Sat 29th July 1st Xl v Oulton at home

The arrival of Oulton at Tong brought with it the hope of another win, but the opposition was somewhat strengthened from the meeting in April.

Reg's call at the toss continued to elude him and once again we were asked to bat first. The Tong side had been supplemented by the inclusion of Brian Grayson after his scoring feats in the Tongans, so in theory we batted down to Smiler at number 11.

Lacky and Reg set off at an excellent rate, but Lacky was soon to go for 20 in the ninth over and little further headway had been made when Young Shack (10) was quickly followed by the luckless Brian who fell for the usual "Tong maiden innings LBW duck".

Huddy and the skipper were beginning to make progress when the formers bad luck at the crease continued to follow him. A straight drive from Reg being deflected by the bowler onto the stumps with Huddy caught backing up too far. Reg soon followed back to the pavilion when being stumped on 46.

Buttocks left after one scoring shot - a six - and though Piggsy came in and found some form and was later joined by our powerful Zimbabwean, the rest of the Tong batting spluttered, being all out for 166 in the 49th over.

Once again the opposition found little to worry them in the Tong wicket and bowling. The openers of Wood and Matthewman grinding out a century partnership within the first twenty overs. The Tong attack was not helped by Huddy once again pulling up with a bad back (memories of past years here).

Though the introduction of Heath Gregory and Annabel Woodhall brought two wickets apiece and two catches to Brian Grayson, an early finish to the game was always on the cards. Oulton ran out easy winners in the thirty-sixth over and took revenge for the early season defeat.