The Dads side that turned out was a formidable outfit, that's why, what eventually transpired, was all the more shocking.
The Dads took to the field with Tim and Colin to open the bowling, both provided a good start.
But then the packed crowd of Richard Noden, Matthew Hook and Peter's family stared on in disbelief as, in the face of some solid Gardenfields' batting, a fielding horror show unfolded, including dropped catches, overthrows and unsuccessful boundary scrambling.
Thankfully, there were some highlights:
Tim was unlucky with an LBW appeal.
Jonno bowled an impressive spell
Shaun, sending down pacey kickers, clean bowled an opener. The umpire telling the new batsman:
"Three to come, right arm over from a good bowler"
Richard Williams, bowling from a great height, was unlucky with his first ball, one inch over the wickets. Then he got his man who had difficulty with the high bounce and was well caught by Simon behind the sticks.
Good batters kept coming in so it was so it was to his credit that Peter trapped one LBW.
Harsha's spin was accurate as he clean bowled one with a grubber and trapped another with a 'back-leg' LBW.
Simon swapped keeping duties with Graham towards the end and was unlucky not to bag a couple of wickets.
Michael produced a good throw to Graham for a run out.
Gardenfields had got to 136 but this was surely gettable by this team, read on...
Basically, we were playing on the slowest wicket in St Albans. So what, I hear you cry, but, when this was coupled with deliberately slow bowling on a good length by Gardenfields, the Dads batting became beset with timing issues, especially as the Dads had to force the pace to chase the score. Many perished in the process.

Richard and 'hobbling' Graham opened who immediately hit a four but was well caught in the field. This presaged a bit of a fielding lesson from Gardenfields.
Richard hit a straight four followed by a six. Sounds good but our guys had to be watchful.
Tim launched a certain six, but disastrously he was caught on the boundary inside the rope.
Peter cuts for three and then hits another six to retire.
Michael, first ball four, but we keep picking out the fielders and they don't drop anything.
Stauvers, last man, drives for four and then sacrifices his wicket to bring Peter back who immediately hits another six but is then stumped. Dads were all out for 94 with 8 balls remaining.
Questions that need to be considered at the crisis meeting:
Does indoor net practice, which encourages us to inject pace into our bowling, condition us to bowl on slow and uneven outdoor wickets, where the opposition batters thrive on some pace?
Similarly, does facing pacey bowling in the nets help when we are batting on a daisy field negotiating dibbly dobblies?
Should we have an outdoor bowling plan, especially at Verulamium?
We can't win if we lose two out of the three disciplines in a game.
The Dads hadn't just plumbed new depths but old ones as well.