Despite some fears over the recent foul and unpredictable British summer weather, the lord blessed Golden Hill with a ray of light on Thursday evening, an effect that was enhanced by the shine from Jon's polished head. After a bit of hanging around the game got underway with Putts Puffers taking to the crease to face the might of a somewhat restrained HOBs bowling attack. After his knee incident back in May, LJ Caller was back opening the bowling and despite a shaky start, finished his two over spell with 0 for 2 - not bad if I may say so myself. Not to be outdone however, the following overs saw Osmond take two wickets for 3 runs. This Speight of quick wickets upset the Puffers middle order. Meanwhile, at the other end, Ashley was gearing up to trouble the bat with his menacing spin, which true to tradition, is only brought to the fore against this friendly opposition. Not one to disappoint, Fillingham finished his two overs with his best ever figures of 1 for 9 - nice one Ash.

A good performance in the field saw HOBs restrict the Puffers to a total of 123 for 7. This gave the Puffers an air of confidence as they took to the field. Little did they know that off the back of 6 straight league match wins, HOBs were hungry for the win (and a burger from the BBQ).

Barry and Barrett took up the challenge and duly started the reply, with Barry quickly notching up 27, which meant retirement under the terms of this super friendly encounter. Without this rule, who knows what further damage he may have done? Up stepped Zographou who gave his all and put in the batting performance of his life with a mighty 10 runs, before being caught by one too many top edges. The rest of the order performed equally as well (Trahar excluded) with a notable performance from Thomas, who like Barry stood undefeated on 29 before being condemned to retirement. In the end it was the Strides duo of Fillingham and Davies who saw HOB's notch up yet another win in what is fast becoming an unprecedented season.

A special mention for Jon, who after the game served up a fatty array of burgers and sausages from the BBQ. So far no incidents of food poisoning have been reported.

Lets make it a regular home game occurrence me thinks!