The Thoroughbreds arrived at the Reigate Priory ground and, uncharacteristically, walked straight past the Red Lion pub.

This was to be a sign of things to come.

The opposition further annoyed us by warming up keenly. Not to be outdone, we gathered in a circle and let John hit the ball to the left and right of us.

Suitably prepared, we took to the pitch, with Tim opening the bowling.

It soon became apparent that Roger had trained the opposition brilliantly. They tapped and ran twos, with the occasional four, doing so consistently—even to good balls—as the score just kept creeping up.

And then, suddenly, Richard bowled a perfect length outside off. The batsman swiped at it and edged the ball. Paul, standing up and displaying lightning reactions caught it one-handed, high to his right.

Richard was ecstatic.Paul was amazed.The fielders were stunned.Even the dog on the boundary looked up.

Bowled wicketkeeper, caught wicketkeeper.

Unfortunately, that was the first—and last—wicket Reigate lost.

Roger bowled well as usual. John bowled no long hops, and not a single delivery from Barrett bounced more than once. Ian was unlucky not to take a wicket, with the ball whispering past the stumps at least three times. Tim continues to improve from game to game, although he did get some tap.

Roger was even told off by the umpire after questioning a dubious wide decision. However, John provided the highlight of the innings.

He bowled a nice delivery which the batsman patted back towards him, the batsmen set off for a quick single. John picked up the ball, turned and aimed for the stumps.

Suddenly realising that there was no backing up for miles, John gently rolled the ball towards the stumps—then somehow managed to run past the stumps and back up his own throw.

Fifty years of playing cricket, and I have never seen that before!

Reigate finished on 181–1: a par score on a fast outfield.

Very gettable.

And then we started batting and changed all that.

Barrett and Roger batted well against some tight bowling. However, as soon as they tried to up the pace, the wickets began to fall. Still, a net 34 was a decent return for the first pair.

Richard and Tim, not to be outdone, managed a net 38, again after losing two wickets.

Mahendra and Paul also managed to lose two wickets, this time scoring only 32.

That left the final pair of Ian and John needing to score 78 runs, which proved to be a little too much.

Losing another three wickets was unfortunate, as it took some of the shine off the three brilliant straight sixes John hit.

We eventually finished on 133–9.

A team batted sensibly, bowled tightly and fielded well.

Unfortunately, it wasn't us.

Next time—onwards and upwards!

Written by Mahendra Patel.