The forecast was bleak, England were struggling against the Aussies at Cardiff, Mo had left his kit at home, Ridout stuffed his light-meter confidently in his umpire's coat, Elliot Davies had been whisked through the VIP lounge at Heathrow by his mum on his return from a "quiet" holiday in Magaluf an hour before the start, Tuffers returned from his self imposed exile in academia, Hufton "returned early" from the Rivera to get the world's energy business back on track, Collett was spotted signing an autograph for a doting OAP who had been faithfully monitoring his Nirvana….. a normal day at the office, and all was perfectly set-up for the first home match of the season at City of London Freemen's school.

South Park Manor arrived at the school with a very different looking side from the one that had somewhat controversially beaten the fledgling vice-captain's experimental side earlier in the season … on the last ball of the match; this side looked young, fit & ready to do business. Hammond won the toss, confidently decided to bat and Richardson & Hufton strode the 100 yards or so to the middle. The bowling was tight, the fielding was excellent, the ball doggedly refused to leave the square and by the time the 18th over rocked up, HOF's were 40-0 and somewhat behind an acceptable run-rate. Hufton then fell and Mo Siddique, who had taken advantage of the longevity of the first wicket stand  to return home, have lunch, watch some test cricket, and get back to the school avec his kit this time, strode out to the middle in his brand new spiked white sneakers. Things looked up - Mo smote the bowling to all parts of the ground, this time assisted by Richardson who progressed to his 50. Mo was out for a very quick 36 and the next batsmen Andy Elburn and the Tim "Jesus" Collett helped HOF's along to a very respectable 230 of which Richardson scored an excellent "it's a game of two halves" 111, and was out to the second last ball of the innings to expertly milk the applause of a packed pavilion.

Was 230 enough? Had HOF's got the bowling to dismiss this confident looking South Park side? Ridiculously naïve and negative thoughts! Of course we had the men for the job. Elliott Davies, still no doubt harbouring memories of the jet-skiing and "tourist attractions" of Majorca opened up with a swift spell of 6 overs, and Mo Siddique treated the crowd to his usual mix of no-balls, leg-side dross, long-hops and unplayable screamers - all delivered with a useful dose of MPH. The opening pair of South Park batsmen looked as if they'd be more at home on a baseball diamond and biffed it around unceremoniously with cross-batted swots but once they were out the Park seemed to suffer a mid-innings famine with Mo, Hufton, Sunderland and even Tuffers, plying their trade successfully amidst the Ashtead drizzle. Eventually the late resistance of the South Park skipper and the 'keeper was broken and the Park were all-out for 191 despite Ridout chuntering non-stop about yorkers in the twilight, no-balls in the dark, light meters, and the good old days when Ian Peterson captained the Saturday team and Watney's Red Barrel was on sale in the Headley clubhouse.

Stats of the day :- Richardson a match-winning 111; Collett not out 24; Mo a healthy 36 and a 4-for; Hufton diving catch to remove the No 11; Tuffers bowling some poor unexpectant bugger with a straight one; and everybody else sticking their four-pennyworth in.

After the match, HOF's skipper Hammond was heard to say that he thought that the BBQ was going really well, that Chris Reynolds was the best cook he'd ever had the pleasure of digesting, 39 points was the least we deserved on the day but that we ought to take our foot off of the accelerator now otherwise we'd be in the promotion hunt before we knew it! David Richardson was heard to say "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" after scoring his 111 runs and spending the rest of the afternoon throwing himself around trying manfully trying to keep the byes down.

Who'd be a wicketkeeper batsman?

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