It was a tense night as we waited to catch a glimpse of our opponents for the first game of our new venture into the world of league cricket.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that they too were experiencing league cricket for the first time. Along with this they also had a couple of youngsters which is always pleasing to see until your mind thinks back to our first game at Winford which resulted in an Under 11 bagging a few wickets. Then the doubts set in as to their ability. However, enough of voyages down vegemite valley, I mean memory lane. What would unfold during this game.

It was a great day weather wise as we managed to actually fit a game of cricket in during the sun shine, a rarity in itself. It may seem that I am about to say that that the weather was the highlight as it has been in the past but this was a day in which we outshone the sunlight and went on a rampage to record our first league game. It was not really just a win but a stunning display by all those HOBs that took to the field.

We batted first which was a good sign. Ed and Mike headed towards the 22 yards of greenery to get us underway. Both batsmen got us off to a cracking start. Mike scored a quick fire 16 and was our first wicket to fall. He was followed by Mr Cricket, Will, who set about making his lowest score in HOBs colours. A pitiful 3 before being bowled out. But they all count and they went towards our total. Jo also quickly fell without troubling the scores too much. Following Jo to the crease was his shorter and balder brother. The differences didn't stop here as John set about hitting the bowlers to all parts of the ground and he scored a great 29 before being run out. Ash was next to walk to pitch and to be honest it wasn't really worth the time or effort expended as he was run out for the grand total of 0. In fact I'm not even sure he faced a delivery. Oh well!

No mention of Ed until now as he was holding the fort at the other end as the wickets fell. Ed scored a memorable first 50 of our league campaign. There was plenty to rave about as Ed hit a six and five fours, he was eventually dismissed for a very respectable 53. That bought Paul and yours truly to the crease. We like batting at the end of the innings when quick runs are needed and we did not disappoint as between us made an additional 13 in quick time. This took our overall total to 119 runs scored off the bat and a further 15 extras giving us 134. One of our better batting totals. Things were looking promising as we thought that we could definitely defend this total but stranger things have happened to the HOBs.

To the field we took with our spirits high and the stench of victory rife in the air. I opened the bowling and managed to keep it tight from my end and allowed my strike partner to do the damage at the other end with a blistering spell of line and length that they were unable to deal with. John dismissed the top three and finished with figures of 3/11. With out being too insensitive to the opposition is was all one way traffic from there. The brothers Smith combined for a wicket. Will secured an LBW decision. Golden Arm Adams came on and took a couple of scalps. Our newest player in the guise of Andy Barry took his first HOBs wicket as well. We then had a couple of run outs to finish off the innings. All in all they made a total of 70 which clearly was not good enough.

When we worked out the scoring of points we managed to secure all the points on offer to us. 20 for the win, 5 for our batting and 5 for dismissing all our opponents. It would have to be said then that our first foray into the world of league cricket was worth the wait with a convincing victory. Long may it continue.

Tres