The late season and the distant venue meant an early start, but we were still ready before the opposition. Halcrow, a company side, have a pleasant and well-kept ground, but the pitches are underprepared. They employ a lot of Indians, which guarantees them an enthusiastic team, but in the end our Indians turned out to be better at cricket. From this it will be apparent that the standard was rather low.

Our internal debate about what to do if we won the toss was still in progress when we lost it and found ourselves fielding. After another debate, Duncan and Seeni opened the bowling. The bounce was uneven, and Seeni broke the opening partnership with one that rose more than the batsman expected. Otherwise the pitch did not offer much to the quicker bowlers. When Gregory and Will were tried, though, the position changed rapidly. Gregory, especially, turned it sharply, and for once took advantage by not bowling many full tosses. When he did bowl one it resulted in a catch to Steve. Steve has an alarming catching style, like someone trying to change a light bulb without toppling off the chair he is standing on; but the ball generally ends up in his hands. Gregory would have had five wickets if Dino had stayed put instead of going to where he thought the ball would be, and if his own catching were more reliable than, say, Kevin Pietersen's. As it was he had to make do with three, but that was enough: the innings never really recovered, and we ended up needing less than 120, after a good boundary catch by Duncan ended their attempt to attack Steve.

Rob B got himself out early on, but Will and Dino went a long way towards settling the match. Dino always looked as if he would get out at any moment, but he kept not doing, and when he got bad balls he hit them, hard. Will was a little more orthodox and very effective. Once Dino did go, though, things fell apart a little. Duncan played one of his less distinguished shots, forgetting that the boundary was at a sensible distance this time. Will got careless, and Owain got a shooter. If he had been in for a bit he might have blocked it, but second ball it was unplayable. Fortunately neither Andy nor Rob T immediately got another one, and we were close enough for the rule about retiring at 50 (Halcrow's idea, and they had suggested 25 until all our batsmen objected) to be anything but theoretical. Rob was out just before the end, but Seeni didn't have to face a ball before we won.