Sunday took the Hetairoi to Checkendon, where the Hetairoi produced a good performance in an excellent game, but unfortunately came off second best. The deciding factor was a 59 ball 78 from the Checkendon number 7.

On a slow and variable pitch, but with a swift outfield and a range of fielding abilities on either side, it was always going to be a game where only a very high score would be safe, and only a very low total impossible to defend. In the end, the Hetairoi were probably slightly under par, and not quite good enough to defend it. However, this was an excellent and enjoyable game, on a beautiful May afternoon.

Hetairoi won the toss and batted first. On a tricky pitch the Hetairoi top three all contributed well - Sanil (on debut) making 17, opening with Mike, who was fourth out for 40. Ed Burn made 47 at a good rate coming in at 3. 100-1 at 20 of 35 overs put the Hetairoi in a good position, but acceleration was required. However, in the last fifteen overs, only Henry batted with any fluency or even found the boundary. Varun was unfortunate to be bowled leaving his first delivery - via the top of his bat handle; hence was unable to emulate his innings from the previous week. Henry, however, was able to provide a reasonable repeat of Rafe’s efforts the week before - reaching his fifty in 28 balls (one ball quicker!) - but departing four balls later for 61. Around this Hetairoi were unable to form a long lasting partnership, and consequently left 15 or 20 runs on the field. They would come to regret this later.

The bowling and fielding effort was generally good, but with the odd misstep at crucial junctures (a couple of high full tosses that were smeared high into the trees come to mind). Will and Varun opened, but were unable to break through in the initial salvo. The first wicket came from a runout - for which Paul could take most credit. An early change was made, with immediate results; the opposition captain discovering that some of Henry’s outswingers hit the seam and nip back - to take the off bail. That spurred Varun into action, who accounted for the number three with a good yorker in his next over. It took until Henry’s sixth over for another wicket to fall - well caught by Sanil at cover (who fielded excellently throughout). From the other end, Stephen bowled without luck, followed by John. When Paul effected an excellent run out in John’s first over - scampering out from behind the stumps to collect the ball at short midwicket, and timing his run and throw perfectly to catch the striker who had been sent back short - Checkendon were 77-5 with half the overs gone. At this juncture it was tempting to think the game was done. However, that was the last wicket to fall. The rate now at 7, it never got substantially above that. Olly bowled well but without luck, as did Varun and Will. In their second spells, they saw more than a dozen balls beat the bat and stumps in uncontrolled shots. There were no clear missed chances, but with a little bit of luck, some excellent hitting from the Checkendon number 7, and a few inaccuracies in the bowling, fielding and captaincy, pressure slowly moved onto the Hetairoi. Checkendon reached the target with an over to spare.