On a roasting hot evening in front of a small crowd both teams looked to take on a slog fest with each teams batting order drawn by lot and a retirement at 20 with the option to return later if need be.

The seniors took first dibs and after parking their zimmers and mobility scooters Vipal and Raj opened, no doubt quaking in their boots at the thought of the pace and bounce provided by Reynolds and Welton. Vipal cracked on and scored a quick 11 before being caught by the Fish off Reynolds at deep midwicket. He was somewhat unlucky as Fish had only moved there in thought of possibly protecting the windscreen of Littys car.

Raj then unwisely tried to demonstrate a turn of speed against the Porthouse arm at mid on and was comfortably run out. One can only presume his scooter battery was a little flat. This meant that Chris and Pete were in, early doors. To his absolute horror, Petes smash back of Wills inswinging yorker only resulted in a sharp caught and bowled to bring the the 3rd best cricketer in the Matthews household to the crease. The Fish was on by this time and Rob nearly fell for the 'caught at deep square leg' trap so often used by Fish but Reynolds declined to attempt a catch claiming it was 'out of the sun'. Pah! Both made some rapid hay with what they faced and were soon back in the players area awaiting another go.

This bought the Tharc to the middle and he no doubt fancied a feast on the Fishes lobs. He was undone by the (wait for it...) even slower ball to be bowled for 1 and the 1s innings was in disarray at 80 for 5. Saj and Phil had a pop but were constrained by the tight fields set by MP and were out bowled by Price and Ogden respectively. The words 'unplayable delivery's' being heard on the terrace later as we chomped on Curry. Satya was in and then gone, miraculously not running anyone out in the 2 balls he faced for his 4. This brought Digger in and a captains knock was needed as not many wickets were left. However it was not to be and CCTV was not needed to confirm it was indeed him run out for a dozen. Chris returned and was well held by Oggy at cover. I do not think either of them believed what had happened! So last wicket...Adnan and Matthews carted all around the park for a 48 run partnership but cometh the hour, cometh the man. Namaz steps up to the plate and cleans up Adnan, 158 all out. An early close of the innings despite a liberal interpretation of wides and no-balls from the esteemed umpires.

A prompt turn around sees Cod and Mo front up to Vipal and Raj but both were determined to thwart Cods march to a seasons thousand and bowled tidily to him. It took the mighty Tharc to induce what was thought to be (in the post match analysis) a slog sweep from Cod. However he had not chalked his cue and was easily held by Rob behind square. The release of the innings hand brake allowed a succession of polished batsmen to entertain a dwindling crowd with their cultured stroke play, especially the boy Price who clubbed his 20 off half a dozen balls or so. It was believed that he thought that food was coming at 9.00pm and did not want it getting cold.

With about 40 needed and plenty of overs left, the result looked a given for the 2s but Fish was soon out Lbw for 6 and a few quiet overs pushed it into the 19th over. By this time Medford had also fallen allowing Reynolds and Parmar to win the game with Will clubbing a ball for 4. This unfortunately left Welton with a bad dose of pad rash but worse things happen at sea.

So the 2s win by 7 wickets in what was a fun but competitive game. A post match interview with Doc lamented 'poor batting, bowling and fielding' from the defeated first team and that they would 'come back stronger next year'.

With media appearances and post match interviews over, both teams retired to the patio to talk nonsense, drink beer and nosh down a top curry provided by Gharana but 'Far too hot' was an all to familiar grumble from the boy Matthews.

Many thanks from all to MP for making it happen.