August 2014 Match reports...

v Chessington. 1st week of September and 2nd meet in a week and 4th this season. With a little help from OC's (again) making up the numbers, HL opened up the batting and made just 105 from the 18 overs, Steve scoring 43. Chess needed 26 off the last 3 overs and crossed the line with 1 ball to spare, 7 down. 3 wickets for Paul, 2 for Ian.

v Chessington. 5 debutants (with the help of OCs) and 2 who haven't played this year joined just 3 2014 regulars for this E18 match v CWoA. HL batted first and scored 152/7, runs for Larry, Adam, Wendel, Wasim, Paul. A fine bowling performance reduced Chess to just 90 all out off 16.3 overs, 2 wickets a piece for Larry, Graeme, Wasim and Paul.

v Richmond. Lost the toss and Richmond had no hesitation in batting first on a grey, cool late August evening. Thanks to a 50 from young Zayn (before being run out with a Wendel direct throw), Richmond scored a credible 144/7 from their 20 overs. (3 wickets for Paul, 2 catches for Wendel). With Richard and Wendel batting in the bottom 4 as opposed to the usual top 4, HLs response against some decent bowling was slow. Swain chipped in with a handy 42, and Ian with (his highest ever score) 29, but left us needing 50 off the last 5 overs. Wickets continued to fall at a regular rate and W and R got into bat but with 24 needed off the last 2, which despite 2 big 6's wasn't quite enough balls, HL falling 8 short for Richmonds first victory against us. (136/6) It was going to happen sometime.

v LBH. Adams LBHers batted first and scored 145/3 off their 18 overs (1 wicket each for Don and Knobby). Apart from Nomans 50 retired, no one else bothered the scorers too much, HL finishing up on 130/6, to lose by 15 runs.

v Elmbridge, Lunch time down pour we almost got away with. 5pm down pour we didn't. No game.

2 games in 2 days this week, and both extraordinary, contrasting ones at that....V Ealing Engineers, 2nd meet of the season, 1 up. HL into bat, 65 off 10, became 203 off 20, another blasting from Richard (71) and Wendel (85no), our 3rd highest ever score. Ealing were well up for it and were rattling along at above the required 10 an over on the large, fast outfield. Paul struck with the crucial wicket of Ragulan (ct behind) in the 17th over when they were on 175. Ealing needed 15 off the last over, but managed just 3 to finish up on 191/8. 3 wickets each for Ian and Paul, 2 catches for Paul (who says I cant catch?). Twenty 6's were scored, and we reckon at least 8 balls were lost into the Waterworks. Got a bit dark towards the end, so early starts from now on.(HL 203/3, EAL 191/8)

V OCCC. 2nd meet of the season, already 1 down. Won toss and batted. Not a great start. 4 for 4 from 4 overs* became 54 all out. A 20 run 10th wicket partnership between Ian and Mike, and 11 extras, at least ensured we passed our lowest ever score, just, by 5 runs. (In fact, it was our 3rd lowest ever score, and funnily enuf, all 3 have been against OC's). 13 for Don and 9no for Ian, a golden for Wendel and ducks for Steve, Swainy and Hardeep. We wanted to make it as difficult as possible and indeed OCs lost 6 wickets in their pursuit (3 for Rick, 2 for Swainy, 2 catches for Paul), but really they were well in control to win in the 12th over. Sunil made his first appearance in 5 years, and my daughter Olivia made her cricketing debut, even scoring the same number of runs as me (1!). Our last 2 games we've scored 176 and 181, so we were certainly humbled this game. (HL 54/10, OC 55/6 12.1 ov)

*almost as awful as India, today, at Old Trafford. 8 for 1,2,3,4....

Mags in Margate

HLers Paul, Wendel, Ian, Hitesh, Swainy, Steve, Knobby, Alex, Chris,... found themselves on tour in Margate last weekend, playing 3 games. Lots of fun, as Hookys poetic report will testify. .. Onesies each game for man of the match, ducks and donkey fielding...Chas and Dave were there in spirit, check 'em out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kzpHzUJCd4