Five of the seven previous HOB 20/20 games had been rained off so it was a huge relief to be playing again in this miserable damp squib of a summer, even against the frighteningly entitled MCC. Luckily, they're Mechanicals CC rather then Marylebone Cricket Club although one of their players would have probably fitted right in at Lords. But more about him later.

Henleaze Old Boys first game against Mechanicals CC this season had been a nail-biting thriller which ended in a one run loss so we were keen to reverse the result this time around. Without the steadying presence of Ed and Phil 'the smasher' Sergeant however, this could be a tough ask. HOBs won the toss and decided to bat with Jon opening alongside old man Clem. We got off to a positive start, ticking nicely along and just when it looked like Jon might treat us to one of his aggressively effective batting performances, he was clean bowled for 10. Ashford up next who we all know he can bat a bit and he and Clements starting building a tidy platform. After a couple of cracking fours, Ashford was bowled for an untimely but useful 13 which heralded the introduction of Lambshead the younger and his bat, recently christened 'The Lambinator'. Which unfortunately also heralded the mid order collapse. Sam for 3, Smith and Filllingham for 0 and 2 respectively- all fell to one of MCCs quality bowlers. All three would usually be grateful for Phani getting involved with their exposed leg stumps, but not on this occasion.

Matt was also eventually out after some excellent run building, anchoring the innings but out to MCC's outstanding player Gatto, who bowled fast and accurately. In fact, he was one of the quickest bowlers we'd faced all season and resembled a belligerent bear as he trotted up to wicket to unleash his fast arm action. Adams was also out shortly after, unfortunately meaning that HOB's better batsmen had failed to make much headway against some decent, and often excellent MCC bowling.

We had gone from a handy 44-2 to a frankly shocking 52-7. Confidence wasn't boosted by the site of Tom ambling up to the crease. Luckily he was aided and abetted by the mercurial talents of Anth 'the Antipodean' Barrett. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes clean bowled but always ready to smash. Fortunately he was very much in the mood today cracking off three fours in successive balls at one stage to race the HOBs towards a respectable target. Anth and Tom managed to see off the quick Gatto, although couldn't really score off him. No matter, an elderly gent was in next but unfortunately neither could really score off him either, Lambshead's embarrassing efforts painfully but hilariously caught on film. Hopefully Ash can't work out how to get it onto the website. (Oh yes - click here to view...................)

Anth soon got into the groove knocking the ball around nicely and scoring quickly. His final over saw him add a quality 12 before being caught by the bear at mid-off for 25 - an excellent innings which saved us from humiliation. Tom was caught behind for 10 on the last ball. So we'd got to 93 off our 20 over, for the loss of 9 wickets.

Probably a few runs short, but a total MCC would have to work for. HOB started off sharply in the field. The bowling was also good, despite a few wides, with all of the early bowlers doing well, Jon in particular keeping the score down along with Leigh (plus his recently diagnosed Tapeworm, 'Tapey'). Jo also kept a lid on the run scoring, despite one slipping out of his hands and landing directly at his feet at one stage, reminiscent of Pete Trahar (circa 1992). Jon got a couple of good early wickets and an excellent run out from slip, rolling back the years and resembling a white Dwayne Leverock, to athletically flick the ball to Ash behind the stumps. The good start was marred by most of the batsmen getting into double figures. But the tight attack continued and Golden-arm Adams got another HOB wicket, the batsman caught at point by the shovel like safe hands of Ashford and Caller getting a bit of tasty swing and crunching the ball into the timber. You could sense MCC were starting to sweat a little at this stage, and they were struggling to get runs. That is until the quick-bowler-bear-man Gatto came to the crease. After bowling figures of 4-1-7-1 he grabbed the innings by the jaffas to smash two fours and a six from the three balls he faced to take MCC to the 94 they needed for victory. Unfortunately for Ashford he was the chosen one to bowl what turned out to be the last, expensive, over. However it was likely any of the bowlers would have suffered a similar figure mangling.

There was no doubt we hadn't made enough runs, but on the plus side excellent bowling and fielding didn't make it too easy for MCC, although someone called extras probably made a few too many runs (16). Anth had a great all round performance, bowling very well, only going for 9 off his 4 overs and scored quick runs when we starting to look down and out, gaining his highest HOB score and forming the highest 8th wicket partnership with Tom in the process. Anth deservedly won the MoM pint, although Matt can't have been too far behind with his steadying 18, and kept the scoreboard ticking over with wickets falling all around him.