Fernhurst CC

Thanks to last minute pull-outs we pitched up at Fernhurst with nine men (including two teens), but the opposition was in a similar boat, and so the slightly amateurish battle commenced. Tucker hit a pugnacious 26, there were dogged efforts from Sean Griffin, Joel and (especially) David Burrow, who stuck around for most of the innings like a limpet, amassing 18 runs in at least that many overs.

Declaring at tea with just 127 seemed premature to some of the team, but once Petros had removed their two openers with his deceptively straightforward medium pace – including a C&B – they were struggling. Only one of their team scored more than 15 runs and as they edged past 100 we scented victory. Joel administered the fatal blow, as debutante Mike Bowen took a catch in the covers. They did lend us a player, so it wasn’t an unalloyed triumph, but still pleasing to have held together as a team with limited resources.