Either we were or the pitch was but lets forget this and start again next week.
The batters failed miserably (with the exception of Paul C) as we made just 40 all out, including five ducks. The bowlers did exceptionly well to drag Elsworth as far as 25 overs to get just 41 to win. Jacko was metronomic with figures of 8-7-2-0. Rabs took a wicket with his first ball of the season, but then got clobbered for two sixes in one over. Marc Wilson took a wicket and two run outs enabled us to salvage a couple of fielding points to go with our solitary batting point.

Adam told us the pitch would be better and to prove his conviction, he batted first on winning the toss.
In the absence of Rabs, Nick moved up to open with Rory and the pair looked on course to beat last weeks feeble batting effort on their own. Rory, followed by 'H', both got out after getting a start and the Wilson brothers made 2 between them. Talk us through that Golden Duck again, Marc. Nick had been timing it nicely and it was a surprise when he failed to clear quite a short leg-side boundary to be caught for 34. Jacko found himself with the job of holding the lower order together again, finishing 13 not out. We had managed to go from run a ball, looking like making 180 plus to an under-par looking 119 all out.
Adam opened the bowling along with Jez and it was very tight stuff with enthusiastic fielding. Jacko replaced Adam and got the first wicket whilst Dave, on for Jez, opened his account for the season at the other end. Granta never got going with none of their batsmen looking to force the pace against our accurate bowling. Wickets also fell steadily and we assumed control. Jacko finished with 4-17 and Dave 3-13, Adam and Jez picked up one each and a run out completed the picture as Granta were dismissed for 69.
A 50 run victory to set us on our way we would hope, but harder challenges lie ahead and we'll be missing both Jacko and Nick next week. A good wicket at CUP for the match with St Giles might see the batters assert themselves at the third time of asking.

Less than two overs bowled before the drizzle became too much and an afternoon in The Brook beckoned.

A game containing lots of the things we know we can do well, but rarely do them all on the same day.
Camden won the toss and perhaps a little surprisingly decided to have first knock. In Dave's first over a short one seemed to catch the Camden opener like a rabbit in headlights and it cut his lip causing a temporary retirement. Happily he was OK to resume later but our competitive juices seemed to be flowing and a tight start by Dave and Adam yielded two wickets. Rabs and Jez took over and runs still looked hard to come by. Wickets never looked far away though and Rabs finished with a brace and Jez with 4-16. This was aided by good ground fielding, again, and apart from a couple of half-chances that didn't stick, solid catching. The exception to this was Paul, whose two catches were out of the top drawer. One standing up, the other diving to his right. To cap things off, Ian had his first bowl of the season and returned figures of 3.3-3-0-2. Camden had been dismissed for a poor looking 83 but would our early season batting jitters continue?

Rory and Nick were not confronted with the most hostile of bowling attacks but took few chances early as they strove to put us in pole position. Nick smashed a couple of boundaries but Rory was solid but quiet at the other end, taking a while to get off the mark. These roles were reversed though as Nick started finding the fielders and scored in singles whilst Rory took off. There was to be no Ditton collapse, not even a wicket given away as Nick finished with a restrained 28 not out. Rory only used 11 scoring shots to finish 43 not out, including 5 fours and 3 sixes, one of which is still in The Plough car park.

Ten wicket wins by Ditton are a rarity and to be savoured. The bowling/fielding is looking good, lets see if all the batters can contribute and see were it takes us.

We arrived at Milton without Nick or Rabs but hopeful that if the batters could just do a reasonable job, our bowling would win the contest. After the rain during the week it was no surprise that the wicket was very damp, making it slow and with variable bounce. No surprise either that when Milton won the toss they invited us to bat.

Early indications were that the Milton bowlers couldn't pitch it up, or bowl at the stumps - until Adam was castled by the first straight, full ball. Rory had, again, arrived fashionably late meaning Jacko opened. I don't want to use cliches such as "watching paint dry" or "watching the grass grow", but Jacko made 4 before being dismissed in the 23rd over. Rory came in at 4 and started to look very good again in reaching 33 until the slow pitch found him through his shot and plumb LBW. Marc also began middling the ball until he, too, was plumb LBW for 19. The rest of us struggled to make an impression and 115 all out was probably 35 short of what we would have hoped for.

We still felt confident that a reproduction of our bowling so far this season might be enough to retrieve the situation. A couple of early wickets from Dave reinforced our belief but the Milton number 4, Nayar jnr came in, hit it very hard and turned the match with an excellent 70 not out. Had one of a couple of half chances been taken we could have seen if their nerve would hold. As it was, we have to say the one telling batting contribution won the day.

Top of the table N.C.I III visit next week, and a stronger batting display will be required in the continued absence of Nick and Rabs.

It's not that often that we reflect on a game and have to confess that the opposition batted, bowled and fielded better than us and we deserved nothing but a heavy beating. N.C.I did it to us on Saturday and we need to look hard at where we can improve.

Adam won the toss and inserted on a very damp wicket which would be slow and a little low all afternoon. Jacko and Jez failed to make a breakthrough and Adam and Marc looked no more threatening until one of the N.C.I openers took a liberty and got himself out. Despite a lack of success and a 'four ball' being served up almost every over, we seemed to just let events take their course as N.C.I cruised past 70. It was only really when they tried to accelerate that we took some wickets and our spirits lifted a bit. The introduction of Ian was belated and Adam left both himself and Jacko having only bowled 9 overs each. In looking for plus points, there were good outfield catches by 'H' running in, and Marc running out. 157-9 was a good target to set and for Ditton to get near 158 was going to need someone to make a big score.

Rory, our man in form, fell for just 4. The rest of the innings showed some signs of resillience but maybe not enough belief. Jez opened for the first time and made 14 before being caught at slip. 'H' batted a long time but ultimately only made 22. Nobody else will want to look at the scorebook for too long and without the charity of 23 extras (our top scorer) we wouldn't have reched our final total of 82 all out.

Histon III away should be another stern test next week and somehow we need to lift ourselves.

It has to be said that Histon is one of the nicer away grounds, with a good wicket and an outfield which is almost perfect. That should mean batters getting full value for their shots. That was how it looked early in the Histon innings as their openers played confidently and scored quickly. Having Dave back to bowl helped and Marc kept wicket well enough that Paul's absence wasn't too noticeable. The big moment of the match, as it turned out, came early. Jacko bowled, the Histon opener drove straight at Nick, the chance went down. The opener carried his bat for 76 not out. It would be unfair to blame Nick too much, but in the absence of Rabs a scapegoat is required. Adam rang the bowling changes to keep the batters having to adjust and the run rate slowed and we picked up wickets. The introduction of Ian to the attack is usually in desperation or as a shock tactic (with all due respect). But on this day, Ian took the opportunity with both hands. Line, length, flight and guile led to 5-37. Adam is getting back to his best and took 3-22 from 10 overs. However, 171 was a solid target to chase.

Following the DIY tea, Dave opened with a hobbling Nick. Dave was due at Tesco and Nick had pulled a muscle walking from the changing room to the pitch. Dave registered another Duck and Nick just 7. Rory and 'H' rebuilt until Rory was a little surprisingly undone for 14. Having been untroubled, 'H' played a reckless drive to fall for 28 and after a chancy 20 Adam did the same. It was left to Jacko to see the lower order through to 130-9 and valuable bonus points. Again, some batters failed to capitalise on a start, with confidence a bit low. Once a couple of the guys make a 'score' we will become much more competitive.

Fulbourn away next week is an important game to win so let's see a revival start now.

We've now lost our last four games. Not good, but all four losses have been because we couldn't get one opposition batsman out who made the difference. Milton - 70 not out, N.C.I - 60, Histon - 76 not out and Fulbourn - 100 not out.
The main difference in yesterday's match was that the 100 not out (plus 2 wickets and a run out) was made by a first teamer. The other matches were guys playing to their best for their regular team at their regular level. CCA rules allow for first-teamers to play for the seconds but clubs like ours will all end up playing each other in some lowly division when one player can make this much difference.

Adam lost the toss and we were invited to bat. Nick went off like a train, his first six scoring shots all boundaries. The Fulbourn fielding came under early scrutiny (they dropped 8 chances during the afternoon) as Nick rode his luck until it ran out when he'd made 34. Adam made a good 28 and while batting with Marc (16) looked to be swinging the momentum our way. The problem was that we kept losing two wickets at a time to let Fulbourn back into it. A late flourish from Julian (20) and Dave meant that we felt quite happy at Tea with our 149 all out.

So far this season Fulbourn have been struggling to make more than 130 so a good bowling performance should have made it a competitive game. Then we found that Mr First Team was very good, in-form and in the mood. The ball went to all parts with seven 4's and seven 6's being struck and all of our bowlers suffering. Jacko bowled well against the 'other' batsmen but we'll never know what might have happened in a 'fair' fight. We can't say we would have won, but I'm sure it would have been close.

A week off next Saturday for Ditton Day followed by Elsworth away.

An unfortunately common scenario for Ditton of struggling to find 11 players and arriving at an away ground short of the prescribed number. At Elsworth the situation was made worse by the presence of only two 'recognised' bowlers - Jacko and Rabs. Where would we find the other twenty overs and how could Paul set a field for damage limitation?
We would find out quickly as Elsworth batted first on a placid, slow wicket. Rabs claimed he would not be able to control a new ball so Jacko and 'H' opened the bowling (yes, you did read that correctly). As surprising as this move would seem, the fact that Elsworth had scored 6 from 7 overs was astonishing. The run rate picked up but, with a cunningly slow full toss, 'H' picked up his first wicket for 8 years. It was a lonely success and after 20 overs Elsworth had moved to 86-1. During the 21st over, in attempting to turn and chase a possible catch 'H' went down in a heap and took no further part in the game, having an ankle the size of a balloon. Jacko, in his second spell took a wicket and a tiring Rabs found success with a smart Paul stumping (I thought Rabs was supposed to be quickish). The final total of 211-4 was a reflection of our lack of fielders rather than any lack of effort.

Maybe we were a bit dejected, as well as exhausted after Tea but our batting mis-fired to an embarrassing extent. The 'top order' made scores of 4, 6, 8, 5, 4 and 1. Elsworth brought on their non-bowlers with Ditton on 34-6 and Paul and Al cashed in with an entertaining stand of 60. Al made 26 and Paul an undefeated 24. Defeat by 106 runs was a realistic reflection of 11 vs 9 on the day.
We're now bottom of the table and need some wins to come thick and fast. Eleven players on the park would be a good starting place.

Wet - I'm guessing

Wet - again

If you played and feel like writing about it (to overcome the trauma perhaps), mail your report to fdcc@btinternet.com

Chucking it down all day. Now have to win all three remaining matches to have any chance of staying up.

High 80's and glorious sunshine where I am, thanks very much.

I understand Adam scored a few though (at last). Good to see a win after so long.

Ditton batted first on a slow scoring wicket and were soon 3 down for thirty-odd. Adam and Thommo came together for an 86 run partnership, with Adam getting his second consecutive fifty. When he was out for 56, only Paul was able to provide quick runs at the end of the innings as we closed on 131-6.
That Fulbourn were then bowled out for 81 suggests a good bowling performance (I didn't see it). Jason took 5-21, Adam 3-8 and Dave 2-24.
A solid finish to the season with wins over Histon and Fulbourn but by Sunday morning the CCA website is showing wins yesterday for Granta, Elsworth and St Giles which means we're down.