Before the game resident statto/scorer/director of cricket AAAADRIAN Thomas declared a loss would be ok and they'd be too good for us anyway so not to be disheartened.

Inspiring stuff.

Having won the toss on a pitch the 2s elected to bat. The longest man alive and silver fox Bobby Brown opened the innings. Thommo was delighted as they added more than normal for the first wicket. Brown was aided by some suspect catching but quickly got to his work endangering the Pakistani Express fielders on the far side. Spink played some glorious long shots of both front and fronter foot. Both were dismissed at some point and that bought the unlikely duo of Hunt and Herring to the crease.

It was lovely really. Hunt continued from where he left off last year and it appears Herring has played the game before. At drinks we were well placed on 115-2. After drinks the pair upped the ante hammering the Winterbourne bowlers. Both passed fifty before Hunt was unfortunate to be adjudged LBW.

Herring then went berserk playing all manner of MCC approved drives and sweeps to bring up a debut ton.

At this point we had lots more than we normally get and so when the birthday boy joined Lordy we knew it couldn't continue. But it did, briefly.

The Lordy walked having been giving not out. That's commendable but not for a runout. Which was bizarre.

There was no final flourish but contributions all round. Pretty much all round anyway took the 2s to a very pleasant 300+.

We would need that many.

First ball of their innings Pony, tumbling downhill, was warned for a head high beamer.

Fast forward an hour and Winterbourne has 95 off 13 overs for the loss of 1 wicket. Incredibly, they'd scored about 8 of them off the bat.

The good news was we'd made a game of it. The bad news was we'd would surely have to field 50 overs.

Pointon nicked off bracey. His customary one moment of magic in amongst the rest of his day. It's fair to say he is still trying to 'prove his worth'.

Anyway it wasn't looking great. Especially when Trottman started whacking us everywhere but the Coxy came up with a little beauty. The ole run him out backing up. Excellent. Game won and no more rubbish?

Wrong.

We meandered through the rest of the innings whilst Stov's blood pressure rose. They were only finally out of it when we removed their skipper in the 44 over. Well done Rob.

They closed 9 down and 60 short. It should have been 10 down and 140 short but there we go.

Lordy bowled nicely but he should for someone who has played non stop for 18 months. Coxy, Jones and Brown too were useful with the ball. Spink had moments as did Pony but they were not as frequent as one would hope.

Nevertheless, a pleasing start for the 2s but with much to work on.

Next, we march on Stapleton.