After England's victory in the first game of a competitive tournament since before most of the Old Boys were out of education, the celebrations of Saturday were all too apparent in the team as players gathered at the YMCA for HOB's second 40 over game of the season. The victory against Octopus seemed a distant memory as most of the team managed hangovers even less effectively than the concept of standing in the summer sun for the duration of the day. However, those lucky enough to have been selected for this event stretched and prepared for the daunting task of fielding first in the hope of restricting the Gremlins to an attainable target.

The first two overs brought beer sweats, and a cacophony of traumatic noises as Gremlins quickly raced to 18. 'This could be a long afternoon' must have been the prevalent thought through the minds of the fielders. And then, Old Boys woke up. The fielding became tight, and the bowling of Barrett, aided by Smith began to frustrate and on more than one occasion injure the Gremlins' openers. On a pitch that was quickly becoming akin to the American dust bowl the Gremlins' batmen struggled to generate runs and it wasn't too long before Barrett was rewarded with a wicket with Ashford's safe hands not letting the side down. An excellent tight spell of bowling from Lambshead brought about HOB's second wicket, with some good movement out foxing a Gremlin and nearly removing middle stump.

Unfortunately, this dismissal brought in the fearsome figure of Nico's (probably in the not too distant future) father in law. A man who all the team knew could punish the weak and destroy the heart of any bowler who dared stray down leg side. Inexplicably, Brian showed signs of early weakness, but Trahar sprinting round from fine leg let the opportunity slip through his fingers; a combination of no sunglasses, too much lager the day before and the general inability to catch all gelling together and Trahar dragged his feet back to fine leg a broken man. The balder of the Smiths was then treated to Brian's rather enviable ability to dispense anything an inch wide of leg stump for four, and no differing length of run up seemed to have any effect on his success. However, Brian's ability to hit was to be no match for the straight arm of the Davies, and the safe hands of a real Aussie were to show Trahar how it should be done.

Then came the Stuart Adams show. Not to be confused with the TV programme, Adams showed all the ingenuity of the hand and clearly not satisfied with the performance of those selected decided he needed little assistance in polishing off the remainder of the Gremlins. A perplexed Gremlins bottom order proved no match for his wizardry, as Adams became the first Old Boy to take 6 for in a match. The only chink in his titanium armour was when Davies held on to a high looping ball in an effort to prove there was more than one HOB on the pitch. The two combined again as Adams caught off Davies to give him his second. Gremlins ended doubtlessly disappointed on 146.

Throughout the duration of the first innings the normally gentile suburb of Henleaze had become increasingly disturbed by a clearly 'it's not cricket' raucous on the other pitch. A team whose enthusiasm for the game rivalled a Gonzo journalist's desire to score on a trip to Vegas, and whose noise contained more unintelligible shrieks than watching England overcome one of their nemesis in Germany is ever likely to create. Unperturbed the Old Boys went to collect their tea, to find that not only were this team loud they were also thieves, having helped themselves to the best selection of cakes they showed no remorse and as the afternoon continued the volume increased reaching crescendos on the occasions they took a wicket. The only heartening aspect was watching the opponents run rate get increasingly out of control.

The Old Boys went into bat full of intent, safe in the knowledge that a belligerent performance would see them home. Unfortunately, the normally dependable Sergeant, doubtlessly weighted down by his tag got stuck at the crease and was clean bowled for a duck - of the golden variety.

Enter the taller of the Smiths, whose performance along with Davies created the foundations for another Old Boy victory; the straight bat specialist desperately in need of some runs to kick start his season scored an accomplished 46 which included a couple of hefty sixes and he should have really reached his fifty, but exhaustion got the better of him after an extensive wedding celebration the day before. Pictures of Jo's attire will soon be available on the website, much to his disappointment…

The Old Boys middle order provided some dependable scoring that the England team still aspire to on a regular basis and had Adams not got stuck on 22 it really would have not been worth a blind vote for man of the match. However, in true England fashion the middle order got picked off one by one to leave an anxious end.

Enter Nico, who had the misfortune of having to face his (probably in the not too distant future) father in law's last few deliveries. Thankfully to cheers from the stands and probably a warm glow from Nico he saw out Brian's straight deliveries. Nico then continued into the next over scoring an invaluable 4 before being cleaned bowled. Trahar's expert attempt to sweep of his legs turned into a hellishly looping swipe that really could have gone anywhere, landing away from the bemused fielders he thankfully ran away from the strike. Barrett then showed him how it should be done by beautifully dispatching the following delivery away for 4 in front of square to seal a hard fought victory for the increasingly formidable Old Boys.

Gimme an H, Gimme an E, Gimme an N. You get the idea….