Gaieties v Alleyn's XI - 16 July 2023

A bowling innings of two halves. Things started dramatically: the opener was well caught by a diving Liam off Robbie, his first of two, and Laurence was struck on the left thumb by Daniel, forcing him to retire hurt. Tarek then took an excellent catch at second slip off Matthew to bring back Laurence, thumb strapped and ominously fluent, to the crease. Shomit entered the fray at the skipperly position of six - and was promptly run out attempting a third. Another wicket left the school 79-5.

After drinks, we lost a little control as Laurence and Oli Mawdsley, sometime of this parish, set about rebuilding. Laurence was eventually caught trying to hit consecutive sixes off Matthew, who took three wickets in total, for 70. The non-cricketing number eight made a streaky 20, all wild swings excessively celebrated, as the school moved towards a declaration. It came after 36 overs, the score 186-8.

We started badly in reply, four down for 29 before the tenth over. After tricky starts, Rob Muller and Tarek combined nicely to take us halfway to the total. With 15 overs left, we needed 80. On came Laurence, and out went Rob; Shom, bowling from the other end, soon removed Robbie. Tarek blazed away - hitting four sixes in a sublime Bazballian innings of 86 unbeaten - but couldn't quite haul in the total. We finished 20 short, two wickets to spare, shut out by two Gaieties. A moral victory of sorts.