It was glorious sunshine that greeted members of Cleveland 1 to Kerriush Park, thanks to confusion over the starting date some players arrived earlier than others, yours truly at least one full hour. Patrick arrived later than the official scheduled starting time but that did not really matter for on this day we were taking on Hashlingden, so it goes without saying that nobody was in a hurry. Eventually both sides arrived, Gautam lost the toss as usual and we strode out to the concrete to try and make some runs. The line up would be considerably different with Srini opening the batting with Gautam, Patrick at three, Kiran at 5 while Viggy would be a little lower than usual.

Gautam was his usual circumspect self in the first over dispatching two deliveries in a row for boundaries before going out the very next ball. Srini and Patrick were at the wicket and sought to steady proceedings but both were dismissed for 10 and 5 respectively. At least Srini can take some consolation as he can study his technique thanks to his newly acquired camcorder being put to use. Sunny strode in and looked magnificent dispatching everything whilst Kiran's promotion up the order did not yield him any runs and whilst he was on his way back Michael was still trying to attach his prehistoric pads. Having achieved this task Michael was more than content to watch Sunny club everything that came to him. His innings was all too short making 24, going out to a delivery that was the only one he did not look to be in complete and total command of. Viggy joined Michael and proceeded to play himself in. He survived a confident yet VERY dubious appeal against him much to the dismay of the Hashlingden faithful, while Michael was trying to build an innings. An innings that may have ended sooner if the rules were a little different. Having been delivered a mouthwatering delivery down leg side Michael dispatched it to what seemed a certain six until it hit the massive tree and landed in the fieldsman's hands, some appealed, Michael swore (not for the final time in the match), umpire Gautam was puzzled, but the local rule says not out and only runs taken, no six just one 9.
Hardly made a difference as Michael was dismissed for 21 as a result of a dreadful shot brining in Gourav to join Viggy at 6/108.
Hashlingden quite rightly had an air of confidence to go with the other air floating around when Gourav came to join Viggy but they were to be subdued and then some by some brilliant batting by both Viggy and Gourav. As the temperature climbed Viggy and Gourav ran well between wickets and after the heat kicked in their stroke making was excellent. Showing the benefit of sensibly building an innings both batsmen plundered the attack with a dazzling array of strokes. The only thing that was unfortunate about their partnership was that it did not last longer. Thanks to the delay in commencing the game the match was reduced to a 30 over per side contest. However that did not prevent both Gourav and Vignesh (Vignesh now that he made 50) from making a half century each as the Cleveland 1 score climbed to 6/213 off the allotted overs a final scoreline that flattered the batting above them. Maybe at number seven Vignesh had found his true spot in the order.
As for the bowlers they all had their figures destroyed by the last partnership. Redwood and Morgan taking 2-41 and 2-51 off their 6 overs were the best of them.

We then took to the field as the music started to crank up and the crowds gather you could have thought the game was taking place as Sabina Park instead of Kerriush Park. Personally it was interesting to try and concentrate on the incoming bowler from behind the stumps when you are hearing "No Woman No Cry"…wailing (no pun intended) over the massive speakers it Gautam would be joined by Kaushal in taking the new ball as Ani was in Charlotte helping his other side in battle. Kaushal was struggling with his line up one end, although he was not helped by a dropped, catch Gautam was skittling over the top order in a way that would have brought a smile to Shane Warne…ok and Anil Kumble's face by bowling the batsmen with pace and prodigious swing around their legs. The top three batsmen Somers, Richards and Raymond all moved to the off to try and dispatch the ball to the short boundary. Not a bad idea in practice but when you miss the ball things get ugly and for those three batsmen, they did. The rest of the Cleveland bowlers did not bowl with quite the same success as Gautam but bowled reasonably well in patches. Kiran's six overs for 26 was very good. The Smoking Gun loaded up his six shooter up one end and fired away often wide of the mark but still managed to get three wickets one of which was thanks to a great catch by Kaushal, which was matched by Vignesh's great grab in dismissing Tony Richards. Murali paid the maximum penalty for the few bad balls he delivered. Patrick scared Michael with his three faster balls in a row, the first was signaled. Then there was Sunny who maintained his amazing strike rate with the figures of 1-0-5-2 and taking the last catch of Gautam's bowling leaving Gautam with the figures of 6-1-13-4. Hashlingden all out for 157 off exactly 157 with our good friend Dennis the menace Reid not out on two.
Victory was satisfying, it always is even when some of the umpiring was a little questionable to say the least. It was not yours truly finest hour when he went to town on a certain square leg umpire more than once, however we can console ourselves with the fact that neutral umpires will be with us soon. Our batting did lack some steel against an attack that does not compare to what we will get in a fortnight, and our bowling does need better control. The keeping improved from the previous week and we can all be assured that it will improve more with the new dad behind the stumps: Not me the other one:.However before you could say PASS THE DUTCHIE TO THE LEFT HAND SIDE a cloud that drifted across the ground and nearly picked us up over the boundary line seemed to put a smile on the face of most of the guys. The home and away season was now over and its time to put the feet up for a couple of weeks. There is still so much to play for yet so much cricket still to be played.