Welcome to the last game of the season, where reputations would either be cemented or broken - not a fixture for the faint hearted as the Dads fronted up to the dreaded Fishers.
Wherever you looked in the Dads dressing room (the fallen tree trunk) you could spot a Talisman, including three who came to the pub afterwards: 'Tevez' Noden, 'Spokes' Winfield and 'Pugwash' Cook. The omens were good.
Declining to do their customary Haka, as Jim was absent, the Dads took to the field. The weather was unusually warm for an English summer and the pitch unusually flat.
Captain Phil 'Piriton' Spencer, battling hay fever and inner demons, threw the ball to 'Mighty' Sean Cooper, who had brought along proof, in the shape of his son, that he was a true 'Dad'. He proceeded to skittle out their opener with his first ball then continued to send down pacey balls off a deceptively short run up, eventually getting out an ominous looking South African with a middle stump fizzer.
Next up Jonathan 'The Mole' Hook, our left arm strike bowler, who declined to take his medication in order to be 'up for the fight'. His recent rich vein of form continued as he was unlucky not to wicket with both batsmen scored some very streaky runs, however a lightning pick up and throw, off his own bowling, to Simon 'Sticks' Wilson gained him a valuable run out. Chris 'The Prof' Jukes took the ball and with pace and accuracy restricted the batters. Similarly Andy 'The Quiet Man' Knill-Jones came off a short run, with the strength of arm to ping the ball through to 'Sticks' who was excelling behind the timbers all evening. Both Chris and Andy posted excellent figures, with Andy getting just reward with a clean bowled off the last ball of his spell. Ian 'Calm Down' Holmes hit the mark from the off, bagging a third ball clean bowled and was unlucky not to take further wickets with some wicked daisy cutters.

The Fisher batters are no mugs and were getting into their stride, even when facing Phil Spencer, then Roger 'Brain' Barton decided to peg them back , and wind them up at the same time, by sending down a succession of antagonising wides. Peter 'Horizontal' Church then bowled a superb maiden and was desperately unlucky not to wicket as numerous spooned balls bisected the fielders. Colin 'Bloodhound' McKinnon varied his deliveries to keep the batsmen guessing while Pete 'The Hand' Stauvers kept the run rate down, aided by some sterling work in the field including Jonno 'The Mole', seeing the ball at last to make his catch look easy.
Fishers reached only 123 off their allocation, a far cry from their 239 of two seasons ago, which was testimony to good work in the field by the Dads.
Game on as 'The Prof' and 'Sticks' strode to the crease. Chris proceeded to play himself in before opening up with his trade mark square cuts, interspersed with pulls and sweeps for fours. Sharp running with Simon kept the board ticking over in the face of hostile bowling which eventually accounted for him. 'Mighty' took up the challenge and continued to run well but was bowled off a fine length ball, something of a Fisher specialty. Often the same Fisher bowler would alternate between fast and slow bowling which did for both 'Horizontal' and 'Bloodhound'. Too early to panic but someone had to make a stand with 'The Prof', step forward 'Calm Down' from the land of the Beatles. Back on form with both ball and bat Ian's defence at the crease was impressive while punishing any bad balls. Boundaries were needed and boundaries were produced with Chris pulling and sweeping while Ian smashed two fours.
Chris retired on 29 runs and Ian went on to 19. 'Piriton' hoicked a four off his second ball but was unlucky to fall to beguilingly flighted spin which also accounted for Andy, but not before he ran his singles with break neck speed.
Some good shots from the Dads, which deserved boundaries, were plugging into the outfield, but no weak bowlers appeared, furthermore, Fishers were playing two blokes that seemed to be under 30 years of age which is just the sort of tactic that we have come to expect.
Another stand was required as Jonno strode forth but he was both lucky and unlucky as he was caught behind twice, the first not given. 'Brain' entered the fray and, like a hawk, watched every ball onto his bat which he paddled expertly away for runs. 'The Hand' replaced Ian and manfully supported Roger but the bowling at the death consisted of low skidders that couldn't be smashed to the boundary.
The Dads finished on 90.
Good bowling from Fishers and slightly too many over pitched balls from the Dads made the difference. Back to the nets to cut out these bad habits.
So ended the Legends of 2011