This was always going to be a strange sort of game after we were trounced by The Rain Men last year. The opposition were clearly struggling for 11 players mid week so we were happy to help them out by donating new boy Schalk van Vuuren to make up their scratchy eleven.
At last a summer’s day and the all important “will we be sitting in the deck chair” toss. Skipper threw the coin up and it duly landed on tails. The Rain Man captain, perhaps distracted by the fact only six of his team had found deepest darkest Hampton Wick, forgot to call. As the coin lay on the grass he remarked “No problem, I have not looked, we call heads”
Prayers answered, we were batting.
After the openers had taken the shine off the ball, and been removed by a vicious slow loopy bowler, the powerhouse middle order launched a merciless attack despatching the ball to all boundaries and beyond. Two balls lost, one in Hampton Court Palace and the other somewhere on the 1st eleven pitch. The Rain Men wilted.
After tea, it did not take long to make some inroads into the opposition top order, and it was pretty much game over as they played for a nonexistent draw.