The 3rd XI arrived at Eastcote with a much changed team but in confident mood, looking for a win to put them into the mix in the league, following a disappointing abandonment the week before.
Things started well, and after winning the toss, we started nicely and raced to 30-0 off 5 overs, with newboy Todd and oldboy Austin looking good.
This quickly disintegrated to 60-5 after a series of loose shots and on a small ground with a good wicket we were staring down the barrel.
In sauntered A.Thorndyke, who when asked how was his form pre-game, had said that he was hitting it well on the beach. He continued to play his own brand calypso cricket and blazed his way to 80 off not many, well support by Matt Conelly the other newbie. Unfortunately, after following what seems to be the same family-wide diet over the winter, Thorners tired, and couldn’t quite make three figures.
Aided by a good last wicket stand of 30, TCC had somehow got ourselves to 222 all-out but had still committed the cardinal sin of not using all our overs, so we needed to bowl well.
Fired up by the first non-beige tea of the season, Tommy Bangs underlined his number 1 overseas slot in the team with a brilliant 5-25. Brilliantly supported by Barney who came on and bowled very tightly when Eastcote where making a real fight of it, TCC won by 40 runs.
The game was incredibly closely fought and it was closer than the scores suggested. The positive thing was that at various points through the match, when it mattered, someone in the team stood up and was counted.
Roll on Richmond next week!