Final day wash out prevents cruise to victory

The forecast for the final Saturday of the season was poor and it was a case of waiting for the rain to start falling. Before it did arrive, the Village, despite fielding only 10 men, enjoyed themselves, playing the weakest side in the division. Batting first, the Village amassed an imposing 248 in just 43 overs but were dismissed with 7 overs of the innings to spare. Majid Asif was the star of the show with a league career best score of 126 not out batting at No.3. He found a couple of willing partners, Jay Nandha (39), Marcus Cara (21) as the runs flowed quickly.

Only 14 overs were possible after tea. It was enough to reduce the relegated Chipperfield Clarendon 2nd XI to 45-4, with Naz Asif (2-11) and David Overton (2-6) picking up two wickets a piece.

It capped a pretty disappointing season for the Village 1st team, who for the most part under-performed. Having beaten both the promoted sides during the course of the season, it is clear that the strength and talent exists to do much better in this division. A lot of games were lost with poor performances against weaker teams. There were numerous occasions when minor adversities in games escalated into match losing situations. Too many batsman were out of form for too long.

The final reckoning for the season saw a tally of 6 wins, 2 draw, 1 no result and 9 defeats. 3 of the wins came in the first four games but thereafter the season fall away badly. Better things will be expected next term.