8 years ago to the day, Eversholt scored 433/1 and then bowled out Abbots Langley for 54 – the 2nd highest run difference in Herts League history. So Harvey was delighted to win the toss and choose to bat. Taz (42) and Sagar (27) started well enough but when Pradeep and Kamber were out and Ricky were 111/4, it looked like trouble was brewing. However, enter the Captain to play a remarkable knock. 18 boundaries and 78 balls later, he had racked up his 2nd league ton and, alongside Mobeen (55) he had shared a partnership of 130 and then 64 with Ethan Greenland.

Ethan was the perfect man for this job and after Harvey was out for 113, he scored 39 alongside the tail. Jaspreet finished the innings with 2 big sixes.

After the break, Eversholt also started strongly with new player Oliver Runswick to the fore. This was until Jaspreet was introduced and in his next 5 balls, including 2 wides, he took 3 wickets all LBW. Eversholt recovered well and it took captain fantastic himself to come on and take Runswick for 95 and run out the dangerous Kalim Khan for 22 (is there nothing he cannot do!). After Jaspreet completed his 5-fer with 2 more wickets, there was another flourish before Blackwell was back on to bowl Ali for 50. Though the tail wagged and 306 was reached, Eversholt were in reality always out of touch with the chase. So 30 big points gained. Not sure who got Man of the Match though…

The 2nd team game didn’t have too many highlights for Ricky, however you can watch them on demand on youtube here. Bobby got 2 wickets, but otherwise the groundsman was to blame for such a flat track as ALCC scored 288/3.

Sadly this was where the runfest ended. Azeem and Snehal put on 39 for the 1st wicket but after that it was a procession and Ricky were quickly 53/5 and 87/6. 14 year old James Haines batted superbly for 41 but nobody else could stay with him for long enough to build a meaningful partnership and the innings subsided to 125 all out. That it reached that, and 2 batting points was solely down to young James.

In the 3rd XI fixture, it was a close run affair with the pendulum swinging both ways at various times. Put into bat, Ricky were 15/2 before Gaurav and Paul put on a steady 100 partnership to give the team a good foundation to push on for the last 12 overs. However once Paul (33) and Gaurav (51) departed, and Vijay (18) and Shreyas (19) were out, the tail collapsed and the hoped for 200+ was not attained. 176 the total.

Some exceptional deliveries by Saffie, Hanuman and Gaurav managed to entice a handful of wickets, but on a decent deck, Pinner always had batting in the Bank. Despite needing more than a run-a-ball, the Pinner batters stepped up a gear and saw the team home. Safraz’s 2-12 off 8 overs was the standout with no boundary conceded.

The star of the 4th XI game was undoubtably the wicket and outfield as Chorleywood raced to their target of 128 without losing a wicket. The Tyler family both scoring a half-century each. Earlier, the new look 4th XI, with only 4 players from last year in the line-up, had struggled to 127 with a 30 run partnership between no9 Jack Lee and no10 Sohan Diwarker the only real bright spot. Still, Ricky league debuts for 4 players, including 14 year old star Max Austin, has to be a good thing. As well as his Dad – “Stone Cold” Kevin Austin.

The 5th team were also given a lesson by an experienced Chorleywood side who this writer expects will be pushing for promotion this year. It was a wedding rhyme team for this game with something Old (Ken, Rumpy); something New (Nikhil, Gordon); something borrowed (Alfie and Joel); and something blue (Bobby’s language on losing the toss!). Nikhil (21) and Oliver (16) managed to push the Ricky score up to 83 when it was our turn to bat, but Chorleywood had already posted 241/2 including a record 60 extras. Making 80 was important as it meant a batting bonus point. It could be a long summer for the 5th team, but better days will come when availability improves.

Warm-ups over, we go again in Week2.

(The picture is Harvey cutting the ball to reach 100)