Wow ! What an afternoon. In a strange turn of events, the sun shone ALL afternoon and the cricket on view lived up to expectations. Abi Farooq, Captain for the day duly lost the toss and Harlow were invited to bat first.
Syed and Chris were careful and keen to give us a good start, At 33 Syed fell attempting to increase the scoring rate. Guest Callum Sykes was extremely unlucky to be caught in the covers after a full length dive by Cedric for 8. Chris then fell caught in the deep leaving us 44-3. That brought Aboubakar to the crease, who played with much maturity to steady the ship and build us a total. Abi fell stumped off the keepers pads for 19. Ollie Allen got to 11 before playing round a straight one. Abou, got to 50 and kept going serenely while old lag Baulks was happy to keep him company at the other end. Abou upped the pace as overs started to run out and a 2nd team 100 in as many weeks was on the cards. Sadly it was not to be as Abou was trapped LBW trying to work one to leg. Crushing disappointment to be out for a fantastic 99 off just 85 balls.
Harlow's innings closed with late runs from Jack, at 231-7 off our 40 overs. Another decent total and one that would make a game of it.

The Bajans wasted no time in taking on our total with Max Creese in particular looking very dangerous, smacking the ball very hard and high if the bowler strayed off line or length. Which Tyler did not and bowled 8 very tidy overs for only 27 runs in the face of a possible onslaught ! It was the introduction of Amir Farooq that proved the turning point. In his traditional style of full and straight, he slipped one through Creese's defence. Soon after a mix up led to Stafford being run out. Mason and Linton carried on the chase and for a while, our 231 was looking a bit short. Jack bowled tidily for 8 overs and was unlucky not to take a wicket. In desperation Abi turned to old lag Baulks to turn the tide....His first ball was whacked into the road....mmmm. However, soon after faith was rewarded as Linton chopped on for 34. "I knew you would get me a wicket...." said the Skipper !
After that despite the odd lusty blow from Ifel in particular, the re-introduction of Amir spelled the end for the the Commissioners. As they went from 174-4 to 184 all out in the 38th over. Amir, quickly grabbing the match ball at the end and shouting to Cliff..."I want this ball mounted !!!" His 6-33 was an outstanding contribution at the end of another superb game of cricket to celebrate our 250th.
Food provided by the Commission was on sale all afternoon, and did a roaring trade. Sitting and chatting after the game was when the Rum Punch was produced by Cedric....after that things got a little hazy !
Many said afterwards, they have to come back next year, that's how good it was !