The Saddos finished off the season in style with a fine 33-run victory against Verulam Dads at Clarence Park. As with any fixture arranged at short notice in the middle of the school summer holidays, both teams were bolstered with colts. Alfie Button and Jacob Winfield joined their dads in the SFDWP team and both showed energy in the field, very mean bowling and sensible batting in a great all round performance. The coup de grace, however, was applied by skipper Peter Church whose amazing final over yielded 4 wickets (including the Saddos’ second ever hat trick off his final three balls) to finish off the Verulam innings.

Being a couple of players short at the start, the Saddos decided to bat first and raced away to over 40 from the first 4 overs, mostly from the bat of Shaun Cooper who hit a couple of massive sixes before retiring on 27 at the end of the 4th. With the departure of Cooper the scoring rate slowed and Verulam started to make inroads into the Saddos batting lineup. Richard Williams and Peter Church formed a useful partnership before both fell to simple catches. Simon Wilson and Tim Winfield fell in similar fashion; caught behind off the gloves - a testament to the steep bounce on the Clarence Park pitch that the Saddos only usually encounter in the nets.

Michael Jones joined the fray and compiled his largest innings for the team (23), including three well-hit boundaries. With a couple of overs to go, however, he suddenly retired hurt complaining of a twinge in his back and suggesting that it was time to make way for a faster scorer. Only the very cynical would suggest that this selfless act was in fact designed to protect his batting average (which, he was quick to announce, now stands at 26.5 for the season), but this correspondent did hear that shocking accusation.

Throughout Michael’s fine innings his partners were Alfie and Jacob who, conscious of the few remaining wickets, played very sensibly, waiting for the bad ball and rotating the strike when possible. Both fell cheaply, however, leaving guest player Harry Saunders, Nick Button and the returning Shaun Cooper to strike a few more lusty blows to take the Saddos to a total of 113 from their 20 overs.

Taking the field with only 10 players, the Saddos were aware of the need to keep things tight, and the opening bowlers didn’t disappoint. Tim and Shaun induced a number of edges and false shots and were unlucky not to take a wicket. More importantly they didn’t give anything away and the score was just 11 after 4 overs. They were replaced by Button pere et fils. This pair kept the pressure up, Alfie performing brilliantly by not conceding a run in his two overs of accurate quick bowling and inducing a sharp catch by wicket Keeper Richard Williams. Nick, rusty after a year without bowling, took a couple of balls to get into his stride but was soon back to his old self and conceded just 10 runs from his two overs.

The Verulam team now needed to take some chances to boost the scoring rate, which they did against guest player Harry Saunders. Michael Jones, however, his confidence boosted by his batting performance (and his back suddenly feeling better) produces a typically competitive spell of leg spin. He nearly hit the stumps twice in his first over but was rewarded with a wicket in his second, Richard executing a sharp stumping off a ball that turned sharply.

Next up was Jacob, who kept the pressure up with a fine spell of pacy bowling which went for just 7 runs in 3 overs. Concentrating on line and length, he gave nothing away and was rewarded when he knocked back the middle stump of the dangerous Clarke. At the other end Wilson served up a typically mixed spell, getting the big hitting Todd caught by Peter Church in the deep in his first over. In his second he first softened up Saunders with a beamer to the chest and then got one to wobble away from the batsman, grazing enough of the off stump to dislodge a bail.

Meanwhile the skipper was concentrating so much on his duties in the field that he forgot he had to bowl. Bringing himself on at the pavilion end, his first over was a mixed bag that gave no warning of the drama to come in his second when he dispatched the remaining four Verulam batsmen for just a couple of runs. With tricky, accurate bowling he clean bowled two batsmen and had two more stumped by the ever-watchful Richard Williams. Richard’s performance with the gloves shows the benefit of having a "proper" wicket-keeper in the team. Three stumpings, a sharp catch and a neat run out (after good work in the field from Jacob Winfield) was an excellent return and helped to keep the Verulam batsmen under pressure throughout.

This superb climax was a fitting end to a successful season for the Saddos, who go in to 2013 with Peter Church poised to take 4 wickets from 4 balls.