As HOBs trekked off for our first ever fixture abroad - 16 minutes down the motorway, across the bridge to Chepstow - the heat was oppressive and the sweat was thick, in part in nervousness of the unknown which lay before us; what kind of team would the South Wales Premier League side put out to devour us?

The answer, mildly disappointingly, was their youth team - with their ageing skipper who dragged the average age up to about twenty. Shorn as we were of the improving services of Lambshead Sr (who hilariously missed his flight back from Dublin, and even more hilariously forked out £200 to fly back to London rather than book a £50 flight with RyanAir the next day) a Chepstow old pro stepped up and volunteered to bat last for us, not bowl, and do the scoring. In many ways it was a reprise of Lambshead's former incarnation as an Old Boys player…. before the heroics of this season that is.

Anyway, their skip tried to persuade me they were a weak team and if we batted first it would be more of a game. Knowing as I do the HOBs batting line up, I declined his kind offer, but duly lost the toss anyway. So batting it was for the Hobbers. Phil and Ed opened up and came back with alarming speed. Our two stalwarts of this and last season respectively back in the pavilion. Up stepped Andy Barry who averages a shade under fifty after 18 games for HOBs, and proceeded to steady the ship. Aided by some slogging by myself we took the score above 100 before I got impatient and chipped a ball to short cover for about the eighth time this season. No such problem afflicts Monsieur Barry, however, who made a cultured (when is not so?) 66 before surprising us all by chopping on to his stumps a delivery which rose off the pitch. The Lower middle order of Thomas, Adams and Fillingham all contributed nicely, and we were well pleased with an imposing total of 229. Our second highest ever.

After a spot of tea, which frankly wasn't the best we've ever sampled, HOBs took to the field confident of defending our total against our diminutive foes. Barrett and Smith opened the bowling in tried and tested fashion, and with bowling straighter than the arrows fired (rather disconcertingly) by the archers adjacent to the pitch, Chepstow were quickly in deep trouble. Both bowled well sharing three wickets between them. The game was as good as won. The remaining batsmen played with straight bats but with too little power and struggled to clear the infield up against some tight bowling, particularly Ed who picked up four good wickets. Smith returned to bowl the final over of the innings and was uncharacteristically marmalised by a thirteen year old, who ended up with a nicely made 59. All in all a good performance from HOBs, and we rather took our collective foot off the peddle in allowing our opponents to reach 182 in reply from their allocation. I'm not sure Jonny Boy will be venturing to bowl his slow left armers again in a hurry though.

A job well done by the Old Boys, and a splendid day out in the sun; hopefully next time Chepstow will field a slightly more mature side for a more intriguing contest, although I guess we should be careful what we wish for.