Ricky 2nds back to winning ways

With much talk of a Coup before the game led by a mysterious General, some of the 2nds players expected to turn up and see Maz back at the helm of the 2nd XI this week. However it was back to business as usual, with Paul in charge and a home fixture at last after 4 successive games away.

Whilst Radlett only had 3 players from the previous encounter this season, Ricky also only had 4, which demonstrated the strength, and the weakness of most clubs. At least the Captains were the same and this time Paul won the toss and asked Radlett to bat first - the exact opposite of the first game. The Radlett skipper opened the batting himself and put on 50 with Patel before playing on to Matt Funge in the 14th over. Ronesh Nathwani then came into the attack and successfully tied the batsmen down, with Tom Watson roaring in from the club house end. The number 5 for Radlett, Alisham, announced his arrival with a straight 4 and then proceeded to smash his way to a belligerent 68. Ed Manning would have taken a stunning boundary catch when he was on 40, were it not for the fact that he couldn't keep his balance on the line and toppled over. 158/5 and Radlett looked like posting 200+ before the skipper brought Majid back on and in his 3rd over he bowled Alisham and the unknown no6. And then the pack of cards collapsed. Raz grabbed an LBW whilst Majid removed 10 and 11 in consecutive balls to end the innings on 176. Probably 25 short of what could have been, but Ricky had really finished off the innings in style.

Ajay and Sohail enjoed a fruitful opening partnership with Sohail scoring 18 in a partnership of 64. However, Kasser and the Ajay (43) fell in close succession and the match suddenly got interesting. Majid struck some good blows in a score of 22, but first a running mistake saw the end of ED and then Majid holed out. 100/5 and the radlett team were heard shouting that this was 'for Ricky to lose now'.

But we all know this Ricky 2nd team is made of strong stuff this year. And bats with the depth of a nuclear submarine. Whilst Raz held an end together and scored at a steady pace, Waheed showed some true class in hitting any loose ball (and even some good ones) for a number of sumptuous boundaries. And then the result wasn't in doubt. Waheed and Raz could probably still have been batting by tea on Sunday (England team take note!) but a 77 run winning partnership was plenty enough and Ricky bagged another 30 points. And in the process maintaining a record of having lost only once at home, in the first game of the season.