Match reporter: Alan Boyes (you might have guessed this)

Chaos theory suggests that the merest flap of a butterfly’s wing somewhere on the opposite side of the globe could trigger a chain of events that might be monumental and cataclysmic. Given the interconnection of all things in the Universe (that’s the kind of quality scientific and philosophical point of view you’d expect in a Mallards match report) there is a certain sense in that.

Last year’s summer had led to a boom in the butterfly population, boosted by long glorious endless days of warmth and sunlight. After so many cool summers and long winters it was finally time for them to venture out: a time to play; a time to make new friends; find love, romance and generally flap their wings a lot.

With so many of them now ready to brave the first rays of summer sun this year the two teams took to the field at Heaton Medicals Ground, totally unaware of the momentous events unfolding – or unflapping – just outside Banbury in Oxfordshire. These first tentative flickers of summer heat as the summer sun shone benignly upon the richly coloured meadows. The last lazy hum of collected flies and bumblies with a scented breeze proved a heady mix for one solitary, yet frisky and amorous male butterfly who had caught sight of the most beautiful female he’d ever laid eyes on. Without a moment’s hesitation he said to his self, “she’s the one! We’ll settle down together, start a family, get our own place, buy a nice car, spend our holidays in Reykjavik and argue over whether to get a conservatory.”

Love was in the air around that apparently tranquil rural idyll. More serious matters, however, were taking place in the depths of Heaton where the Mallards were seeking to build on an encouraging early season. Sparta came along with other plans.

A brilliant, sunny evening greeted the two sides and it was good to see that the Mallards had a full squad, allowing a debut to Andy McChlery and a rest for Trevor. Stig was captain and proved initially to be a hopeless tosser with not a penny to his name. In fairness the Sparta captain suffered a similar deficiency so they tossed the bat instead. Stig lost and the Mallards were forced to bat first.

Initially all seemed well with Steve Kent and Alan Boyes making decent progress in the early overs. The bowling from David Luiz at the top end was a bit erratic but runs flowed, reaching 19 for no wicket after three.

It was at this point that the vigorous activity of the butterflies set off a chain of events that had rendered the powerful Mallard batting line up completely useless. Alan Boyes decided to play inside the line to an innocuous straight ball from Pentland and was quickly followed by Stig and Mark Buckley leaving them at 20 for 3 against some gentle bowling. True it was a two paced pitch with many balls keeping low but it was hardly a minefield.

Colin McCaffery joined Steve and quickly built some fresh momentum with some helpful bowling: that amorous butterfly was getting to Sparta’s bowlers too; but just as they were accelerating it was time for Steve to retire, having reached thirty and his replacement, newcomer Andy McChlery fell quickly for nought, stumped.

This deflated the inning somewhat but Colin continued in pugnacious fashion, building a recovery only for the amorous butterfly’s over activity to set off yet another spiral of calamities as first Colin fell, quickly followed by Pete, Stuart and then Tom, who fell to an underpowered lofted straight drive. His erudite response – that’s a brand of super glue – summed things up; “piss!!!” And off he trudged, lamenting the butterflies. It was 82 for 8 now: the only consolation was that there were still eight overs left.

It was at this point with, Tony Cleaver and Gareth at to the wicket, that chaos theory hit Sparta. Wickets became hard to come by; indeed pitching the ball anywhere near the stumps or below waist height proved too much for the hapless bowlers. Eventually the umpires took pity on the bowlers, taking a more relaxed view of what constituted a wide or a no ball: Well we all wanted to get home at some point and it was painful to watch. Would a stricter view have changed the result? Oh sod it we all wanted to get to the pub before closing time. The umpires were losing count of the number of balls to be bowled in these endless overs too.

All Tony and Gareth had to do was help the ball on its way if it every arrived anywhere near them. I say “all” but that proved too much for many of the earlier batsmen. The partnership steadily accumulated runs, reaching forty four before Gareth was bowled for five.

Steve joined Tony to finish the inning off on 137 for 9. This was one of Tony’s finest innings (21 not out) and Steve had provided the highest score off the bat (34 not out). This was dwarfed, however, by the extras stacked up by the befuddled bowlers, who similarly cursed the butterflies and their wretched chaos theory. The fancy hifalutin butterflies with their clever intellectual theories were cursed by all. There had been some fine batting highlights from Steve, Tony and Colin but not much to cheer about elsewhere. Well there was always the bowling to look forward to. And what better gift to your most senior player than to let him take the new ball having just played one of his longest innings.

Straight away Tony put the ball on the spot but wasn’t having much luck. Tom at the other end was little less consistent but still threatening. The scoring rate was quite slow but largely untroubled until Tony finally broke the partnership, trapping Pentland lbw for ten. This brought Pearden to the wicket, whose stance suggested he was more in need of time at the toilet than in the middle. He didn’t look like troubling the scorers until he swiped two less than cultured boundaries off Tony. The following over brought out his musical side: the sight of Tom running in to bowl, for reasons known only to him, reminded him of River Dance. Consumed with this image he was helpless to ward off the power of the medium of dance as he tapped his way through the most exciting moves from River Dance, skipping over a Yorker that clattered his stumps. The power of music is greater than the forward defence.

The scoring rate still lagged behind the required rate but the batsmen saw off Tony and Tom without further loss. Stuart and Gareth replaced them but despite bowling well were still picked off each over by the batsmen. Mallards were beginning to rely on batting retirements with the hope that the next man in would be less effective. Though Gareth finally dismissed Sparta’s number five the scoring rate began to quicken. With Colin and Stig taking the dubious honour of being death bowlers Sparta need thirty five off four with seven wickets left.

That lack of wickets gave them the leg room to accelerate further. Colin’s first over went for fourteen after a promising start and that left a much easier target for the final three, in which they could play for singles and pick the odd two or boundary. It seemed like they would coast to victory but even with many wickets in hand they found Colin and Stig’s subsequent overs difficult to get away. With two balls left the scores were tied and a good stop by Wisbach brought the result down to the last ball once again. Sadly, despite a solid inner ring of all nine fielders, a scrambled single saw Sparta limp over the line off the last ball.

The truth was that without some very generous bowling this might have been a very one-sided game but that would be ignoring the very generous Mallards batting where 137 was clearly below par against the Sparta attack. It’s only a game but the events that unfurled at the Heaton Medicals ground can only add to the clamour and groundswell of opinion for a mass butterfly cull.

A rare lovely summer’s evening saw the return of Colombian exile Tony Cleaver (pictured above)  to the Mallards team as they sought to continue their positive start to the season against a rejuvenated Ovingham team.

Skipper Wood won the toss and chose to field in a game played under slightly unusual circumstances – 21 overs a side, 12 players a team and a maximum of three overs per bowler.

The returning Cleaver was given the honour of leading the attack and started steadily with just six runs coming from his first two overs. Cox at the other end was less frugal and was replaced by the ever-consistent Dunhill. Nevertheless the Ovingham batsmen were looking in ominous form and some fine straight driving, combined with some rather erratic bowling, saw the score mount rapidly and after five overs the visitors had reached 40-0 with Cleaver finishing his spell with 0-17

Dunhill then made his mark bowling the impressive looking Derrik for 17. Unfortunately this brought the even-more impressive Chamberlain to the crease and he continued in much the same vein. With Cox returning from the pavillion end and Scott replacing Dunhill (1-16) the score continued to mount rapidly and after 10 overs Ovingham were sitting pretty on 87-1.

Thankfully the introduction of the wily Wisbach put the brakes on as he took a wicket with his second ball, helped by a magnificent catch in the deep by McCaffrey to dismiss opener Drake for 23.   The bowler struck again in his next over with keeper Buckley grabbing a sharp stumping to get rid of Tate for 4.

With Scott proving expensive at the other end (two overs 0-21), skipper Wood replaced him and struck in his first over, McCaffrey again claiming another fine catch in the deep to remove Wallbank for 3.

The sudden flurry of wickets had slowed the run rate slightly as the scoreboard moved to 108-4 from 14 overs with Wisbach almost adding to his tally when McGuinness nearly held on to a fierce pull at square leg, stopping a certain boundary with his throat!  The bowler eventually finished his excellent spell with 2-20, his figures only marred by two late boundaries as incoming batsman Stewart found his range.

Wood also suffered from Stewart’s rustic hitting, going for two big sixes to finish with 1-25 from his three overs as the visitors regathered steam to surge to 146-4 from 18 overs despite Nitsch’s steady start at the pavillion end.

McCaffrey’s only over produced just five runs but in the final over Nitsch’s fine figures took a bit of a bashing as 15 runs came from it and the visitors reached an intimidating 169-4 from their 21 overs.

Having chased down 150 already this season Mallards hopes remained high and Steele and Wood, the same opening pair who began that run chase, again began well with Steele, in particular, playing beautifully as they reached 36-0 from just three overs.

The score continued to mount rapidly as Wood brought up their second consecutive 50 partnership in just the sixth over. Unfortunately, with Steele on the verge of a well-earned retirement, umpire Taylor (boo!) sent him back to the pavillion with a badly-timed but probably right lbw decision.

Dickinson entered the fray and was soon into his stride with a six and a four as Mallards continued to keep up with the challenging run rate, reaching 75-1 from just 9 overs. It seemed that luck was with the home side as umpire Taylor (hurray!) shouted ‘no ball’ moments before Dickinson missed a heave at Hall and heard his stumps clattered. Unfortunately the very next ball was an action replay (but without the no ball call) and Dickinson returned to the pavillion for a rapid 13 with McGuinness joining Wood at the crease.

Dickinson’s demise heralded the usual mid-innings crisis as  Wood was bowled for a solid 19 followed immediately by McCaffrey, dismissed first ball in identical fashion. McGuiness followed suit in the next over, caught at point as Mallards stumbled to 95-5 from 12 overs, slipping marginally behind the required run rate for the first time.

Fortunately this week’s batting line-up was stronger than usual and the new batsmen Buckley and Scott settled things down again and got the scoreboard moving with 25 runs coming from the next three overs but just as Buckley began to hit his best form he picked out Chamberlain, the visitors best fielder, right on the boundary and the youngster held on to a good catch at the second attempt to remove the batsman for 15. After 15 overs Mallards were 120-6, three runs ahead of the visitors at the same stage.

Cox now joined Scott at the crease with 50 runs required from six overs and the pair started steadily adding another dozen runs in the next two overs to leave things evenly poised with 38 needed from four overs.

Unfortunately Ovingham had now gone completely on the defensive and with 10 fielders in a ring around the boundary it was becoming increasingly difficult to score quick runs as first Scott (13) and then Nitsch (3) were run out trying gallantly to eke out every run.

A four from Cox just about kept Mallards in touch but with Wisbach unable to repeat his previous heroics the game was finally up when the former was unluckily bowled off his pads for 16 in the final over.

Cleaver belatedly joined the fray, adding a single as Mallards finished their innings on a gallant 155-8 finishing just 14 runs short of another great but ultimately unsuccessful run chase.

Disappointingly the opposition failed to show up at the pub (Mallards loanee Jordan excepted), possibly due to the Brazil game having just kicked off but the home side continued to display their dogged determination by managing to eat both teams allocation of roast potatoes and chips.

 Match reporter: Gareth Taylor

 Before proceeding with the account of this week’s game, first an apology to those players who’ve had a sense of suffering from undersized balls this season – no this hasn’t been due to old age shrinkage, but indeed our captain falling victim to the vagaries of ebay seller descriptions (or pressing “buy now” while under the influence of alcohol – and yes we’ve all been there) and purchasing ladies balls for Mallards use. To quote that bastion of accuracy, Wikipedia:

“For men’s cricket, the ball must weigh between 5 1/2 and 5 3/4 ounces (155.9 and 163.0 g) and measure between 8 13/16 and 9 in (224 and 229 mm) in circumference. In women’s cricket the ball must weigh between 4 15/16 and 5 1/16 ounces (139.9 and 143.5 g) and measure between 8.3 and 8.9 in (210 and 225 mm) in circumference.”

Having measured the ball that was provided for the game on Tuesday, it definitely fell into the latter category. A big thanks therefore to Peter Nitsch for loaning the club a proper sized ball and hopefully the matter will be rectified ahead the next game.

Anyhow, onto the report proper. Despite a dodgy weather forecast, heavy rain over the weekend and several last minute drop-outs, Mallards managed to field 11 players (well 10 and then eventually 11) to face up to long-time opponents Architects. For once Architects did not look like they had brought along a couple of Burnmoor first teamers to bolster the squad, however “Ivor the Terrible” was in the squad and immediately made his peace with Leon who was in attendance to spectate and hopefully to inspire young Freddie.

Losing the toss on what was starting to look like quIte a pleasant early summer’s evening, vice captain Tom Browne was invited to field. Taking full advantage of his leadership, Browne elected to open the bowling and for the second time this season snaffled a wicket with his first ball, a short pitched delivery that was well taken by Cox.  However Clinton and number 3 Robinson steadied the ship with a 33-run partnership that was broken by Hunt to a well-judged catch by Buckley. At the end of 8 overs Browne finished with figures of 2 for 24  (snaffling a 2^nd wicket with his last ball) and Hunt 1 for 23.

Replacing the openers (and finally with 11 men on the field) Cox continued his run of fine bowling taking wickets with more well taken catches by Kent and Scutt – his figures slightly marred by the late arrival of Ivor (“the terrible”) Harkin who proceeded to swing through the line to hit 2 big sixes to cow corner to leave Cox with final figures of  2 for 33 from his four overs.  Meanwhile at the other end Nitsch provided some excellent tight bowling to finish with a highly respectable 0 for 18.

With Harkin retiring on 30, the score at 101 for 5 at the end of the 16^th over – after some generally excellent fielding – Browne turned to Taylor and Scutt to bowl the final 4 overs. Taylor duly delivered 2 wickets in first over mainly thanks to 2 excellent catches by Cox and Hunt, and Scutt also delivered with his 4^th ball courtesy of a well-taken catch by Browne. However it was at that point that the wheels fell off, with Scutt’s next 3 balls going for 9 runs. Taylor provided some control going for only 4 more in his second over and bagging a 3^rd wicket thanks to a superb one-handed catch by Cox (his third of the evening) to end with figures 3 for 8 from two overs, however Scutt’s last 12-ball over (yes that’s twelve)  was a bit of a disaster, yielding 16 runs to give him figures of 1 for 26 from his two overs and leaving Architects on 135  – probably 15-20 runs higher than the wicket suggested.

Mallards reply was led by Kent and Steel, but in a mirror of the Architects innings Kent perished immediately, misjudging the pace of the opening ball to offer up an easy catch.  Steel and No.3 Nitsch set about laying a solid foundation, but with some tight bowling from Architects openers Smith and Harrison both found it difficult to score runs easily. Steel eventually perished for 5 in the 4^th over, finally being caught after being dropped twice.

With the scoring virtually at a standstill,  Mallards lurched to 39 for 4 from 12 overs with Buckley and McCaffery both struggling to find timing on an increasingly two-paced pitch. Following their departures Cox, trying to up the tempo, was well caught on the boundary for a valiant, but short-lived 5.  Meanwhile at the other end Nitsch was content to do his best Chris Tavare impression – although to be fair he was swinging at a fair few only to connect with significantly less, some of which may have been down to one of the umpires not fully understanding the proper way to interpret the wide rule in short-form cricket.

By the 16^th over the score had further limped to 57 for 5 and thoughts had turned to just seeing out the overs. However Architects had other ideas turning to Ivor (already top scorer with 39 –after coming back in from retirement), who immediately removed Nitsch taking his off stump one short of retirement for a marathon 17-over 29, only to then waltz through the tail, clean bowling Scutt and Browne for ducks (not to forget Beacock bagging a duck from Lawson’s bowling to make it 4 ducks for the evening). Only Hunt provided a bit of resistance with a spirited 5 before becoming the final wicket of the night, again bowled by Ivor.

The final reckoning: 71 all out, and Mallards first loss of the season. Well it had to come some time and the margin was not as big as the scores made out. Likewise a very good fielding performance by Mallards, 8 catches out of 10 with the other two very difficult half chances.

As usual the Wellington did us proud with Yorkshires, roast potatoes, chips and gravy (the latter providing a big subject of conversation about the etiquette and geography of its use). So onto next week, can winning ways be re-established?

Mallards confirmed they are becoming North East cricket’s ‘Entertainers’ as they fought out another tense finish in Durham last night.

On a gloomy evening, on a terrible mat pitch and an outfield which appeared to have recently hosted a tractor convention the two teams somehow contrived an excellent game of cricket played in a great spirit.

Mallards skipper Wood won the toss and, concerned about a long batting tail, chose to field first, thereby sentencing his team to bat in the incoming gloom.

At first the gamble appeared to have paid off with Browne getting the side off to another great start, clean bowling Wrede for 0 with his second ball and Dunhill following suit with his second ball to dismiss Wastell to leave Durham at 10-2 from two overs.

However, Durham captain Swift and Lindsey settled things down well and started to move the score along nicely as the fielders struggled with a slippery surface and some terrible bounces on the rutted outfield and after six overs they had recovered to 33-2 before Browne struck again, removing Swift lbw for a fine 23 to finish with 2-29 from his four overs. Dunhill then finished off his very tidy spell with 1-21 from his four as Durham reached 50-3 from eight overs.

Cox and Haylock took up the bowling but with Lindsey and the incoming English playing forcefully chances were very limited and Haylock, in particular took some fierce punishment as the score continued to mount, Lindsey finally retiring on an excellent 33, as the home side reached 80-3 from 12.

English was the next to retire after a hard-hitting 30 and Cox finished his commendable spell with the very tidy figures of 0-19 from four overs as the score mounted to 101-3 from 15.

Last week’s batting hero Wisbach took over from Haylock (3 overs 0-29) and, after conceding a huge six, struck back by having James stumped by the ever alert Beacock.  Taylor took over from Cox at the other end as the Durham batsman started to put their foot down on the accelerator, halted briefly by another stumping from Beacock as Wisbach took his second wicket.

Taylor was unlucky when a very sharp chance narrowly slipped out of Haylock’s clutches at square leg but despite some scrambling fielding, especially from the ever enthusiastic McCaffrey (pictured above), the runs were beginning to pile up and despite a shambolic run out from the last ball Durham managed to reach a hefty 149-6 from their 20 overs, having added 48 in the last five overs.

After struggling to chase 94 to win their previous game, a target of 150 looked a long way off as Steel and Wood took up the challenge for Mallards but with the former in particularly good touch they got off to a rapid start, adding 35 in the first four overs.

With Wood playing hit and run and Steel regularly finding the boundary they continued in the same vein, taking 11 from an over from the useful Pyati, including a massive six from Steel which cleared the boundary by a distance to bring up the 50 partnership. After seven overs they had reached 55-0 with Steel retiring on an excellent 33 to bring Butcher to the crease.

The change of batsman didn’t slow the scoring as the pair chased up every possible run (and many improbable ones) and with Butcher taking over the boundary-hitting role the score continued to mount and they reached the half-way stage on the perfect run-rate score of 75-0.

Butcher was now really finding his form, taking two consecutive fours from the unfortunate Prashant’s over as the score soared to 95-0 from 12 overs.

Durham, however, had one last card up their sleeve and the introduction of Wallace brought immediate dividends as he first bowled Wood off his pads for an all-run 19 and then, after McGuiness got off the mark with a single, immediately skittled Butcher for a fine 24 to bring McCaffrey to the crease.

He immediately joined the party with a boundary and the two Macs continued to run down everything, taking the score up to 114 before McCaffrey was bowled by Langley for a frantic 11 at the end of the 15^th over, leaving Mallards needing 36 from five overs for victory.

Cox joined McGuiness in the hunt for victory but with the light really closing in batting was becoming more difficult with only six coming off the next over despite McGuiness crashing a fine square cut for four.

Seven more runs were squeezed from Langley’s next over to leave Mallards needing 22 from 18 balls for an unlikely victory.

With the pressure mounting Cox responded in style hitting a much-needed six from the returning Prashant’s first ball but a series of dot balls then kept things very tight again as they crept along to 136-3 with two overs left, 14 needed to win.

Mallards’ splendid running between the wickets had kept them in the game but the policy suffered its first casualty when McGuinness was finally left short of the crease, run out for a crucial 13 with Mallards requiring another 13 from 10 balls.

Cox immediately released the pressure with another huge six but Durham fought back again, Langley bowling the promoted Browne for 1. Fortunately, Taylor came in and drove his first ball for two to put Mallards in the driving seat, needing just four from the last over for victory.

Somehow it’s never that simple and Durham skipper Swift’s last throw of the dice was to bring himself on to bowl the last over in the by-now very gloomy conditions, a decision which immediately paid off as, after a single from the first ball he removed Taylor, clean bowled by a full toss.

Beacock entered the fray and, after a wide added to the cause, he scrambled a single to bring the scores level.

With Mallards needing just one run to win from two balls it looked all over but a frantic attempt to steal the winning run was thwarted when Beacock was run out to bring last week’s hero Wisbach to the crease to face the final ball with one run needed for victory.

At Jesmond he managed a leg-bye for victory but this week he couldn’t manage that. Instead, he brought his bat into play and drove handsomely through mid-on for an easy single and a second consecutive last-ball victory for the still unbeaten Mallards who finished on 150-7 with Cox not out on 22.

The newly-resilient Mallards celebrated their victory over the very sporting Durham staff team with a well-deserved pint in the Rose Tree and an unresolved debate as to whether this was the biggest total we’d ever chased down.

After a couple of rain-soaked weeks Mallards finally got to play some cricket on a lovely sunny evening at the splendid Jesmond Cricket Ground in what turned out to be a cracking game with a nail-biting finish.

A galaxy of Mallards stars turned out, so many that the teams decided to play with 12-a-side, Boyes being added to the Mallards XI and Dunhill guesting for RGS.

RGS won the toss, chose to bat and got off to a flyer with 19 from the first two overs, Browne’s rhythm somewhat disrupted by some rather over-zealous no-ball calls and Cox unlucky to see a thick edge fly for four.

The runs continued to flow as the batsmen seemed intent on going for their shots but in his second over Browne began to find his range, clean-bowling Devlin for 12 and after four overs the home side were handily set at 29-1.

Things then started to get really frantic. Firstly, Browne struck again, bowling the other opener Devlin for 4, then the incoming batsmen Davidson struck two more boundaries before Browne finished the over off by clean-bowling Walters for 0. With Davidson looking in fine form 11 runs came off Cox’s next over to leave RGS in charge with a hefty 52 runs from the first six overs though three batsmen were already back in the pavilion.

Despite the run-flow Mallards had been fielding well, with several good stops in the field and the pressure was starting to tell as RGS suddenly found it difficult to get the ball away. Browne capitalised on this again, taking his fourth wicket, trapping Loxley right in front of his stumps and in the next over, the unlucky Cox finally got his reward by clean-bowling Edwards for 0. After eight overs RGS were in the less impressive position of 59-5 with Browne finishing his spell with a brilliant 4-25 and Cox taking 1-21. Taylor took over at the pavilion end and struck immediately, bamboozling Broadbent with a straight ball to make it 59-6 as the runs really began to dry up. Wisbach replaced Cox and also started well, unlucky not to have the hard-hitting Davidson stumped first ball. With Davidson retiring on 30 the bowlers really began to dominate as RGS limped to 71-6 from 12 overs, Mallards display only tainted by a fumbling dropped catch by skipper Wood and a half-chance missed as the ball flew rapidly through McGuiness’s hands at square leg, both from the unlucky Wisbach. With the batsmen becoming increasingly bogged down they decided to take some chances but chose entirely the wrong fielder to take on as Dickinson’s throw from the boundary and Buckley’s clean take saw Sneddon run out for 1.

With Taylor keeping things very tight at his end, Wisbach finally got some reward for his efforts, bowling Burton in his third over and then seeing Wood make amends for his earlier howler by safely pouching Watkins in his next over to reduce RGS to an under-achieving 87-9 after just 16 overs.

Cleverly, RGS chose not to allow Dunhill to bat (perhaps they’ve seen him play before) which brought the previously-retired Davidson back to the crease with Taylor and Wisbach having finished their excellent four-over spells with 1-12 and 2-13 respectively.

Wood chose to bring himself on to bowl at Davidson, a decision which looked thoroughly misguided when his first ball was smashed for four and his sixth ball was smashed to cow corner. Fortunately the lurking Cox had anticipated this and took a fine catch running round the boundary to end the RGS innings at an apparently very- gettable 93 all out in just 17 overs.

With a seemingly strong batting line-up Mallards were confident of continuing their unbeaten run, a confidence that was slightly dented when Mussett thick-edged straight to a deep point for 0 in the first over from Dunhill, casting grave doubts on the selector’s decision to leave out the ever-consistent bowler.

Dickinson then joined Steel at the wicket and set about matching the RGS style with some extravagant strokes mixed with suicidal hacks. He moved quickly to 13 but was dropped three times before someone finally managed to hold on to a catch in the sixth over to leave Mallards on a solid 30-2.

Nitsch came and went very quickly, caught behind for 1, to bring Boyes out to join Steel who was progressing steadily, if unspectacularly, at the other end. The pair succeeded in steadying the Mallards ship but found it difficult to really get on top of the bowling and after 10 overs they had crept along to a cautious 45-3.

The contrast with the RGS innings was stark as Mallards continued in the same careful vein for another four overs with Boyes striking a rare boundary but otherwise finding it difficult to find the gaps and after 15 overs they had moved things on to 69-3 to leave Mallards needing just 25 to win from the final five overs.

Regulars to these match reports will understand that despite the seemingly strong position this was no foregone conclusion and this game was to be no exception to that rule. The next over saw Steel finally perish for 21, a fierce drive well held at the second attempt at mid-off and the unfortunate McGuiness claiming the famed golden duck, clean-bowled off a faint inside edge for 0. The normally phlegmatic Buckley came to the crease to finish things off but unusually he also disappeared quickly, clean-bowled for 2 in the next over as Mallards scrambled to 81-6 from 17 overs with 13 needed to win. Wood joined Boyes at the crease but their partnership was also short-lived as Boyes finally ended his vigil, also on 21, clean-bowled by RGS skipper Edwards to leave Mallards needing 10 from the last two overs to win.

Wood and Wisbach decided to get them in singles and with the field set back they picked up five in the next over to leave five required off the last six balls.

With another four runs off the first four balls the match looked over but then Wisbach failed to get the fifth ball away and the game had reached the last ball with Mallards needing one to win.

With the field in very tight Wisbach manage to get his pad in the way of the final ball and as the fielders scrambled desperately to pick the ball up Wood and Wisbach sprinted the final leg-bye to win the game.

A splendid match was enlivened further by some very pleasant beer and chat outside the pavilion as Mallards celebrated their unbeaten start to the season in the fading evening sunshine.

Ominous dark clouds greeted the Mallards as they finally got their season underway following last week’s pitch debacle with a home game against Excelsior Batters.

Skipper Wood won the toss and chose to bat while his batsmen were still able to see the ball. The two skippers agreed to be flexible on the number of overs, starting with 16 but looking to play 18 if the weather held up.

A new opening pair of Steel and Kent began the season steadily on a typically erratic early-season pitch with Steel in particular finding timing difficult.

Nevertheless they set the Mallards ship steadily on course, with Kent hitting a couple of solid boundaries, before Steel was caught and bowled by Langley for 7 with the score on 29 in the sixth over. Dickinson joined Kent at the crease and started unusually slowly with five dot balls in his first six before launching a ferocious attack on the unfortunate Shearer. After defending the first ball of the over he hit the next four for three fours and a six before taking a single of the last ball to make it 19 off the over, leaving Mallards well set on 54-1 from 8 overs.

Mallards fixture maestro Dunhill then appeared on the scene and with the opposition a man short joined the fray, fielding for Excelsior.

Another four in the next over helped propel Dickinson towards early retirement as he quickly reached 30 from just 16 balls to return to the pavilion and bring Cox to the crease. With Kent still steadily accumulating runs at the other end the score continued to mount rapidly until he too reached 30 with another boundary in the 12^th over and the score on 81-2.

Last season’s in-form batsman Butcher replaced Kent as, with the weather and light improving, the captains agreed to make it an 18-over game.

Under instructions to try and move things on quickly Butcher perished for the cause, clean bowled by Woodhead for six, and he was quickly joined back in the pavilion by the incoming Nitsch whose brief innings was quickly closed by Langley, clean bowled for 1. Wood then joined Cox to see the Mallards home as they finally reached a very useful 111-3 from their 18 overs with Cox unbeaten on a steady 16 and Wood 6 not out.

Mallards took to the field confident of defending their impressive total with Wood taking over the keeper’s gloves from the unusually absent Beacock and Browne (pictured) opening the bowling and they got off to a flier. Excelsior opener Krishnan, whose fine reputation with the bat had been extolled by several fearful Mallards, carved Browne’s first ball to Taylor at a deepish point. With hearts in mouths the rest of the field watched as Taylor manfully held on to the sharp catch to send the illustrious opener packing.

No sooner had the celebrations died down when Browne struck again, his fourth ball an absolute beauty which cut in sharply off the pitch to smash Haggie’s stumps out of the ground and reduce Excelsior to 4-2 from the first over.

And Mallards weren’t stopping there, Hunt instantly found some swing from the other end, his fourth ball bamboozling the normally impressive Woodhead for one.  Browne’s second over then saw another beauty trap Shearer right in front of the stumps to leave Excelsior in disarray at 5-4 in the third over and it could have been even better if Nitsch hadn’t narrowly failed to grasp a sharp slip catch in the same over. This opposition had snatched victory against Mallards from precarious positions in the past but surely even we couldn’t lose from here!

Excelsior managed to finally settle things down with skipper Birrell playing steadily but their slow recovery was undermined again when Hunt found more late swing to clean bowl Lattimer for 5 and after two great opening spells they had staggered to 26-5 from 8 overs with Browne returning 3-17 and Hunt a miserly 2-7.

Taylor and Haylock took over the bowling and kept a tight grip on things with Taylor producing his usual ‘pearls amongst swine’ repertoire of the odd great ball amongst a scattering of wides and dead balls and Haylock hitting his straps immediately with a spot-on maiden.

One of Taylor’s pearls struck gold in his second over with Glenwright comprehensively bowled for one and though he then went for a couple of boundaries he found another one in his third over to dismiss the ringer Dunhill, smartly caught by Nitsch at something approximating short leg. With 13 overs gone Excelsior had been reduced to a mere 53-7 and Mallards were so confident of an opening day victory that Nitsch left the field to order the chips!

Taylor’s three-over spell had produced fine figures of 2-15 and the unlucky Haylock completed his four very steady overs with 0-17.

Nitsch returned to the field to take over at the tree end and in his second over he produced a fizzing delivery which startled the batsman so much he leapt back into his stumps, not just ‘hit wicket’ but ‘totally demolished wicket’ and with a Mallards victory in the bag Butcher was given the last over to complete an excellent win with some very good bowling backed up by some excellent fielding, Cox, in particular, impressing at both cover and mid-wicket.

Excelsior finally finished on 73-8 from their 18 overs, a comprehensive 38 run victory, with contributions from everyone and a great start to the season.

The delight continued at the splendid Wellington pub where the usual provision of roast tatties and chips was accompanied by a vast array of delicious roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. We must try and win more often if that’s what we get!