Rain ruins result of Ricky thriller

Put into bat, Rickmansworth opening pair Paul Blackwell and Alex Boyles put on 51 before Alex departed for 14. But this was just the foundation asked for and Alex saw off the opening bowlers in style. Gavin Lock and Blackwell then took the team to 94/1 but with 16 overs still to go, both Lock (14) and then Blackwell (50) were out and a decent score hung in the balance. Incidentally, this was Paul's 3rd 50 in 4 games. Ben Soames with 30 had decent assistance from young Henry 'Myra' Hinley (14) but after that it was the usual Ricky procession with the bottom 6 contributing just 10 runs between them. However 155 was a decent score with 8 batting points and a sodden outfield.

At 16/3, Northwood Town were really strugglinmg as Skinner with 2 and Hinley with 1 wicket were bowling magnificently. Hinley's first league wicket for the club was a beauty that swung late and induced a flailing edge to dismiss the Northwood skipper for a duck. However, the next pair put on 87 runs as the ball get wetter, and the fielders spurned some good chances. Drops by both Blackwell's and Skinner off his own bowling proved costly.

But there were further twists to come as firstly Asim Butt bowled the obdurate Cheema for 61 and then the returning Hindley dropped in a shorter ball which Katira hit straight up. Young Nathan Soames was directly underneath it and steadied himself for a superb catch which hurt his hand in the process. Not surprising as by now everyone was colt and wet. Asim Butt bowled another two batsman, but in heavy rain and darkening conditions, the decision was made to not return with the game balanced for a close finish.

"We could have pushed on for a victory" commented skipper Blackwell "but I had to balance that with having three 13 year olds on the pitch and conditions more suitable to Tom Daley than a game of Cricket. We got a good haul of 15 points from the game and a first win isnt far around the corner"