Greenies 1 fell to another close loss, this time against Schools on Sunday. Sent in to bat, we posted 201. Only 2 batsman managed to score more than 10 & avoid a fine bottle that was very nearly poured down the drain due to some very dubious chunks & curdling texture. We lost 3 wickets caught behind in the first 10 overs against some fine fast bowling from Kervan & Marlon. After that Steve & I settled in & helped ourselves to some very batsman friendly medium pace & spin in a 100 run partnership. Steve was particularly harsh on anything too short or too full outside off stump & played some beautiful cuts & drives. He was eventually dismissed for a very fine 80 when a second hundred for the season looked realistic. I was caught on the boundary for 66 & after that we fell away to be bowled out in the 47th over when a score of 230 - 240 was definitely on the cards at the final drinks break.

It was another frustrating effort. However, I feel that we are playing much better cricket this season despite the lack of wins. A quick check of last years scores shows that our batting totals were173, 72, 6-96 (win), 199, 145, 198, 279 (Paramount), 111, 144. After taking away the chase to win against Byrite & the 2nd grade standard Paramount attack, we averaged 148 per innings. This year we have scored175, 194, 221, 172, 201 for an average 192. A 44 run improvement, which is no doubt encouraging. If we can average 230 an innings, we would have won all of our matches this year, apart from maybe Police. So therein lies the challenge for our final game against Esso on June 8 & for next season - to improve by another 40 runs per innings. This will be even more difficult given that Paully & Josh are leaving island & Watto & Chris Smith intend to retire from ones due to time constraints at the end of the season. So please keep an ear out for cricketers, particularly some good batsman between now & the start of next year.

With some luck, we could easily have rolled Schools. Sealy was given not out when he gloved an attempted hook off Josh early on (went on to score 65) & none of the other batsman were very impressive. Josh was all over the batsman with 10 overs 1-25. They didn't have much idea against Watto or Faisal either. I erred by brining Faisal on too late. If I had brought him in 6 overs earlier, it could have been a different story. Schools limped to 202 with 2 wickets left. Faisal - 10-0-3-36 & Watto - 10-0-2-40 were excellent. Also great to see Hector back & bowling some heat. He has been missed all season.

While we limped off in dribs & drabs, the kids rubbed it in by playing a game of soccer on the pitch for a good hour after the game. After 45 overs in the scorching heat, it didn't take long for the beers to reach the brain & lift spirits though.

MOM - Steve Smith - a fine 80 & showing great promise for next year

POTD - Craig Scott, a spectacular, diving, 1 handed catch, millimetres from the turf. Yes, Craig Scott.

COTD - Ledge - a game he would rather forget, another dodgy LBW, out for a duck & a run in with our favorite umpire, old Rosco Duncan, who again did his best to ruin our afternoon.

Our final game of the season is against Esso at West Bay on June 8, please mark in diary. We will mix up the batting order to give those in the middle order a chance to shine. Josh is back in Saffa land.