Some days you have to dig deep if you want to win promotion and that was certainly something the 1st team had to do on Saturday against a resilient St Albans unit. Put into bat, the openers put on 59 on their home track before Billy May got a breakthrough. Still each batsmen stayed solid in the first 5 and it was only with the introduction of spin and a good run out by Tom that saw Ricky finally take hold of the game. At 176/4 with 15 overs left they wanted to cut loose but were held in check by persistence from almost all the bowlers (though some experiments didn’t quite work out). At 187/7 St Albans were reeling but an 8th wicket partnership of 36 and a good finish saw them up to 242. Not a score to scare Ricky with so much batting in the Bank, however the green and gold were reeling at 117/5 with Harvey joining Rameez at the crease. This was an occasion made for 2 of the best batters in Division and both put their usual swashbuckling sides away and played Cricket to Win with good running, punishing the bad ball and keeping out anything dangerous. When Harvey finally fell for 64 he and Rameez had doubled the score putting on 116 together at a rate much below their usual pace – but vitally within 9 runs of victory. Rameez finished on 54 not out and a hard-fought 30 points was once more in the bag. Not every game needs fireworks and this is a team that knows how to win. 5 more games to go and still top of the league.

The 2nd teams roller-coaster season continued with a close loss to Sawbo 2nds. Sawbo worked hard to reach 203 with almost ever batter reaching double figures but only Billings scoring more than 25. Azeem bowled wonderfully for 4 wickets (4-34) whilst Shiv only went for an astonishing 12 runs off his 10 overs (60 balls). Sawbo were prepared to dig-in like Geoffrey Boycott on a sticky one.
4 an over was the ask but Ricky also found it hard going, losing Azeem and Connor for ducks and the dependable Bobby for just 4. Young James anchored the innings with 56 off 117 balls, but couldn’t find anyone prepared to stay with him and up the rate. 88-5 was edged up to 144-7 when Haines fell and Ricky needed 60 off the last 8 overs. But without wickets in hand the team could only finish on 181, an agonising 22 runs short with 6 balls left. The good news is that this ‘win-one, lose-one’ season still sees Ricky stay in 3rd place.

The 3rd XI got back to winning ways, putting relegation doubts aside for the time being. Taz cracked a brilliant 47 and was assisted by Stfan (20), Hassan (39) and Nitish Raj (20), but a grand stand finish was not possible with too many wickets down although Nayan and Lekshay both scored at more than a run a ball to reach the magical 200. With something to bowl at, The bowlers got straight amongst Boxmoor reducing them to 65-6 (Nayan and Gaurav taking 2 wickets each). But the back up bowlers were profligate and the Box got to 119/7 and then 148/8. They had overs to spare, but Lekshay turned the tables with 3-22 and the Box folded like cardboard and finished on 160 for what ended up being a comfortable win.

The 4th Xi went into their game with Old Elizabethans knowing they were facing a team unbeaten in league games in 2026 and top of the table by a mile. However, Ricky’s batters ignored the tables and Paul (49) and Ansh (51) put on a season-best opening partnership of 115 to establish a strong base. The Babbers (Anuj and Aman) scored 50 between them (the scorers got confused!) and Ricky reached 205 in 40 overs – another score over 200. Nikhil took a wicket with his 2nd ball and although the OECC team were very strong at batting, Ricky kept chipping away including an astonishing one-handed catch by Neil at midwicket. The game went down to the wire and needing 3 to tie, Nasser bowled a 2-run wide on the 1st ball of the last over. But he made up for it by bowling the remaining batter the next ball to win the game by the barest of margins. 1 run.

Finally, the 5th team lost their game against the team top of the tanle. 9 bowlers had a go and Vikram got 3-16 and Yasas 2-36. Pras also got a couple. But Watford posted 202. Losing Rohit to the first ball of the game, despite 20 from Hasan and 23 from Vijay batting at no10, the other batters couldn’t score the necessary runs and Ricky were skittled for 104 in 30 overs.