A benign batting wicket heralded a glut of runs in this relaxed fixture, the Gents winning easily enough in the end, although while Kevin Naish (described drily by Mr Buck as "a member of the Naish family who can bat") was at the wicket Chad always had a chance. After Masher pinned him leg-before the Gents proceeded quickly enough to victory but they had had to work hard for their successes on a perfect batting wicket. There were personal best scores from Mr Heap (four 4s and two towering 6s) and Mr Bloke, a first three-wicket haul from Rixy and a spirited Chad reply, described by the Commander as "the best they’ve ever batted against us." Despite a late start at 2.45pm due to the late arrival of the visitors caused by a wobbler on the A3, 73 overs were done and dusted by 7 o’clock, a tidy rate.

Toddy volunteered to play for Chad ("in order to avoid paying his match fee," according to one wag) and a ten-a-side game started off with the Worlds in Collision opening pair of Rixy and Jim posting 40 before chauffeur to the Sultan of Brunei Kevin Naish bowled Simon. Two grossly irresponsible shots from Dhruv. pulling over a straight one, and Masher, slicing the off-spinner to slip Colin off that golf tee shot of his, sandwiching Jim’s dismissal, left some major repair work to be done by Graham and Sanjay, and they responded well. Graham’s hook for six off a Toddy full-pitch into the Balaclava Road railings was the shot of the day and brought back memories of the first time this side of the ground was ever cleared in a Gents game, by Toddy himself while playing for Lager Louts back in 1994. Mr Heap glued the innings together after Sanjay’s dismissal before falling to Mr Buck ("a terrible ball" denounced pal Mr Naish in an immediate, harsh debrief). Kitan (four and out) and Andy (four, dot ball, all run four (!), bowled) caught the mood but the real fireworks were provided by Gavin (eight fours) with Victor’s wise support, even more impressive in the light of the Black Countryman’s painful neck injury. When Gavin reached double figures he was in uncharted waters, with sea-monsters lurking. A keen golfer, he has a good eye, which was used to fine effect in building an important innings. How he delighted all afternoon in outscoring Mr Ashton, and what phrases, charged with majestic eloquence, he used to express delight at his fortune and commiseration with his rival! A shed-load of extras boosted the score to 211.

Rixy carried out scoring duties very well and seems to be learning other aspects of Gents cricket, such as barracking umpires, dodging possible "conversations" with Adolf Parkie and cheeking Mr D Patel. Being young, he has different physical expectations from older, more prosperously-trousered players. As the ball trickled at ten miles per hour past dawdling third-man Jones on its way to the boundary, he shook his head and denounced the fielder’s attempt as "incompetent." In contrast, Your Match Reporter thought the Chad man had done quite well to get anywhere near it and should be applauded. Another interesting piece of admin. saw Mr Ashton take up brief umpiring duties. Some of the players had never seen this before and had an opportunity to practise their double take and fade away.

The Gents bowled their overs at 21 per hour in the evening gloom as some feisty Chad batting and good running between the wickets tested the hosts’ resolve. They started with a fine opening stand, 34 in seven overs before Rixy struck thrice, two in two balls to remove Toddy, caught in the covers, and the impressive Colin Russell, before Buck mistimed one into mid-off Masher’s mitts in the 10^th over. There then followed a remarkable family affair coincidence with brothers Kitan and Dhruv Patel delivering a few overs to the Naish cousins. A beauty from Kitan beat Colin but with half of the forty overs remaining Chad were not badly placed at 85 for four. Despite three fours off Kitan’s penultimate over, the rate was soon above six as tight bowling from Dhruv pegged Chad back, although he just failed to land the killer blow when the ball hit the top edge of Kevin Naish’s bat and ballooned to slip Victor who could not hold on. Dhruv and Sanjay again had to share the gloves and did okay, although the former had a nightmare over in Rixy’s second spell in which a regulation catch was not even attempted. Naish proceeded to an excellent fifty (nine 4s) but soon fell to Ashton the Glory Hunter (© D Patel), the bemused Mulligan following next ball. Larry’s gutsy vigil ended with a catch in the covers by Rixy, who was having quite a day. There was time for two superb Paul Naish fours before Jones fell to a hostile Sanjay, Gents winners by 66 runs. But both sides had batted well on a beautiful early summer track and kept at their fielding bravely, no easy task when the team is short. An enjoyable match with several less-celebrated Gent batsmen coming into some sort of form.