On a very hot day, with most of our regular bowlers absent and a third-choice captain, it was no real surprise that we came unstuck. Paul Snow was his usual accurate self, but Kevin D, after a good start, lost his line a bit; and neither bowler looked like getting anybody out. Canal Taverners had two contrasting opening batsmen, one who liked to hit straight and one who liked cross-bat shots, and the need to bowl different lengths and lines to the two of them was more than our bowlers could cope with. The score was well into three figures before Gregory finally got it right, bowling leg stump to the straight hitter and having him stumped. But by that time he had made 82 and hit six sixes. Barry, who had had an easy catch dropped, eventually pinned the other opener, but it made no difference to the scoring rate.

As the afternoon wore on we tried most things. Len had a brief bowl, picking up a wicket and a minor injury: Gregory completed the over for him and was permitted by the opposition not to count the five balls (for one run, amazingly) as part of his own allowance. He was thus able to bowl 8.5 overs in an 8-overs-per-bowler match: such are the privileges of captaincy, but the duties included fielding at long-on both ends. Adam picked up two expensive wickets and Paul returned to keep the lid on for a bit; but they just beat The Star's score of the week before. There were 11 sixes: one bounced harmlessly off the window of a parked car and another landed in the tennis court. Kevin caught a good catch after dropping a rather easy one: Steve Lyle did his best to protect the cars. Nobody else did anything they will want to remember.

The batting was a bit better, but not much. Almost everybody got started: the top five all made double figures, but the top score was Dino's 19 (a sensible if unorthodox innnings). Paul M ran himself out, and some of the others were the victims of low bounce. There had even been some of that when we bowled, but as we did not bowl straight we had not profited from it. Lacking anybody who could attack the bowling we struggled for runs and at one time it looked as if we might not make 100. Gregory occupied the crease for long enough to let the Paul S and the extras get us past that mark. Len batted with a runner. The Laws state that "the runner shall wear external protective equipment equivalent to that worn by the batsman for whom he runs", but gloves of the type that Len bats in have not been manufactured for several decades and now have considerable value as antiques. Gregory's and Paul's obstinacy meant we got to the pub rather later than we hoped, but there were compensations once there for most people. Not, however, for vegetarians.