With a few regular players missing, tonight was an excellent opportunity for Henleaze Old Boys newer recruits to flex their cricketing skills with an away trip into the unknown against the gently titled Long Ashton Occasionals.

Grey clouds had hung depressingly in the sky most of the day, and with rain forecast, abandonment was surely inevitable. Miraculously the weather held, in a way. (Most of the tie was played in heavy drizzle).

Jo won the toss and elected to field, having agreed that everyone should bowl 2 overs and retire batting when reaching 25 (never really an issue with us).

So everybody bowled, and were reasonably tight, the pick being Nick Zographou taking 2 wickets and only Leigh dropping one at long on, stopped him from getting his third. A rare treat seeing Zographou enjoying himself on the field!

Ed Davies, Leigh Caller, Jimmy O and Tom Lambshead all chipped in with wickets, and Long Ashton dribbled along to a reasonable but very gettable 112 for 7.

By now the rain was coming down fairly hard, and we were worried about the potential for our first mid game abandonment. The Occasionals however, didn't seem particularly bothered by the prospect of their pitch and outfield becoming a mud bath on a wet Friday night, although I'm sure the weekend cricketers weren't so thrilled on Saturday morning….

Ed and Stu opened and got us off to a reasonable start before stu fell for 3 and Ed a steady 13. This brought Craig to the crease, who hadn't really played much for us before. Well he didn't seem to suffer much from nerves, and cracked the ball over the park for a quick fire 27, when he was forced to retire. Excellent support from Zographou for 12 and Dave Hawksley with 10 kept us well on track for a comfortable victory.

The highlight of the match however, was still to come. Jimmy Osmond, not satisfied with scoring his first run for the club, started galloping and waving his bat with sheer joy whilst running down the wicket to celebrate his first boundary! And what a boundary it was, flying through the outfield towards the ropes!

Skipper Jo came in for the unfortunate Hawksley, and hit a rapid 20 to kill the game dead, and with Jimmy unbeaten on 17 at the other end, another victory was secured. albeit a wet one.

A special mention to Craig and Jimmy for outstanding batting performances and the big Greek for his spectacular bowling!