'Twas an overcast Sunday in June and both teams of 10-12 [roughly] players at last faced each other on the field of glory to be judged on their cricketing skills in the eyes of the unbiased, totally unbribable umpires.

The Invitation XI took to the crease first and soon blunted the bowling attack. Jeff and Mark Oxy putting on a decent total, before Tim (long time member of the squad) came in to show us a magnificent display of strokeplay, finally finishing on 65n.o. All the team batted well until fast Mark came in with a few overs left. What followed was nothing less than awesome with balls flying to every boundary, including one into the Council Depot. They couldn't get us all out and the captain was not required to bat. A record score of 191 was going to be hard to beat.

In came the ducks openers, soon to be sent back to the pavilion by opening bowlers Zulf and Scho. More quality bowling followed with Pete getting 3 and Tim 2, while Tim and Scho where solid behind the timbers and backed up by superb fielding. The Ducks couldn't even reach 100 and trudged off the pitch knowing they had their work cut out if they were going to win this game.

Of course they didn't, and got stuffed again in the second innings, with Frenchy being run out early (good decision), Dex being out twice, Bernie and Gil opening with a partnership of 2, Damage Dave taking 2 fantastic catches, Jeff getting 42 (including a 6 over bowler Frenchy's head), and Tim getting 50, making a total of a 121 run victory for the Invitation XI. How dejected poor Frenchy looked, especially after dropping a sitter in front of the pavilion. In contrast the Invitation XI were ecstatic, supping long into the night, staring at their trophy, and agreeing that it had been the right time to blood long-time squad member Tim, as he was man of the match.