Against a strong Candover side we lost the first game of the season despite some heroic batting by our Chairman who finished 70 not out.

It was a beautiful ground and new fixture for the first match of the season and having won the toss we decided to bowl first to ease our way into the season on a slightly damp looking pitch. Jones and Johnson got the summer under way both picking up early wickets with unplayable deliveries. Some tight bowling by Hughes jnr, who turned it considerably, and Waugh, coming off his long run, kept the home side tied down with both picking up wickets at crucial times. We continued to plug away never letting them get away from us but their depth in batting saw them finishing on 174 off their 30 overs.

Mitchard and Pearce opened the batting, followed by Graham on debut, against some very tight bowling for the early season before Mitchard and Hughes came together to steady the innings after a couple of early wickets. This gave us some impetus before Hughes teed off, taking the attack to Candover hitting them all over the place with some clean, classic driving and pulling. Unfortunately we were unable to build other partnerships losing wickets at regular intervals and fell about 30 short with Hughes 70 odd not out.

Although disappointing to lose it was a promising start to the season given the quality of the Candover side with talk of a return match later in the season.

Champagne moment: seeing the Chairman swooping in from cover, tripping over the ball and rolling some way down the hill...