A strong Eridge 11 (well...10 for the first 20 mins until local lothario Rozza H turned up!) cruised to a comfortable 6-wicket win at Speldhurst thanks to an excellent bowling and fielding display.

Minty won the toss again and, seemingly forgetting completely about last week's collapse, he opted to chase. With Rory still en route, Dave opened the bowling alongside Jake 'The Butcher' Pooley who made a welcome first appearance of the season.

Opening the batting for the hosts was Eridge Groundsman Mark Thorpe. Dave's first two balls confirmed the 'tennis ball bounce' nature of the pitch and on the 4th ball, he got one to clip the glove of Thorpedo and the ball flew gently into Hugo's gauntlets for his first victim of the season.

Things got better in the 2nd over as Pooj pushed unfortunate batsmen Crees back into his crease and his defensive shot deflected the ball back onto his own stumps - the ball barely having enough momentum to dislodge a bail.

Sajid and Nash survived a few overs until the #3 chipped Pooley into the covers where Harry Thomas took a good low catch on the dive. In the same over, late-arriving Rory took a smart catch at short extra as again the extra bounce did for Deane - Speldhurst 13/4.

It was around this point when a gentleman from the Bowls club asked for the owner of a dark Hyundai to move their car as he was blocked in. The description sounded like Ash's car so he trudged off to find his keys and jogged around the outfield only to find that the offending car was in fact a black Hyundai - not his dark grey one! Needless to say the rest of his team-mates found the situation much funnier than he did when he returned to the field a couple of overs later!

In the meantime, Nash and Fowler were putting together a decent stand and they had now seen off the opening bowlers and Nash, in particular, had taken a liking to Luke Forbes' off spin. Every decent ball from the ex-skipper was met with various puns relating to his new job - "just the ticket that one" / "that's the line Lukey" / "First class stuff there...". It's fair to say that Ash had by now cheered up!

Luke could have had a wicket in his 4th over but for the 2nd week running Ben Fasey put down a tricky chance having made up some good ground. Luckily the wicket did arrive soon after as Jake took an excellent running catch at long-on to dismiss Nash for 35.

Harry Thomas bowled with good pace and accuracy and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket that his 5-over spell deserved. Rory replaced Luke for a couple of overs from the Bowls Club End but Fowler swung him away for a big six in his 2nd and final over.

Minty struck though, as is becoming the norm now, in his first over. Turner flicked the ball to Tom Cary who held on well. Next ball he was on a hat-trick at Weeds prodded a seemingly facile catch to Pooj at gully but rather than walking 2 yards to catch it, he leapt like a frog and caught it on the dive almost in slow-motion! Captain Harrison played out the hat-trick ball successfully.

Harrison and Fowler then added 37 before spin twins Goldsmith and Utting were introduced. Ash's first over was the normal load of cr*p but then, perhaps lulling Fowler into a false sense of security, the lack of pace did for him and he was bowled for 26. Sticky's first over rivaled Ash's but he picked up a wicket in his 2nd thanks to another good boundary catch from Cary.

Numbers 10 and 11 added a further 17 before Goldsmith struck again thanks to another good low catch by Thomas at mid-on. Speldhurst all out for 130 from 31.3 of their allotted 35 overs.

The Speldhurst tea consisted of a couple of tray-bakes and a pot of tea, so it was back to packed lunches for the players as they enjoyed the forecast-defying sunshine.

Minty decided to shuffle the pack and sent out Hugo and Gator to open the response. It was a cagey start with the first run off the bat coming in the 3rd over but this got Hugo up and running and he went on the attack with a breezy 31 before being bowled by change bowler Nash in the 6th over - perhaps attempting one big shot too many.

Rory came in at 3 and he was quick to start using up his customary 9-lives with some uppish shots that fell tantalisingly safe. Cary hit a couple of fine straight drives for 4 but he was yorked by Harrison for 10 - Eridge 53/2.

Jake Pooley was promoted up to #4 and he was happy to survive against Nash's accurate seam bowling but he got off the mark with a lovely late cut for 4. Rory, meanwhile, was happy to accumulate steadily - constantly asking the umpires how many balls were left so that he could hog the strike! Another couple of spoons into open space went his way but he was quickly onto anything loose and the boundaries were coming at a consistent rate.

19 runs were added in the 17th over as Rory hit a 4 and then a single. The skipper brought the field up for Pooj but he then smashed 14 from the remaining 4 balls as he showed his burgeoning prowess as a batter. It all went wrong though in the next over from that end as Pooj contrived to smear a short ball straight to a fielder to depart for 25. Captain Minty came in at 5 but despite his Dad Mark estimating that he would depart for 2, he fell short of even that meagre target as he clubbed a ball which nearly bounced twice straight back to the bowler!

With 13 still needed, former skipper Forbes would have been expecting to face a few balls at least, but Rory was in a rush as he went 6, 6, 4 to finish the game in a hurry and end on 60*. The only comfort for Luke was ANOTHER red-inker!

Game done and dusted by 5:45, in the George and Dragon by 6, time for a couple of drinks in the bank holiday sunshine to round off an enjoyable day.