It was the time of year for the Phat Dads v the kids game. Some Dads thought the gap between the two teams was closing, was this the year that gap closed completely?

The toss resulted in the dads batting first (I assume we lost it), with Shed and WG striding out with some teenage angst of their own. Their fears were soon realised, with WG being the first back in the hutch with a diligent, well paced golden duck, enabling Curtis to enter the fray. After Shed had gone for a solid 13, beaten for pace and guile, inevitably by his own daughter, it left Curtis and Arnd to push the run rate on. Curtis managed to bludgeon his way to retirement (Stato-check: The first of his Sads career?), he was soon asking "is anyone else was going to do any batting today"? The obvious answer was "no, not really" as Bond soon showed as he was run out. Those watching the umpire may of noticed his trigger finger going up before an appeal was heard, "he was well short of his crease" (according to umpire WG). This all meant Pip came to the crease to face the pace of Christine. He simply couldn't cope, recording the second golden and third duck of the innings. Longbottom and Jones gave the innings some impetus, with Jones retiring himself for his regulation 17 (?), clearly with one eye on his average and Longbottom retiring after a solid 28. Robbo and Wilson saw the team home with extras playing beautifully, passing the 50 mark. The dads recorded a defendable 186...over to the youth.

There was, however, a slight delay at the change of innings, as we witnessed a quick bit of crimefighting from the Sads. The sight of a bunch of overweight, middle aged men approaching was enough to scatter a group of youth, clearly up to no good at the Bowling Green end. If ever the mean streets of St Albans need the Guardian Angels....then look no further.

After Celeste had gone early doors, run out by some fine fielding (not sure by who?), it was time for young Zach and Oscar to feast on the buffet generously laid on by Curtis and Jones. With the youth not far behind the run rate, it was left to Arnd and Pointer to reign things back in, Arnd finishing with 0-6 off his 2 overs. The young guns dutifully retired and on came Robbo to flight some vicious spin towards some teenage girls. They simply couldnt cope, and he ended with 3 for 8 in 2 - surely MOM material right there. With Longbotttom junior now at the crease it was time for senior Bottom to bowl and after enticing him into a heave he caught the edge with Pip doing the rest behind the stumps, with a tumbling dive to gobble up the chance. The Dads now sensed a victory and soon had the kids in trouble, both Jones and Curtis coming back on to mop up the tail. That unfortunately meant the 2 young retirees came back out to the middle. They got to within 20 runs of the total, just running out of overs, with all of the spectators, scorer, umpires and up-to-no-good youth willing them on. It was close, but experience won the day.

A fine evening, great batting display by both teams and just the four dropped catches in the innings, which constitutes a fine outfield display by the Sads