Vandals arrived at table toppers Sheen Park to find a surprisingly rugged ground. After losing the toss and being asked to bowl, there was a slight delay to proceedings while dog poo was removed from the square… unfortunately that wasn’t the only dog poo on display as Jonny opened up, and decided to test whether the Sheen openers could play a variety of full tosses and half volleys – they could. At the other end, Seb was finding out that they could also play off the back foot as the hosts raced to 42-0.

Jonny, struggling to get to the crease past a post hole which had been ingeniously covered with a fielding disc - favouring a broken ankle over a broken neck - disposed of the disc and it immediately paid dividends as he nipped one back to trap Lagos’ finest, Onikoyi LBW for a quickfire 26. With the ball finally swinging, Jonny took the wickets of Richards and the captain Nazir, both bowled to leave the hosts 59-3.
Seb at the other end was bowling without much luck – C “Casino” Royale was put down at fine leg by Jonny who appeared to be snipered en route to fumbling the catch, leading some to question whether a rogue umpire had arrived to seek retribution for his numerous misdemeanours. Fortunately, he got up, something that Aman couldn’t do after another catch went down, copping him amidships after “Casino” edged to 2nd slip. That lead to Aman having to leave the field for a couple of overs to get his breath back, though he returned in time for “Casino’s” luck to finally run out, Dan’s safe gloves leaving him to cash in his chips for 35.

The Sheen batters were undeterred though and kept playing expansive shots, some which went to the boundary, but many of which led to their downfall. Jonny made amends catching one at fine leg off Seb and then knocked over Wadhwa and Mir to complete his 5fer. Oscar replaced his tiring Uncle and soon had George caught at slip before Sheen finally found a couple of batsmen to play properly, Nazir and Jones putting on 37 for the 9th wicket before the O-Dawg had Nazir caught by Connor. All that was left was for a Scotty Baker special, floating up an offspinner to have the number 11 caught at cow corner, all of which led to a chase of 145 for victory.

Tea was very much in keeping with the outfield and changing facilities.

Dan and Connor opened the batting and started positively, Dan crunching 3 fours before being given out. After a short delay to figure out whether he was given out caught off the top of his thigh pad or LBW, the Sheen umpire confirmed that he was indeed LBW. Connor fell shortly afterwards, again LBW to one that looked to be sliding down leg which brough Nav and Ali together at 29-2.

Both batted sensibly, putting away the bad balls for a 50 partnership that stabilised the innings and put us in control, Nav top scoring with an excellent 44 from 55 and Ali supporting with 25 from 32. There followed the obligatory Vandals collapse, going from 80-2 to 97-6 before the calming presences of Aman and Seb saw us home, firstly quelling the Sheen attack before finishing the game with a flurry of boundaries to see us home with 4 wickets to spare.

A good win and hopefully a launch pad to propel us to more victories and earn enough points to avoid relegation… availability permitting!