Thunder, lightning, torrential rain and three women, one with a badger on her head, contrived to cancel the game but two hours of delicate but firm diplomacy and, of course, the draining of the outfield [thanks, in part, to Grim Tit and his broom], saw us start at 3.50pm although this was delayed further by the searching out of some sawdust and the belated arrival of a fielder.

Our leader had elected to bat and so we did, soon being 15-2 and after ten overs only 31-2. Richie Rob, however, and Ben, 21 and 22 respectively, moved us along to 51 when both departed only for the broom-boy and Glenn Suttey, 17 run out and 24 not out, to hurry us to 88 when, as earlier, we lost another two wickets, almost wasted the last few overs and closed on an unsatisfactory 101-6.

An early wicket for Ben following an unfortunate situation where he took an incredible catch only for it to be disallowed flattered us and after ten overs they were 44-1. Two wickets for Derek in an over at that score and another two for Ben in the next saw them fall to 45-5 and the smiles returning to our worried faces! Very few smiles remained as they moved along to 81-5 and 91-7 but a good catch from Cal Taylor [our very own bouncing bomb], a sixth wicket for the skipper [for 32] and the best one [the last one] from Leo secured us an excellent 4-run victory. All credit to Boscombe who entered into the spirit and very nearly stole the game. Last week we were top of the division with an average of 21.40 but following this result in which we gained 22 points we appear to have dropped to second with an average of 19.50. Shurely shome mishtake here!

Thanks to Richard Fagence for driving in from Dorchester, to Owen for standing in at the last moment and to those who came over and supported [and blew that bloody horn!]