Ifield is within walking distance of Bob's house so in sense Bob was playing a home game when the rest of us turned up to play at Ifield. We can dream.... (just kidding Skip).

Having lost the toss and been invited to take to the wide open spaces of the Ifield outfield, the skipper naturally set a conventional field and Chippy's first over was uneventful after the first ball had gone for 3 wides. Overseas player Catlousunis (a fine Australian moniker) then cut Raggy's 4th ball straight at Jonty at point who promptly shelled it emphasizing the catalogue of his maladies that he had been describing to his team mates prior to the match. Jez asked Jonty if it was a bit early to start the accumulator for the "pig" which promptly invited Abeyrathna to replicate the shot at him in the next over. Fortunately this time the catch was pouched and Ifield were 5 for 1, so far so good.

Ifield number 3, Leverock then hit Chippy's first ball at him for a sublime extra cover drive which drew admiration from all the stationary Nutters. To his credit, as most of the next 20 overs were spent watching balls sail over our heads, Capt. Bob instantly withdrew his forces to various points around the boundary

Nuthursts front line attack were all deployed and all equally ruthlessly dispatched. Finally, with field placings of Long Off, Long On, Wide Long on and Deep Extra Cover Will Ross took a good catch to dismiss Catlousunis in about the 12th over for 43. Leverock however had just passed his 50 and was in a hurry to reach three figures. One might have thought that his aversion to running between the wickets might have hampered him in that goal but he had settled on the aerial route in a manner which would have gone severly against him had he been playing at Mannings Heath under our new local rule. Well supported by both V. and P. Patel, he reached his hundred with the second of 2 successive sixes off Jez but was well caught on the long on boundary by the Skipper whilst attempting a third. P. Patel however continued the onslaught before succumbing to what no cricketer of any standard can possibly be expected to prepare himself for: the Samways "dibbley-dobbley". Well done Jonny for the catch. (It's important to get that last sentence in the report this season - author).

Chippy then claimed the wicket of M. Neale with a straight yorker which was always going to work, and one of David Thompsons new found leg spins found the off bail of Vora's wicket to claim his first scalp for the Nutters on Sundays. At that point Ifield sportingly retired having scored 271 for 7 from just 33 overs.

Tea was ready and a sumptious one it was as well, with plenty of cake, savouries and even giant white choclate buttons that drew an exclamation of delight from Martyn Van Erps.

Raggy and Jonny started as briskly as I have ever seen them in pursuit of Ifield's challenging total but the cake and savouries soon turned potential 2's into singles and then Jonny rather tamely edged one behind. However Will Ross then joined Raggy and the pair stayed together for the next 15 or 16 overs. There were a couple of 3's and several 2's to indicate that the effects of tea was beginning to wear off towards the end of the partnership before Will was bowled by a double bouncing daisy cutter. Bob arrived at the crease with the score still 196 behind and a possible 25 overs to get them in. With Bob finally showing a bit of form, 5 or 6 runs an over were accumulating and fielders were beginning to be forced out towards the rope. Raggy reached his 50 before holing out to the next ball that he faced. Guy then registered an uncharacteristic duck. Two maidens and the wicket of Martyn's followed before Jonty joined Samways in the middle. The target was still 165 runs away with only 15 overs left and not much batting to come.

One of Jonty's favourite shots is the belt towards cow corner and with the additional incentive of landing the ball into a group of idle girls who had, despite repeated requests, set up camp some 10 yards inside the boundary, Jonty proceeded to deploy that shot with some success as 3 of the girls retreated after Jonty had found the range and direction. Perhaps this little diversion was the undoing of Jonty as I think he may have been working out how to play the uppercut to land the ball on the same target area but from the other end, when he edged one behind. Ollie was caught a few balls later and with 7 overs to go and 130 to get, the win line was only a distant possibility. Samways and David were content to play for the draw until Samways realised that he could still get a 50 so one of Abeyrathna's overs was dispatched for twelve runs. Ultimately though Bob thought about the remaining batting and settled for draw. So we finished 97 runs adrift with 3 wickets remaining.

Some of us then retired to Bobs house to watch the world cup final and enjoy beer and more savouries.