What could have been a very good game between the Gents and the Weasels was first interrupted, and later brought to a premature conclusion by the rain. Last week’s forecast of heavy, thundery showers for the West XI match was 100% out, but the same prediction for this game was spot on, although at least more of the game was played than the same fixture a year ago.

The Gents lacked Snarler and Mike Hughes in their team, but were brought up to strength by West XI guests Stevie B, Hillbilly and Ian Dallas. The Commander and Victor made a late arrival, having being delayed at the Blackwall Tunnel. This prompted some surprise from one Weasel who had just driven through it, and "it wasn’t closed then". Bodders stood in as captain for the opening period of the game, and sensibly decided to bat on winning the toss, having worked out that fielding with 8 players against the Weasels impressive batting line-up might be less than fun. The pitch was slow, but the bounce was uneven, and Jimmy & Bodders carefully negotiated the opening overs, punishing the loose balls & keeping out the good ones. Jimmy was well caught one-handed in the covers off a leading edge, and Bodders soon followed, caught behind off his glove. Ian Dallas and Sanjay then embarked on a major partnership, with Ian punishing anything over-pitched, and Sanjay was…just Sanjay. His first ball disappeared over cover’s head for four, and he carried on from there. Occasionally undone by the variable bounce – as were all the batsmen – he kept the scoring rate ticking along nicely. The end for Sanjay came when one lofted drive too many ended up being caught, and Tony Buck soon followed, being run out on a sharp call by Ian. The heavens opened immediately after that and refuge was taken in the pavillion for an hour so, tea being taken during this break.

After the break The Commander revived everyone’s spirits with a spirited production of "Mr Ashton’s Comedy Five Minutes". Having brought the house down a couple of years ago at Boston Manor with his juggling act, this time he opted for an impression of the ice-skater Robin Cousins batting with his skates on. Pirouettes and triple salkos combined elegantly with forward defensive shots. The crowd was suitably delighted by this comic turn and roared their approval from the boundary, but it was all too quickly over. The Commander tried modestly to shrug off his skills, putting it down to the pitch, which the rain had transformed into a mud-bath. Truth to tell, it was a mud-bath, and play moved on to an adjoining pitch at the change of innings, but nothing should be allowed to detract from the quality of the Commander's performance. Challengers for the Champagne Moment of this season will have their work cut out to better this.

Daniel came in to replace the Commander, but fell victim to another sharp call from Ian. The West XI partnership of Ian & Hillbilly then flourished with some booming drives from Ian and some robust pulls from Phil. Bill Flack's spin did for Phil, and Stevie B quickly perished, but Colin saw Ian to his maiden fifty in first-class cricket, to much acclaim from the boundary and much enjoyment from Ian himself. His knock had formed the cornerstone of the Gents innings, and was only slightly marred by his running between the wickets, as Colin was soon to be the third to find out. Some lusty blows by Victor saw the 150 up before he was bowled by Owen. This was a good effort by the Gents, but whether it would have been sufficient to test the strong Weasels batting will remain forever unanswered, as only 17.1 overs of the Weasels' innings were possible before the heavens opened again, and that was definitely the end this time. Before then, Sanjay produced some impressively accurate bowling, and Phil had Bill caught off the glove, but it was to no avail.