You can't always draw accurate conclusions from what happens in the first match of the season.
Last year we were stuffed out of sight at Burwell and went on to be relegated. Hmmm . . .

To say we hit the ground running this year would be an understatement. Clarkey, in the first match of his new dynasty, set a fairly attacking field but could not have anticipated what happened next. By the time I'd made adjustments to my cap, trousers, shoes, jockstrap etc. the N.C.I. openers had found themselves back in the hutch. Adam ran in to bowl the first ball and saw it lobbed back towards him. A dive forward and catch was followed by exhuberant football style celebrations. A tight over from Rabs at the other end was followed by Adam taking his figures to 2-0 as 'H' took a simple catch at mid-on.

The tone was set and four of five bowlers used opened their accounts. Adam 9-3-13-4, Rabs 9-5-9-2, Jason 4-0-23-1, Jacko 7-1-9-1 and Paul S 3-0-13-1. Jez could count himself unlucky after a fine 7 over spell gave up only 11 runs. Raja took a good catch on debut and although our visitors stuck it out for all but one of their 40 overs, they could only muster 84 before the last man was out, shouldering arms to a nip-backer from Rabs which knocked his off pole out. It looked a basic schoolboy error, but I suppose he's the number 10 for a reason.

The forecast rain had begun to fall, allbeit only gently, as Ditton started their run chase. Rabs looked in good nick making a fluent 21 before being stumped. Jacko, probably as surprised to be opening as the rest of us, dug in, rode his luck, and actually hit a four off the face of the bat. It was obviously frustrating for him to be bowled by the gentlest of full-tosses with just 2 runs required.
'H' came and went, hitting a couple of good looking boundaries before missing a straight one. Clarkey knocked up a rapid 20 not out to ensure the steady drizzle wouldn't deny us. Garry walked out following Jacko's dismissal with little to gain. The single delivery bowled at him resulted in 2 wides which finished the match and means, technically, Gaz hasn't faced a ball yet.

So, an emphatic 7 wicket win, with all sections of the team looking good. Any conclusions?

The Junior Cup. It's not a competition designed to be won by clubs like ours. A first round draw against either higher division opposition, or somebody's third team which contains several first teamers boosting their averages. Well, we probably won't win it, but we have progressed to the second round this year.

I'm struggling to find words to describe the Coton innings. Our bowlers were ruthlessly accurate and the ball was rarely hit off the square. It's good to be on top in games, but I did find it all getting a bit, well, boring. Adam and Rabs got the openers hopping around again and would finish with two wickets apiece. Jez looked like remaining wicketless again, with no luck at all, but did finally get one. The run rate did get above one per over eventually but then came Jason George's fourth over.

It was an over I missed whilst off the field for a 'hygiene break'. What I missed was a hat-trick from the first three balls, a dot, two runs and then another wicket. Jason celebrated, but pulled the old "I haven't got any money on me" trick in the Pub and failed to buy a jug for either the hat-trick or the 'five for' he finished with. He's full of tricks that boy.

Ian gave a two over display of comedy bowling straight out of The Dambusters and after what seemed longer than necessary, Coton were all out for 74. The missing tea urn hardly improved my mood.

Rabs and Ian opened but after two lovely boundaries Ian was back. I joined Rabs who was coping well with the variable bounce (and width), and could now use Ian's bat which he so covets. Then he was hit right in front on the back foot. Jez had no option but to pull the trigger. Rabs hung around for a grumble but had to depart for 23. Nick made the schoolboy error of not getting forward and was bowled. That left Adam to hit a couple of fours to round off a seven wicket win, with me sneaking a slightly ragged 26 not out.

So a second round match at Girton beckons. I hope it doesn't go the way of last seasons league encounter when both their openers made centuries. No, surely not if we can bottle some of Jason's confidence.

After such a dry Winter and Spring, we should have known this would happen. With one cup match already falling foul of the rain, the forecast for this game was heavy showers. The weather type, not how we are capable of playing at our worst. But this was not to be anything like our worst. It looked, in the end, like ruthless efficiency.

The skippers agreed to shorten the game to 32 overs per innings to give ourselves a better chance of completion and then Nick went and lost the toss. But in the next couple of hours we demonstrated what we learned from other teams in Division 1 last year - bat first and score heavily. OK, we couldn't score really heavily on a pudding pitch but the Ditton 'A Team' of Rabs and H conjured up another big partnership to add to their list, this time 107. Rabs eventually fell LBW for 61 but by then the total was one our bowlers should defend. H finished the innings unbeaten on 60 as Ditton closed on a very respectable 146-2.

Whenever we play Coton, we know that the key is getting Ross Chandler early. When Jacko put down a hard chance and he then hit consecutive sixes off Rabs, the Coton score had reached 64 and Ross had 42 of them. But Rabs was working to a plan (he claims) and next ball the stumps were shattered and so too were Coton's chances. Jim Schwabe made 18 but nobody else reached double figures. Jez again bowled well, taking a sharp return catch in his 2 for 18. His other wicket came courtesy of a running, diving catch from Ian, who may be asked to wear his pants outside his trousers from now on. Jacko was steady, line and length, creating frustration and got his reward. It wasn't Adam's sort of wicket so after the crucial breakthrough it was Rabs who starred with ball as well as bat with 4 for 22.

With the game effectively over, we still had time for some fun as Ian picked up a wicket and Jason blew away any thoughts that last week was a one-off, taking 2 for 4 in a nasty little 9 ball spell which included genuine bouncers. Behind the sticks Paul made 3 stumpings look easy and was pretty nonchalant about them. Coton players in The King's Head afterwards said what a good keeper we have. After 3 wins from 3, all aspects of the side have performed well - long may it continue.

But back to the start. Stand-in skipper Paul won the toss and decided to bat. Good decision we thought. After 10 overs, with Alex out early, Rabs just departed and only 20 on the board we might have begun to wonder. Jacko came and scratched about for 10 and Paul hit a big straight 6 before swinging across the line making the LBW decision reasonably easy. So it was in the 23rd over that Adam joined 'H', who had been quietly accumulating, although dropped fairly early - a sharp, low chance to backward square-leg. It would prove to be a schoolboy error. The pair built some momentum before Adam was out as detailed above. Ian then played as well as I've seen him play, mixing quick singles with some lusty hitting in a partnership of 56 which probably changed the game. He would finish undefeated on 20 not out. Having got away with one, 'H' was in the groove again, bringing up a second successive 50 with a straight 6. A flurry of boundaries followed before he was out to an excellent catch by the 'keeper for 76. By now Ditton had hauled themselves back into contention and closed on 157-7.

Adam was understandably fired up to open the bowling and he and Rabs did their job in removing 3 batsmen each, reducing Soham to 37-6 after 15 overs. It was with the score at around 20-4 that our new 'friend', now attempting to bat, decided to have something to say to Rabs. Following a short altercation of words not usually heard before the watershed, the umpires asked everyone to calm down. An over later and after a quiet word from one of his own umpires, the 'Soham Sledger' decided to apologise. Time and place - 20-4 chasing 158 is not a particulary clever time to start shouting the odds. But he was soon gone and with the game effectively won, Paul was able to give a couple of overs to Jez who was 'a little worse for wear' after a heavy night. He removed himself after 3 overs during which he took 2-8. Jacko wasn't at his best but got one - knocking the stump a yard back! Ian had one dropped so it fell to Marc (Wilson the Younger) to grab his chance and take the final wicket. Soham had managed a little flurry but in being dismissed for 99 they became the 4th team unable to reach three figures against our bowling attack.

I've left the best 'till last and can't conclude the report without mention of Alex's catch. There, it's done.

The unbeaten record has gone. We can all wake up now and get on with the 'real' season. Doubtless we will have more games which will be won with the ease of our May victories, but perhaps we will have a few more like this one. This was 'proper' cricket, reminisent of last season and Division 1. This was a competitive affair, on a good pitch, against good batsmen. The brief glimpse I had of the bowling didn't suggest they would bowl us out so cheaply but they didn't bowl as many poor balls as we had done.

The afternoon begun with Nick, still on Sri Lankan time, losing the toss and predictably, we were asked to field in the heat. Early wickets from Rabs and Adam lulled us into thinking they all wanted to be watching the England World Cup match on TV. The Somersham 4 and 5 batsmen did to our bowling and fielding what everyone did last season. They waited for anything too short or full and hit it to the boundary. We quickly started to look ragged. Up to now, we've only had to turn up to collect the 20 points. We haven't had to really work for it. When the crunch came, we didn't look prepared to put the neccessary work in. The bubbly encouragement of previous weeks went missing and some of us need to look at how we performed, and behaved, when it got tough. Rabs gave his all and tried to rally the troops, Ian had an outstanding afternoon 'sweeping' the boundary. The final total of 225-7 was what Somersham, and we, deserved. The only surprise was that their number 4 was out when on 90. Schoolboy error of the week goes to 'H'. You all know why.

Teams who have taken a battering fielding first, particularly when it's hot, often chuck the towel in completely when they bat after tea. You see it in the results every week. We didn't bat well but we didn't totally embarass ourselves either. Rabs looked as though he would get a decent score before, on 34, Al Stewart joined the growing club of umps to give him LBW. The middle order completely mis-fired and the resistance came from Jez, making his first 50 for Ditton. It was the sort of knock Jez has threatened - watchful at times, mixed with some violent hitting. He hit 8 fours and a six in his 54. The tail failed to wag and the end came on 123. Four batsmen collected ducks as we went down by 102 runs.

"Nobody drops them on purpose". True. "The more you practice, the luckier you get". Worth thinking about.

Another hot match day but this time Nick wins the toss and bats on a good looking wicket. But what's this? The new ball is swinging like the proverbial banana and Rabs takes 41 minutes to get off the mark. During that time he loses the company of Alex and 'H'. Still a good toss to win? Well yes, with Nick now getting on top of the change bowlers. On 33, he pays the price for getting hit on the pads while Jacko is umpiring. Sometime, the CCA might introduce an award for honest umpiring, until then . . .
The outfield was even slower than Ditton in early May and Rabs had to run for most of his 44. His innings eventually came to an end after 37 overs of hard graft. Faruk, Jez and Paul C all came and went, finding the now softish ball beginning to keep a bit low. Rabs and Paul held a mid-wicket AGM to decide on a sharpish single and Paul was run out by several yards. A final total of 153 gave us maximum bonus points but needing to bowl and field at something close to our best to win.

We began in fine style - Rabs taking a good slip catch off Jacko for an early breakthrough. Then it began to go horribly wrong. The Sutton opener looked very good, playing straight and seeming to find reaching the boundary no problem. So dropping him when he only had 20 or so proved vital. Later, a stumping not given by the square-leg umpire seemed to confirm that honesty while officiating doesn't pay for us. Jacko will get his reward in heaven. With another 4 catches going down - no names, you know who you are, the game had slipped away. Or had it. The Sutton opener looks to hit Ian into the horse field but mis-cues. 'H' comes in from the boundary to snaffle it. He's out for 84. First ball of the next over, Jez bowls what will become known as 'The Sutton Ball' to bowl their number 3, who's had so much luck he probably won the lottery later on.

This was a match between two fairly average teams who produced a thrilling climax. Both teams will look back on the unbelievable number of catches dropped, some generous bowling, but plenty of sound batting. For Milton it was almost a game they threw away, having been well placed throughout their run-chase. For us, it was a battle with only ten players where we almost snatched an unlikely win.

Invited to bat, we made the worst possible start with Rabs dismissed for a duck. 'H' joined rookie opener Adam, who responded brilliantly with a well made 32 in a partnership of 85. Importantly, it was the bowler who got him out rather than Adam throwing it away. 'H' lived a charmed life, offering four chances before his luck ran out on 59. Nick clattered 3 boundaries before departing in his usual fashion. Paul marshalled the young lads in the tail, finishing 13 not out, but helping Jason to 18 and Ollie to 11 not out as we closed on 168-6. These could so easily have been match winning contributions.

The lead up to this match was all about football, not cricket. There was an option of an early start, reduced overs - anything to keep the footie fans happy and get CCA matches played. Having gone for a "not bothered about the football" option, we waited to see if March would play or default. Given that it's a long journey from March to Fen Ditton, it's to the credit of our opponents that they mustered up 11 players to give us a game.

Nick won the toss and on another very warm day had no hesitation in batting first. Rabs and Alex gave us our best start of the season, Alex coming good with 61 and Rabs a little unlucky to nick a snorter when going well on 39. The middle order failed until Adam gave the innings some urgency with some good hits and aggresive running. Jez managed to find the gaps in the field, and run a pair of 3's to finish 22 not out. A final total of 175-7 was about par for a match against reasonable opposition, but far too many for March's youngsters.

It quickly became obvious when March started their reply that this was a day for the bowlers to improve their averages. Paul Sadler bowled his nagging line and length, with not much pace on the ball and returned figures of 4-20. Adam didn't have the luck, but his pace seemed to induce some of the rash shots played at the other end. In turn, Jez (2-4) and Ian (3-8) came on for cameo performances to wrap things up with March all out for 60.

Playing on Parkers Piece in the centre of Cambridge is an experience. Many of us have lost count of how many times we've played there, but many club cricketers would possibly love the opportunity of playing on the ground where Hobbs and Hayward learnt the game, before playing for Surrey and England. I don't suppose they had to continually stop the match to ask a wayward (or bloody-minded) civilian to walk arond the outside of the boundary, but that's all part of it.

N.C.I. (sponsored by Veuve Clicquot and The Cricketers Pub) batted first and had us scratching our heads for a while as the early batsmen played across the line to great profit. Adam had three catches dropped, including one to Rabs that went through his hands and smacked him on the forehead at slip. Rabs got a double breakthrough and then the old master came on to work his magic. Jacko bowling a gentle pace into a fluctuating breeze wouldn't sound a frightening prospect, but 6-22 later, he'd rolled back the years. Suddenly, we all rediscovered how to catch and Ian bowled his best of the season to take 2-10. A fine all round fielding effort gave us 153 to chase.

Ditton lost Rabs quickly to a leg glance caught by the keeper, but first time opener Faruk patiently went about collecting singles and holding things together early on. 'H' felt in good form (I did, honest) until bowled for 17 when one rolled. Enter Nick, on a pitch that suited and field placings that suggested their captain had never seen him bat. He was quickly into stide, playing his natural game of hitting it if it's there. Despite losing the company of Faruk (24) and Adam (horrible hoik across the line) Nick kept hitting to finish the match with 12 overs to spare on 82 not out.

Coton Cricket Club are on the up. The worst pavilion I'd ever changed in has been replaced by a lovely new building with lots of space to get changed and for tea. They've got a new youth setup which will see them prosper in the coming years, and the current team are pretty good too. Trouble is, the pitch on Saturday was possibly the poorest I've ever played on. Even Rabs claimed he'd never 'worn' as many balls in an innings.

With Paul C missing, the captaincy was the first thing to decide upon, but both Nick and Rabs were late arriving so elder statesman Jacko did the toss. First loss of the afternoon saw us inserted, but nothing to worry about . . yet. Jacko also made the brave/foolish decision to open himself with Rabs. We looked on as ball after ball peppered our brave boys as they ducked and weaved like Mike Tysons sparring partners. Those waiting to go in had plenty of doubt put in their minds - play properly until the one with your name on it arrives, or go for broke before the inevitable. These weren't bouncers, but good length balls that took off. This pitch really was a minefield. Nobody should take any blame for their dimissals and if we'd got 90 instead of only 65, we really might have made a game of it.

There was time for 10 overs before tea, during which Adam bowled with ferocity and had the reward of 2 wickets including Coton skipper and dangerman Ross Chandler. Two overs after tea 'H' made the schoolboy error of stopping one with his head instead of the 'keeping gloves. After a bit of a delay whilst I shed quite a bit of 'claret' and was taken to A&E at Addenbrookes the game restarted and Adam took his third wicket before the end of a seven wicket defeat. Again, Coton CC were shown in a positive light in dealing with a little bleeder, particularly Ross who drove me to hospital. If they can just get the pitch sorted so that a proper match can be played, Coton could be a club going places.

After the 65 all out last week we really needed to 'climb back on the horse' this week. Unfortunately, our own pitch is nothing to write home about so losing the toss and being put in was probably not exactly what we wanted. The pitch didn't play too badly, but most of us did, regularly giving our wickets away rather than making Fenstanton work really hard for them. The majority of us would have to put our hands up and say we got ourselves out through poor shots, or the schoolboy error of a needless run out.

'H' had reached 16 when running himself out, Paul C played a poor shot when on 21 and it was left to Jacko to bat with the tail until last out for 18. None of the top five (possibly still a bit shell-shocked from last week) recognised, or took on the responsibility of playing a long innings to base a defendable total upon. 98 all out was a disappointing effort and unlikely to be good enough.

With both wicket and outfield looking surprisingly green, it was no surprise when Rabs (standing in as skipper for the day) signalled that we were fielding first. It then emerged that he had, in fact, lost the toss.
The decision to bat should have backfired on Soham. Adam bowled not only very quick, but with greater control. His figures of 10-3-11-2 are a true reflection of a display that took me back to the days of David and William Yandell. What would emerge as the biggest disappointment was the chance offered by Soham's opener to 'H' whilst still in single figures. Although it was low and to the 'keepers right, it should have been caught. The fact that the batter went on to bat through the innings for 91 not out underlined the miss. At the other end, Paul Sadler maintained his fine form of late, being almost equally difficult to score from. The first bowling changes saw a change in attitude from the batsmen who suddenly upped the scoring rate as Rabs, Jacko and Jez all struggled to keep the pressure on. Eventually wickets fell as Soham looked for the 180 total they thought would be enough. They seemed pleased with 182-8 but we didn't feel out of it either.

Adam opened with Alex and played as though he always opens, taking his time and showing patience to record his maiden league 50. Alex lost his wicket to a schoolboy error run out, taking two to a 12 year old who could throw. 'H' batted as though his feet were in cement, although by now Soham had decided the way to ensure a win was to bowl slowly with at least four men on the boundary. Ditton batsmen came, had a dart, and went as the negative, defensive tactics drew us into making mistakes. When Adam was out, immediately after reaching his milestone, the run-rate rose to close to a run a ball for the final ten overs. We were finally all out during the final over for 160.

A game of cricket at last! Despite a very damp pitch the game went ahead after losing the previous two weeks to the weather. We needed to get back to winning ways, and Milton were anxiously looking over their shoulders as relegation looms if they're caught by March.

A good toss for Paul to win and invite Milton to bat was not quite matched by Adams opening burst. In truth, this was not the sort of pitch to bowl quick on and Rabs used his experience to bowl the right line and length to put Milton in trouble with 3-29 from his ten overs. Replacing Adam, the more gentle pace of Paul Sadler had the batsmen unsure whether to stick or twist and Merv finished with figures of 10-2-33-4. Jez and Jacko chipped in with a wicket apiece but we failed to dismiss our visitors with them closing on 136-9. Surely a target we would chase down - provided we didn't get bogged down as we did at Soham.

Adam and Rabs took time to get the pace and bounce of the pitch but steadily reached a fifty partnership befor Adam was bowled for 22. 'H' joined Rabs and they put on another fifty partnership to bring victory within reach. Then Rabs called for a quick single and 'H' was left cursing another direct hit to record his third run out of the season. Still, 42 is a return to form and the game was all but won with just 21 required. Or was it? Rabs went for a well made 49 and three more wickets fell for just 18 runs. Jason had made the schoolboy error of getting changed before the game had finished, but got his gear back on to go out and score the two that brought the scores level. A wild wide was an anti-climatic finish to the match as we reached 137-6.

It's a long way to Tipperary, it's also a bloody long way to March. Especially when you've only got nine men and arrive to find there are no changing facilities, an artificial wicket, a gale blowing and a team full of ringers waiting for you.

Paul invited March to bat first and we quickly realised that one of the openers was not a third team regular. At this point I should mention that March needed to win and hope Milton II lost or were rained off to avoid relegation.
Adam, with the wind at his back had a bit of an off day whilst Rabs struggled into the wind. Neither could do anything about the clean hitting of the suspected 1st team player who smashed 87 from 15 overs before appearing to get bored and edged one from Jez to Paul. He hit massive straight sixes, one over square-leg that broke a bungalow roof tile and another which hit wall and not window on a house at mid-wicket. The other opener played well for 49 before LBW to Paul Sadler who once again bowled really well to cement his position at the top of the bowling averages. Although the score had reached 140-2, once the openers had gone we really got among the rest and would have easily bowled them out had they not declared on 197-7 after 32 overs, obviously concerned that 80 overs would not be possible with failing light.

We replied in the belief that 197 might be a bit generous and Adam and Rabs put on 74 for the first wicket to have March sounding concerned. Adam went for 33, but Paul took up the fight and more boundaries followed before Rabs was out for 35. Other than Jez with 16, the rest of us batted poorly. The bowling ringer was given away by a field of 3 slips, gulley and only one on the leg-side but it was their South African who took a hat-trick, leaving Paul stranded on 35 not out as we closed on 152 all out. A good effort, which with a full complement might have got us very close.