenly the tables were turned with numbers 9 and 10 blasted out in successive balls.

The stage was set for KCC’s secret weapon to save the day - Matt Syddall’s Chinese wife Spring, who’d come along to enjoy the sunshine but had found herself gamely helping out in the field when we were bowling, and now came to our rescue with the bat. Her heroics would later headline the sports pages of the Kensington & Chelsea News:

“SPRING’S LATE ARRIVAL SAVES KCC’S BLUSHES

It was either Spring Syddall went out to bat in a desperate bid to save the game – or her husband’s team lost… Brave Spring, who had never lifted a bat before in her life, got padded up amid instructions of what to do in the middle… ‘She asked me’, said husband Matt, ‘what would happen if the ball bounced up and hit her? I told her it was a fairly flat track, and there wasn’t much chance of it happening. Then I kept my fingers crossed…’ A naturally nervous Mrs Syddall had plenty to think about as she faced up to the last ball of the over, as the Warborough pace bowler strolled back to his mark in the distance. He then fizzed through a delivery that whistled past her oversized helmet, and Ben Quinn at the other end knew he had better do something drastic. Opening his shoulders to the first ball of the next over, he lofted an almighty blow that cleared the boundary and won the match for Kensington.”

Acclaimed in the newspaper as ”BAT-WOMAN”, Spring’s exploits naturally won her the Man-, scratch that, Player-of-the-Match award of a large bottle of Cobra beer. Cheers!

Unfortunately, it was not theirs or Kensington’s day. Saurav Sen was run out for 2, by 'guess you know who', the Geoffrey Boycott of Kensington – Jai Singh. Neeraj Nayar and Jai restored some normality but Jai fell when the score was 37 (no 100 this time, your highness). Will Douglas was trapped for 2. Donnie Masters played a great knock and offered some respectability and went on to score 32. But he received no support as the rest crumbled in single-figure dismissals. Kensington all out for an embarrassing 101, with extras contributing 11 of these. RHCC had bowled well with Thompson and O’Neil taking 3 wickets each. Johnson bowled 15 overs and took 2 for 48. The ole fox Peter Wilson picked up 2 catches.

Tahir Saeed and Farrukh Hasan bowled their heart out but RHCC reached the small target with ample overs to spare, thanks to David Skirrow who remained unbeaten with a worthy 58.

Kensington did what they are best at – drank and curried till dark and I think won some new friends, again. We look forward to our encounter in 2008 when we will have to give a better performance on the field. All wedding leave cancelled!

KCC opened with Ghosh and Nayar who put on 41 for the first wicket. Ghosh was sublime with a 64 not out and KCC cruised home with the loss of just 3 wickets. Mynthurst hosted us at the lovely pub down the road and we look forward to the repeat next year.

In reply, Balliol struggled against excellent KCC bowling, spearheaded by Tabrez Khan on top form, who dismissed four out of the top five batsmen. Ben Quinn and Sunil Amar then tightened the stranglehold, and as wickets tumbled just two batsmen were allowed to make it into double figures. Bhanji’s knock, in particular, was hugely entertaining, a swish-a-ball affair, swish – miss, swish – four, swish – miss, swish – four, with almost all of his runs being scored in the same area through the covers to exactly the same shot. Once Tabrez, who’d taken the brunt of Bhanji’s extraordinary hit-and-miss swipes, finally got his man, and Sunil had outfoxed the stylish Pendergrass with some wily field placing, Balliol’s innings was as good as over. An uneven contest it may have been, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and Balliol’s friendly students were highly convivial hosts in the wonderfully inexpensive student bar after the game. We look forward to next year…

After Crossbatters declared on 281/7 KCC were hoping to redeem themselves by making a worthy fist of the chase, but alas it was not our day. All out for a paltry 130 in 39 overs epitomised our dismal performance. However, as usual, the superb catering and facilities on offer left everyone leaving with a smile.

KCC opened with the contrasting styles of Blumberg and Jai Singh and while a run out was a concern with this pair at the wicket, in the end Singh fell early to a more mundane caught behind for 4 runs. The next two batsmen came and went without overly bothering the scorer and the rather large KCC tail was exposed early. Meanwhile Blumberg was true to form in defying the modern convention of scoring runs quickly (33 runs in 89 balls) with his scorebook resembling a long winded morse code message. Still, his 88 run partnership with captain Moores, who smashed 64 of them, to register his first club fifty (well, first any fifty actually), helped lift the team back into contention until they both fell with the score on 116 in the 26th over. Nayar, with a typically resilient innings (42 not out in 38 balls) tried to steer the tail home but our inability to hit the boundaries in the dying overs meant Elthorne ran out deserved winners by 13 runs.

We won the toss and elected to bat first, a selfish reaction to M&B’s captain Matt Armstrong’s comment about possible rain later on. The pitch was excellent for April and the outfield hard as August and while the M&B players might not have enjoyed it quite as fully as the rest of us, we were treated to a thoroughly classy hundred by Rohan Ghosh. Both openers, Rohan and Ravi Mantha, hit it hard from the start, Ravi perhaps a bit unlucky to find the fielders rather more than seemed fair. Despite worthy knocks of support from Jamie K and Brendan Ryan, each were second fiddle to Rohan’s 133. The 40 over format ruled out a declaration and KCC closed the first innings at 302/6, Neeraj’s late flurry edging the score over 300.

The large total and long fielding session in worryingly hot April sunshine took its toll on M&B, while Elias and Will Douglas put the ball in the right places and made life hard. The luxury of a large total allowed KCC to keep the field up and wickets fell at regular intervals. Qureshi played with style for his top score 46 and with the run rate escalating M&B made a good fist of batting out their overs. Despite the straight 40 format it was disappointing not to take all 10 wickets, particularly once John Behar had looked like cleaning up, ending with 3/33.

Not wishing to get carried away with a bit of early season form I decided to get carried away with the weather instead and predicted a long hot summer. Flick forward a few pages and count up the abandoned games…..