SUPER SARIN SINKS HARPENDEN

The 4's unbeaten start to the season continued with another tight victory highlighted by some outstanding individual performances.

With Captain Ellis forgetting his whites Vice captain Bolt called wrong and we were inevitably put into bat first on a slow and low pitch. We had a disastrous start as we lost our openers early on with our score being 3-2 after 2 overs but a patient innings by Foley and Sarin steered us to calmer waters and we were 39-2 off the first 10.

Foley soon went for a well made 17 but Ajay was finding the boundary regularly and his new partner Adam was supporting him well with excellent running between the wickets. Ajay was now in full flow and after 2 towering straight 6's was soon celebrating his first 50 of the season. With drinks an over away and the score 89-3 we were in a good position but in typical 4's style we made things hard for ourselves as Ajay was run out and drinks were taken at 92-4. Clearly the drinks didn't agree with us as Adam was out first ball after and we then lost 3 wickets in an over to collapse to 97-8 which quickly became 102-9.

This brought Tom Brissenden to the crease with Gary Froy and after some initial nerves they both played splendidly and took the game to Harpenden. Hitting the ball to all parts they moved the score along quickly and with each boundary you could see the oppositions heads drop. Tom was finally caught for 48 in the penultimate over with the score on 177 with Gary unbeaten on 36. As tea wasn't ready we were straight back out on to the field for 10 overs with renewed confidence and we set an aggressive field for our Tim and Tom opening bowler combination. Chances came and went though as edges didn't stick and opportunities were squandered and at tea Harpenden were 29 without loss.

Persistence paid off though as Tom removed their openers before Tim clean bowled there number 3 and we were back in it at 41-3. Colt Sean Lovell and Adam Bolt came on to bowl and kept it tidy but with two experienced batsmen at the crease the Oppo were accumulating runs fairly easily and with the score 80-3 off of 22 it was finely balanced. Taking the pace off was the order of the day so the hero with the bat Ajay was called in and in his first over the key wicket of there captain was snared as the ball was sent high in the air and Chris Mansfield rolled back the years with a magnificent catch in the deep. Sanjay was now on at the other end and bowled great as always as wickets fell at regular intervals with Ajay taking a best ever 4-26 before Sanjay wrapped things up with his 3rd wicket to dismiss Harpenden for 148.

The attitude of this team is first class with everyone playing for each other being a joy to watch. Next week is a top of the table clash with Old Haberdashers 2's and we will go into it full of confidence. Onwards and upwards...