Saturday 4th July 2009

I arrived in Bedfordshire last night, by way of India, where we were playing against a team still smarting from their defeat by England in the Twenty20 competition, and looking for revenge.

They won the toss, and elected to bat - which looked like the wrong decision when Rob knocked out the middle stump in his first over: 0-1.

That gave us a false sense of optimism however, as their batsmen dug in and scored steadily at a rate of over 4 an over - particularly Tandelki, who reached his 50 in the 15th over - and that just encouraged them to hit out even more, their 100 coming up in the 20th over (during which Tandelki was dropped twice - the kind of sloppiness in the field I thought we had eliminated. Harsh words were thought).

At last a wicket fell, when (leading by example) I held on to a catch from Phil's bowling: 108-2.

They continued to score well, until Tandelki finally fell, a sharp catch off Rob's bowling being held by Mincat: 121-3.

This brought about a collapse - Rob taking his third wicket when I held another catch: 129-5.

Rob returned the compliment the next over, holding a catch off my bowling: 130-6.

I bowled the next man: 130-7.

Rob got Druvad to nick the ball to Richard: 130-8.

He then got a clean bowled, for his five-fer: 131-9.

A classy yorker was dug out, but only for the ball to reach a diving Richard 131-10.It had looked at the halfway stage that they would be setting us a target nearer 200, so we did well to restrict them to 131, but even so, this could be a challenging target.

Our new opening bat, Ad, set off well, with some bright strokes, before being caught and bowled in the second over: 18-1.

The Indians were playing very aggressively, and it was no surprise when another wicket fell, ILTV being bowled: 27-2.

Batting at number 4 seemed to suit Christopher better than opening, as he and I pushed the score on well (indeed he ended up our second highest scorer) before he was caught: 62-3.

Richard too was caught, going for a flashy drive: 66-4.

Unbelievably, Mincat tried the same shot off the next ball, with an identical result: 66-5.

Half our wickets gone, and halfway to the target - but our main batsmen out.

Carol was caught out soon after, and we were in deep trouble, on 72-6.

Another sharp catch saw Ivy out: 80-7.

I was still in, but just had the three bowlers left to support me. Could we score 52 between us?

I was dropped twice on caught and bowled chances, but sadly Rob wasn't: 83-8.

At least my half century came up.I tried to keep the strike, but inevitably Phil ended up facing a fast ball, and was bowled; 102-9.

Thirty runs needed, and just Vicus and I to score them. They had pushed the fielders out deep - offering me singles, which would give them the chance to bowl at Vicus. I suspect this tactic would have worked eventually, but for some unaccountable reason their captain changed his strategy, and brought the fielders in close around my bat - which meant, as long as I didn't give a catching chance, I could score boundaries. I grabbed my chance, and struck four after four, until, eventually, we reached 133-9 and won!We are, naturally, still top of the table. Next week we play Australia, at Lords.