Another beautiful evening for cricket arrived, this time at the Verulam School playing fields on Sandpit Lane. After a long and sometimes painful labour a team of 11 quality players was finally delivered and, following the toss, went out to field first.

It was noted immediately that many of the oppo were wearing Watford cricket shirts and some of them were looking very teenage, even childlike for their veteran status. Undeterred by these hints of skill beyond our own, Saddoes set about a tight fielding performance limiting the oppo to just a few boundaries per over.

Decent overs from Messrs Chennells and Tucker opened the way for yours truly to unleash some random balls at the oppo which gave us our first two wickets in the form of fine catches in the field. A third to complete the hat-trick was denied as the ball was deemed a no-ball beamer and inappropriate given it was aimed at the head of a small boy.

However, catching was the order of the day (although did feature a ‘triple-drop’ at one point) as the oppo’s batsman generally made good contact with the ball. A further 2 catches (or 3 depending on how you interpret the scorebook) were made – welcome advances in an otherwise steady batting onslaught.

About two thirds of the way through the first innings it felt like we were successfully keeping the run rate down and we might be in with a chance. That was until the scoreboard was updated by the inattentive teen scorer. One moment their score showed 116 with a few overs left but a second glance and it had suddenly jumped to 146! With various retirements under their belt and their later batsman really finding the sweet spot we just needed to see the overs out as quickly as possible.

Half-time arrived and our target was set at an eye-watering 182. Not all was against us though with a fairly decent wicket for our batsmen and the outfield proving very unpredictable to their fielders thanks to the work of rabbits and Verulam school rugby boots. The light would also give us the edge as time passed. All reasons to hope. We did however try to ignore the inescapable fact that the oppo were only fielding with 9 players. Two had apparently responded to ‘emergencies’ elsewhere but we couldn’t help feeling like we’d been sized up and deemed to be of little threat.

Treasurer Wilson had appeared and kindly took on the scorebook management. If anyone could cook the books, he could. All was not lost. And indeed, we put up a fine batting performance with retirements from Fraser and myself with James Williams seeing the game out as he too neared retirement. The oppo bowling was consistent and the inevitable wickets they took saw the stumps hit with just one catch off our batting. Of note, was Matt Lacey’s cunning pirouetting in front of his stumps, denying possible lbws and on occasion winning runs. Sadly, on one ball he failed to pirouette and was out.

Acrobatics at the wicket affected yours truly too with the fear of ‘doing a Fraser’ still fresh in my mind. At one point this came all too close to reality when I struck the ball into my foot where it then lay still. Thankfully ‘the fear’ made me freeze allowing me not to kick the ball into my stumps.

Despite the best of efforts, the run-rate lagged and the overs passed all too quickly. Strong running from Pointer and continuing boundaries from Williams J were not enough to get us over the line and we finished on 147. That however is a pretty good total on any day and the game had been played in the best of spirits with all the usual ribaldry and congeniality.

This of course continued into the post-match refreshments featuring chips (and SAUCE!) and beer marking the end of another evening of enjoyable cricket and good company – hallmarks of Saddo society. Well-played all.