With only 1 team losing a game out of 10 played at the weekend, across Men and Boys, the start to 2026 has to go down as one of the most awe-inspiring for many years.

It started with RCC U15 beating Chorleywood U15 with one ball to spare on Friday night, with future star Vikram hitting a maximum to win the game in our local rivals back yard.

Then came Saturday - preparations interupted by a few late withdrawls - but nevertheless a set of players and teams full of anticipation.

The 1st XI played out an extraodinary game at Ickleford as we were quickly 3 down for just 18 runs. An ignominious start. But maybe one made for a certain young Australia who has already show in practice games that he has the game for this kind of situation. Starting slowly Matt Allsop accelerated through the gears with first Harvey (18), Aman (19) and Billy (23) for company as Ricky built a way back into the game. Manan scored 12 in his unexpected debut for the 1st XI, and with Matt contributing 64 invaluable runs, Ricky managed to reach 189. Would it be enough? The opening Ickleford players seemed to relish the quicker bowling, so Harvey turned to spin and this worked wonders. 7 wickets between Aman and Azeem and now Ickleford were looking second favourites. Needing 12 to win with the last pair at the wicket, they reached parity before captain heroic did his usual trick of bowling an unplayable one that took out middle stump. The game finishing as a tie with 20 points each. A very rare day.

The 2nd XI game was perhaps even more astonishing as Ricky looked dead and buried on 113/9 batting first against Frogmore. But Shiv (26) and Keshav (29) hadn't read the script. Both are accomplished batters and put Frogmore to the sword scoring 63 runs to take the team to 176. Frogmore were now on the back foot and the last thing they needed was a Big Tom Bev flying in from the Nursery End. Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, 4 quick ones including a hat-trick and they were 31-4. A mid-order recovery was snuffed out when Shiv took a great catch in the deep off Keshav's bowling, who then took a catch off Shiv's bowling in return. The Frogs were rolled over for 119. The man-of-the-match trophy has still to be decided as there were 3 great contenders for that honour.

The 3rd XI game has a wonderful climax as Ricky were cruising on 50/0 chasing just 123 to win. But in the kind of collapse that only Ricky and England seem to conjure up, at 86/7 Ricky were backs up against the wall. Nikhil and skipper Gaurav (yes it does seem like a captains days, doesn't it!) edged the score to 113. 9 runs were still required when young Harish came to the wicket. But not to fear - captain G-Man put on his heroes cloak and smashed 2 fours to win the game and bring home a great win.

So by now, Ricky were undefeated on Super Saturday. What about the 4ths ? More spectacle to come as Sunny continued his great form hitting 49 and with another youngster, Max scoring 33 and valuable contributions from the lower order (and 66 extras !!) Ricky finished on 203. Despite keeper Mujtaba scoring 64 in reply, his compatriots didnt assist much with only one player making double-figures. Dominic, Nasser, Ivy and Sunny took 2 wickets each to make it a good afternoon as LTII crumbled to 123 all out.

The 5ths had a good game with 450 runs shared between the teams. This was Chorleywood IV and experienced players Lyons and Mudhar helped the team to 236 with the help of 50 extras. This proved the difference as CWCC only conceeded 13 extras and were able to win by just 15 runs. Naeem Khan fell just short of a maiden century getting to 97 not out. Amaan (51) and Ali Shah (24) his main assistants.

Sunday was an unbeaten day for the RCC boys teams with wins for the U9's and U11's against West Herts, the U11's (again) against Chorleywood and the u13's against Kings Langley with just 9 players.

What an amazing weekend of Cricket at Park Road and visiting grounds. And we do it all again next Saturday. Well done to every player in the games above.