On an overcast afternoon at the brake, the wicket was ready, albeit soft due to the massive hole in the covers, but Chairman was down early to do the pre-game works and we were ready to play.

We had 11 players at the end of a season for a 3rd XI Game, with Mr Bartlett just making the start time after his golf competition, and all credit goes to Skipper Hambridge for managing to fulfil the season when as a club we had lost a few players which normally impacts the 3rd XI.

Hambridge had moved up to the 2s for this game and handed the baton over to Jagnani to skipper, who lost the toss, and we were put into the field, on a soft wicket this seemed a strange decision to make by Deddington.

The Skipper opened with Bharti (7.2-2-23-3) and Jacob Lal (6-0-29-0), both bowled well, Bharti in his 2 spells looked good and looks promising as he develops his cricket, removing both openers with some good line and length bowling, with a good catch from Wicket Keeper Rawlings.

But then came the spell of the game from Jagnani and Saleem, Jagnani was doing so much with the ball nobody knew what was going on from pitching outside leg and finishing at 1st slip, we were all confused including the batsman, this was the perfect wicket for Jagnani (7-1-20-2) but then came the master class from Saleem, line and length bowling nobody could touch this spell (7-3-5-4), the younger players on the field could only stand back and watch this perfect spell of bowling which cut through the heart of the Deddington batting line-up.

Spells from young Oliver Willmot (2-0-6-0) and James Lal (3-1-13-0) meaning everybody got in the game, we could discuss a couple of dropped catches by Willmot and Jagnani but we won’t! Finally dismissing Deddington for 104-10 of 31 overs, although 38 of these extras which we probably need to work on during the off season with practice!

So, with a small total to chase, the 3rd XI had what was probably the strongest batting line up on paper without the missing hambridge this season, Raz, Jeacock, Jagnani, Bartlett, and the returning chairman Moss for his first game of the season, with all the other youngsters who can also bat, but where we needed?

The simple answer is no Raz and Jagnani hit the ball all over the ground, with a big partnership before Raz was finally bowled for 50 after some amazing hitting all around the ground, but then Jagnani (33 not out) which some huge blows once Raz was out, with Jacob Lal (18 not out) bringing us to the target in 12 overs.