DEFEAT FOR BAR BUT FAIR PLAY ACT RIGHTLY TAKES THE PLAUDITS

Bar lost for the first time in the league since mid-June at a cold and blustery Home Farm as they lost ground on the top two in the Herts Premier League.

After a delayed start for heavy rain that flooded most grounds the day prior, Bar lost the toss and found themselves inserted and were soon in the cart. James Scott slapped a ball straight down deep squares throat first ball, second of the innings and Bar were 1 for 1.

Then the highlight of what sometimes gets forgotten about in cricket. Harrison Palmer turned for a second and slipped on the wet surrounds that delayed the play and was left high and dry. Cue Mymms keeper Richard Soulsby, a'la Paolo Di Canio at Everton back in the day who had a simple run out with Harry flat on his back and 20 yards out. Clearly in distress Harrison had no chance of making his ground, yet Richard refused to run out the stranded Harrison Palmer. [b]Fair play Richard, Fair bloody play Sir[b].

Fortune favoured the good clearly as Harrison reverse swept straight to the man to go for a run a ball 16 and when Thilan Walallawita was run out for 3 as Bar were in deep trouble at 36 for 3. A period of stability ensued with Steve Gale batting to suit the conditions but he lost Zawar Hussain for 22 and Dave Breeze first ball to have Bar 62 for 5.

To the boys credit, they got in behind it and slowly got back on track and Ben Taylor saw Steve Gale through to his 5th half century of the season. However again as Bar looked to press on they lost their batting talisman Steve Gale for 58 but thanks to the tail they crabbed upto a total of 196. This was due to good contributions from Ben Taylor 36, Jigar Mehta and Luke Chapman both hitting 23.

197 to win with weather circling was going to be tough ask against a fine batting line-up. Jigar Mehta however found the edge of Hamza Ahmed's bat for just 4 and the hosts were 4 for 1 in the first over. There was then a fine partnership of 127 between Nesan Jeyaratnam and Hamza Ahmed, the latter leading a charmed life at times as time after time the ball was chipped over the field and nothing went to hand. Alas you make your own luck.

With hope and the weather starting to drift away, Nesan Jeyaratnam was bowled by Luke Chapman for an extremely patient 55 and when star man Steve Snell snicked behind for just 9 to leave the hosts sat 143 for 3 but Bar squeezed the hosts as time and the weather closed in at a rate.

Hamza Ahmed batted on and got to 77 but his luck ran out as Harrison Palmer ran him out and DLS came into the game as the rain started to fall.

However with a small target required, it only takes 1 over to get the hosts home and that came with Andy Lewis 22* and Richard Soulsby 14*. Its arguably fair that Richard Soulsby was there at the end to see his side over the line after his act of fair play and just a good act of sportsmanship. In the days of sledging and banter, some good, some totally unnecessary, the good is often hidden away and on this occasion it should be held up as a good thing and just to say at Premier League level, cricketers aren't all a load of charlatans who'd sell their own mother for a wicket....well not all anyway

Next week Bar host West Herts where a win over the Watford based team will secure a top-4 birth and a playoff spot, something the club haven't achieved since the leagues inception in 2014.