Having foolishly spurned Alby Day’s advice to call heads the Greys skipper duly lost the toss and was asked to bat . Padding up alone in the pavilion it slowly dawned on him that he was padding up alone in the pavilion.

“DAVE ! Any chance of opening ?” Jelly’s absence at the Strictjy auditions meant a chance for Overlord move to the top of the order on his 200th appearance for the Greys. He was game.

The initial period of the Greys innings was dominated by WG skipper James stationing David at short square leg mounted on a heavy roller , disconcerting to say the least.

Once this ploy was dispensed with the Greys proved a match for WGG in every way , save batting , bowling and fielding.

With DD getting a lifter that followed him and gloving to the keeper , Guy swishing at a straight one for leg before , Hatrick giving more catching practice to the WGG cordon and Biff playing inside one that held its own to hit off peg , TMG were in trouble.

A spirited fightback of course ensued with the Chairman in his 3000th match leading the way with a violent assault on the leg boundary , ably assisted by Alex. They both eventually fell in the forties and Ben and Rich pushed the total up to 165.

Tea was by the WG skip’s own admission a lacklustre affair enlivened by Tel producing a magnificent Guiness cake (thanks Christine). This was a part of a cunning plan to neuter the WG attack with a Uranium dense cake as was employed successfully against us a few weeks ago . It failed dismally as Biff lost the toss (see above) , Stephan didn’t bowl anyway and the cake was actually very nice.

Alan’s new haircut saw him use the lowered drag to deliver a hostile spell to no avail. Ricky at the other end , fresh from representing the Greys at Pride looked like he was running in determined not to wake anyone up , least of all himself. The heavy balls we are used to seeing from him were but a memory .

First change a great spell from QB included the PSM. Io was being moved squarer but as he reached the spot the skip had spotted and was politely asked to remain there his huge bulky frame had too much momentum and he eventually came to a halt some five yards too square . Like a tugboat skipper on the Panama canal Biff gently inched him to the required position , yelling ” STOP ! ” when he reached it . The next next ball was drilled directly to him and the WGG top scorer was on his way. This rare coup was still being celebrated back at HQ some time later when Io claimed that he had been talking to Alex anyway , had no idea that Biff was talking to him and was only there trying to get a mobile signal to call his tin whistle coach.

WGG however moved smoothly on and despite losing a few wickets they reached the Greys paltry target , Steve knocking off the winning runs with a few overs to spare.

A severely undermanned Greys found themselves back at HQ but all those who did make it back did themselves and their club proud , augmented by Wig who showed true Greysmanship by turning up when he hadn’t even played , still not getting selected for next week and taking it all like a man.

On this weekend we could all draw a lesson from this , MAN UP CHAPS !

Compiled without the aid of the scorecard as the stand in statto has emailed to the wrong address , is there a hat for this ?

And here are some pics from the pub beforehand, where we celebrated Terry’s 300th and Dave’s 200th (combined 500th) match!