We fielded first in our grudge match against Southgate on Bank Holiday Monday. We had a wonderful start as Alex reduced them to 5-3 and later 45-4 when he got Allan, who makes a habit of scoring centuries against us. Their number 6 was a giant of a man and he and their number 4 were both very good batsmen and they launched a savage counter attack taking the score to about 170 before James Gleadow took a stunning outfield catch off Junky to dismiss their number 6. Junky then quickly got their number 4 and a further wicket. Nadir chipped in with a wicket and Alex returned to grab his Michelle. Southgate were all out for 186 off 37 overs. Their run rate was helped by a very quick outfield.

After a very good tea which had sated even Junky we began our reply. We made a steady start before Gaj got the first of several curious decisions from their umpire Delroy when he was given LBW. There was nothing malicious in his decisions, they were just poorly reasoned but Southgate showed great sportsmanship in later recalling two of our batsmen. Mike Knight was given out caught down the leg side but the ball appeared to come off his thigh bad so he was recalled and later I was given LBW when hit in the stomach. Their first change bowler then grabbed 3 quick wickets as Jacob, Scott Aaron and Steve were all bowled. Mike got about 30 before he was adjudged LBW and Richard Millett was bowled in the first over of the 20 which meant we were about 90-6. Nadir and I then stabilised the innings. Nadir was the aggressor, timing the ball beautifully and accepting the challenge of lofting the spinners over the infield. I played more sedately (boringly,) waiting for the odd bad ball, in part because I thought we were chasing 207 and believed this was probably an unrealistic target. With 6 overs to go the score was 142 and having realised we only needed 46 to win we decided to give it a go. Nadir was out for a well compiled 52 but Alex came in and hit his first ball for 4. The target went from 40 off 5 to 31 off 4 to 22 off 3 to 13 off 2. I was out for 37 when we needed 8 off 8 balls and we needed 8 off the final over. Alex and James scored 6 off the first 4 balls but Alex couldn't find one last lusty blow and was run out off the last ball so we ended up on 186-9 with an honourable draw. Thanks to Lenny and Southgate for an enjoyable match.

Southgate 186 all out,38.1 OVERS (Guppy 76, Yeomans 48, Pyzer-Knapp 20, Stokes 0 (!), Bennett 5-40 (8.1 overs), Shannon 3-46 (8 overs), Gohar 1-6 (3 overs), Millett 1-37 (8 overs), Gleadow 0-15 (7 overs))

OCCC 185-8, 40 overs (Gohar 53, Hillman 36, Millett 24, Knight 23, Bennett 20, Oduwole 7-45 (10 overs), Stokes 0-35 (6 overs, shame he didn't bowl more!))

Result: Match Drawn

Man of the Match: Alex Bennett

Richard Hillman