In the final warm-up games, Rickmansworth took on Eastcote at 1st, 2nd and 3rd team levels whilst our 4ths/5ths combined to take on a ‘weak’ OMT 4ths (their words). The best bit about playing at Eastcote was that both 1st and 3rd teams were on neighbouring pitches so each team could enjoy the others success or failures. The afternoon went like this –

The RCC 1st team was made up of a few hopefuls and has-beens (this author in particular) and were quickly being ushered around the park by some strong, capable Eastcote batting. Billy had some early success, as did Azeem, but after that it was mostly strained necks as a succession of Eastcote batters deposited the ball over the school-ground boundaries. Meanwhile on the second pitch Owen and 14-y-o Aman were doing a similar job posting 119 for the first wicket with Owen going to a rapid-fire 63 and Aman 39. A mini-collapse was halted by the experienced Gaurav (50) and Anuj (26) whilst Prasanth weighted in with 27 to rack up an impressive 266 all out.

Sadly, the 1st team bowlers struggled adding 37 wides to a massive total of 307/7 in 40 overs – the match being reduced from 45 overs when Harvey threw in the towel on a tiring day. With the extras, Ricky actually bowled 46 overs anyway. The star with the bat for Eastcote was ex-West Indian first class player Ron Etienne.

Needing to score at 7.7 an over, Ricky started well but the top order all fell to rash shots whilst attempting an impossible chase. From 84/6 the team rallied to 166/8 with useful contributions from Paul (27) and Angus (20) supported by Azeem and young James.

On the opposing ground, the Eastcote batters were equal to their Ricky counterparts with a 96 run opening partnership and other batters making telling contributions. Gaurav and Sohan took 2 wickets each, but generally the bowling was expensive and it was only some good fielding that meant Eastcote finished 17 run short of their total.

Meanwhile back at Park Road, Eastcote were racking up a formidable 230 against our 2nd XI. Metronomical Shiv was economical as usual with 2-17 from his 8 overs, but the rest of the bowlers travelled like Gloria Hunniford (ask your parents…) and the reply was going to be tough. So it proved as Eastcote only needed 4 bowlers, and 25 overs to dismiss Ricky for just 132. Nilesh and Snehal started well, but the middle order fell apart and only Waheed with 39 and Tom with 21 to put some lipstick on this particular porker. Lets hope for better things come the league games.

In the 4th team game, Vishal continued his fine run of early season form, with a well-crafted 51, well supported with 30 from the evergreen Neil Raithatha, proving that even Spurs supporters can have an occasional good day out. 164 all out seemed a good score especially when OMT were reduced to 23/2 with Nikhil bowling in great form. But sadly that was where Ricky’s luck ran out, and the 4th wicket partnership put on over 100 to coast home with overs to spare.

So a mixed bag, but great practice for all the participants. Next week the League begins in earnest.