It was asking too much for a patchwork Gents’ side, fielding three guests and with a sick captain, to complete a second successive Beggarwash. With West Telecom 58 for five after 20 overs, The Gents were on top but a record sixth-wicket stand of 100 between Chris Dane (73) and Phil Walton (53), whose batting was a revelation, saw West XI to 178 for seven. The fourteen overs of support bowling went for a pretty tragic 110 runs. With wickets in hand, Gents looked on course for an unlikely win but fell behind the rate and lost it in the final overs with a typical flurry of wickets, including two run outs. Credit Max Minhas, the first Gent to score a fifty on debut since Clyde Seale in the 1992 President’s Cup. West XI therefore restored some pride by winning the dead third leg of the 2000 Bob Ashton Memorial Trophy, won therefore by The Gents, for the seventh time in eight seasons, by 2-1. They deserved it too, well though a makeshift Gents’ side battled. Sadly, Chris Dane was dropped early on by Mr Buck, who "lost concentration" and Jim Wright fell to a bizarre dismissal when his hook was parried by ‘keeper and serial cyberabuser Andy Robinson to short fine-leg. These were arguably the turning points, though Beggars generally played the better cricket. They did, however, fail to applaud several batsmen to the crease, including Sammy Skippers. On a more positive note, thanks to Ali for loaning son Aaron, who fielded very well and then scored a cool three not out.

Master Snelling had been suffering from food poisoning and nearly didn’t play but having decided to pitch up he did his best as ever. He won the toss and inserted West XI on a green pitch on a humid afternoon. These were ideal conditions for Sanjay and he struck twice in his first over. He bowled Mattimoe for the third time in 2000, saw the white-helmeted Keogh nearly run himself out first ball then persuaded the Kiwi to edge behind to Naish. Dallas, after giving two chances and Chris Wright, holing out to cover, fell to give Sanjay, perhaps surprisingly, only his second four-wicket haul for the club. However, Snarler was on this occasion lacking Big Eddie, Toddy, Dhruv and Bodders so had to summon up Bowlers Four and Five from elsewhere. Buck opined post-match that he, Buck, should have been one of the bowlers but this was one game when Snarler decided to involve everybody. Chris Dane, reprieved by slip Buck, began to pepper the short sloping square boundary, and Stevie B dug in until one ball before 20-over drinks when the pony-tailed Simon Whittaker, who had already proved that he possessed an even more macho throw than Mr Ashton, pinned Biggers lbw. The Gents were on top but the run rate was already creeping up. When Phil Walton joined Dane it accelerated beyond control. The short balls, and there were plenty, were despatched without fuss. Ones, twos and threes came easily to an increasingly knackered field, which nevertheless stuck at it reasonably well in the searing heat. Snelling recovered in his second spell and got Dane to hole out to cover for a fine 73. Whittaker claimed Walton at the death, leaving Ling just one ball to face, which he duly aimed miles away to the longest boundary. The batting CVs of Max and Simon were impressive and The Gents were by no means downcast at this stage. Still, West XI looked confident, though Hillbilly accused Andy Burman of "starting a propaganda war" when the Gent predicted a tough ride ahead for his own club in the following two hours.

The Buck/Minhas opening stand was the highest of the season. Buck pulled and swept well off middle-stump and Max looked confident. Wright bravely brought on Bignell early and soon induced a slow-motion Buck edge to slip Hill. Enter Golden Bollocks, whose wicket was clearly vital. He drove his first ball for a huge straight four before being outed for the second successive time in this series to a leg-side dismissal. The usual Chris Wright short-pitch invited the hook. Off a flurry of glove and forearm, the ball flew low to Andy Robinson’s left. He dived and managed to parry the ball up in the air to short fine-leg Dane. Umpire Snelling consulted with square-leg umpire Burman, whose raised finger indicated merely that the catch was clean. It was clearly out and Jimmy confirmed this by giving the umpires a bit of assistance by promptly marching off to the pavilion before the finger was raised. Burman’s reward for his umpiring stint was the usual barracking from Mattimoe and Bignell, but more importantly Jimmy’s wicket seemed to put The Gents on the back foot. Victor was out to his usual cross-batted hoik leaving Scibo to hold the fort, with big hitters Sanjay, Whittaker and Snelling to come.

The Max/Scibo stand of 67 in 70 balls featured some good strokeplay, a few lucky edges from Max and some excellent sprinting. The only problem was, they could not find the necessary acceleration. After 24 overs, the score was 103 for three, four more than West XI had at the same point, with 6.9 runs an over needed. The rate would not drop so low again. That it would not do so was down to canny field placement and bowlers who bowled to their fields. Although the game ended up fairly close, the fours struck by the Beggars, mainly to the short square boundary, were decisive. They tonked 18 to The Gents’ 11. An example of Mr Wright’s astuteness came with his bowling Stevie B from the A3 End. Depositing him over the short boundary would have meant the right-handed batsmen hitting against the spin to the off-side - oh, for a Bodders on this afternoon!

The rate was rising each over but the batsmen were doing their best and with forty needed off five overs the game was not yet lost. Scibo plopped up a gentle caught ands bowled and Max marched off with a nasty bout of cramp. On another day The Gents might have done it, but it was a tough ask and with Ling having one of his good days the possibility evaporated when Sanjay and Snarler were run out. Simon showed his power with an awesome four off Mattimoe to the longest boundary but all was up. After Colin’s dismissal, Aaron was given a bat even though Mr Minhas was padded up ready to return to the crease. The game was lost by then and participants were grateful for refreshment near Morden Tube, though not for the impossible parking. It had been a tough week for the organiser. The Gents are massively dependent on Enterprise CC and when Walton Casuals Sunday football team start their season, that’s it for the cricket. Others were on holiday, but the upside of this is that two potential new members played.