Another Saturday, another captain. Actually, in this case it was the returning Hob-nob who took the reigns for this important game, after damaging a wing in-flight against Brighton and Hove on May 1st! In fairness, its good to have his experience back in the team and, as this game proved, back at the top of the order.

Warm-up was a mixture of yelps, encouragement and exasperations (mostly from "howler" Lewis) whilst we waited for the inevitable toss that Andy won. On a fairly overcast day and a strong looking xi, either choice would have been understandable but Hobbsy was keen to show what we had been missing all season and put the mums and dads on. St. James' have had an up and down season (peaking when they beat the 2's in the 20/20) so the openers looked to make the most of this chance of first use.

A cautious start from Andy and Luke saw them put on 100 stand with little or no chances coming. The breakthrough finally came when Hobbsy went for a well made nifty. Next to the wicket was Darren Anderton, who fresh from a burst ego had to do with a spot in the 2's this week. His usual watchful and circumspect self was thrown out of the textbook window as he "smershed" the ball to the boundary.... the on-side peppered particularly even with 4 boundary-men. Luke kept on his merry way and avoided his typical slap dash ways, by keeping out the good-uns and punishing anything short and wide. A rather strange moment was when the St James' spinner claimed a catch off oli that landed nearer the batsman than the bowler. He claimed the catch and celebrated in a rather churlish fashion that bought much consternation to all the Nomads contingent and most importantly, their umpire. The decision was given not out and cue "jazz hands" from the bowler. Oli went not long after this for a well made 70 and the scooby doos kept on going with Dave Smith, who had been in cricket purgatory for most of the season, joining Luke who bought up his ton with another well run nurdle. 301-2 was the final score after 48.

Tea was a great feast, despite the absence of the gun tea-er Jan. 11/10 for my mind, though not keen on too many cakes for desert... bring back the ice-cream [heresy - I love a cake].

The 2nd innings started with Hp bowling a mixture of good, bad and ugly stuff to the openers. Whilst looking dangerous, there was not enough consistency from either opening bowlers. Scribe 2.0 it was who got the first with a filthy long-hop, which their skipper kindly looped into the waiting hands of Dennis the Menace at square leg. 1-down, but this was all to show for a fairly lacklustre opening retort. Replacements were required in the shape of J-lo and Chris Evans, and whilst runs came fairly quickly... the occasional loose shot kept the boys interested. Smudge replaced Bianca Jackson and that was to prove the key to the 2's march to 30 points. He bowled a good line and length throughout his spell and was unlucky not to end up with more than 4. Jason carried on at the other end building pressure and easing his way to another Lady Godiva, taking the final wicket with a smart catch at gully by ex-skipper Reynolds.

30 points... hurray. We deserved the victory on Saturday and can take a lot out of this performance into the rest of the season. A week off this week and I’m off to climb a mountain in Wales... fun times!

Last note- I did do a match report last week, but the esteemed web-master did not publish it.... oooo, for shame! [Who’d have known slating the cr*p out of umpires was one of my buttons?!]

For Chappers.