Having sent out an S.O.S to the U9s, it was Seth and Thomas who said “I do, I do I do!” and ensured we had 11 players on the pitch, which was not certain until very late in the day due to Holidays. The coach’s wife even claimed to have heard him walking around the house saying “Gimme gimme a man (or girl of course), after midnight in the early hours of Friday morning.

Captain Noah went out for the toss knowing the Name of the Game was to win it and bowl first….. He lost it.. but thankfully Eastnor chose to bat.

What followed was one of the best fielding and bowling performance of the season. Missing bowlers such as Jacob, Avi, Albie, Issac and Ryley, the whole team stood up to be counted. It was Lucas who said first to Noah “Take a chance on me” and he opened up with new ball stalwart Sam Dutton, finishing with very respectable figures and couple of wickets. Not to be out done Arthur “Angel Eyes” Handley, Levi, Ryan, Thomas, Rosie, Austin, were all on the “Money, money, money” too and despite 2 of the Eastnor batters getting 30 retired, they did well to control the rest. We only bowled 4 wides in the entire innings. In the field, everyone was superb, diving and even falling Head over Heels to ensure we restricted the runs. Levi, Seth and Austin in particular excelled. Eastnor closed on 97 and we knew what we had to do.

Knowing me, knowing you, you readers will agree this was a tough task, and so it turned out. We soon came Under Attack and a flurry of wickets fell in quick succession, so quick in fact that one team mate was heard to say to another “Does you Mother know that you’re out?”. Noah however held firm, using his preferred Hampton Dene Hoick selectively, aided by a useful cameo by Daisy, our very own Dancing Queen (who skipped, samba-ed and salsa-ed her way between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking over). Seth, Lucas and Sam at the end also performed well against great bowling, and no one let themselves down at all. Noah ended with 22, out just before the end and we finished on a respectable 65-9.

Disappointing but Nick Ashton and myself are so proud of our team who have improved throughout the season. Thanks too to the large number of parents who came to support, and to Brockhampton Groundsmen for getting the game on.