If there is such a thing as the elusive 'Spirit of Cricket', it's easiest to find once you've already secured promotion. It was in this context that the 4th XI played through wet and windy conditions with a ball that become the proverbial 'bar of soap', in their loss to Sonning's 4th XI at Waingels College, garnering much praise from the opposition, but not many points!

The only possible outcome of winning the toss was to bowl first while the weather was relatively dry, try to skittle the opposition out then knock off the runs super quickly. Making his debut as a captain in any form of cricket, skipper Taylor (Andrew, not the usual Sean) promptly loss the toss and Henley were asked to bat. Of course.

Batting on an Astroturf pitch, Henley made a good start, with Freddie Bowlby and George Piercey putting on 59 for the first wicket. Rams Palvannan came in when Freddie perished and scored a quick fire 27 off 30 balls, but his powerful hitting came at the cost of a tweaked back, which ruled him out for the rest of the game. When George Piercey was caught smartly for an attractive 60 off 73 balls, including 2 sixes, the score was a healthy 116 for 3 off 23.3 overs. Alas, despite this great platform, Henley's innings stuttered. Only Rocco Rotherham, making his senior debut, batted with any fluency, including hitting an enormous six that threatened to breach the boundary fence of the adjacent Great Western Mainline during his run-a-ball 12. His Dad, James, also making his debut, was one of two stumping victims. The other, Richard Piercey, danced down the pitch looking to clear the railway and dispatch the ball onto Sonning Golf Course, but found only fresh air and was promptly given a send off by the square leg umpire (a certain G Piercey)! Two run outs summed up the way the innings fell apart and when skipper Taylor was last man out, bowled unluckily off his forearm (well, he would say that, wouldn't he?), Henley had collapsed to a disappointing 162 all out.

After a shortened 'tea' interval, Henley stepped out of the changing rooms to find light rain falling. With bowlers confirming and reconfirming throughout the innings that their run ups and Astroturf landing area were not unduly slippery, despite the worsening conditions, Henley gamely stayed out through weather which, on another ground and in other circumstances, would undoubtedly have seen play suspended. Opening bowlers Joe Raymond and Aakansh Naik bowled with discipline and precision, going past the bat numerous times and being rewarded with a wicket each. Sonning, sensing that they might need to get ahead of the DLS par score, attacked from the off, with several chances not going to hand (not helped by only having ten fielders). But alas, despite determined bowling the third wicket partnership could not be broken, with Gaurav Jayan scoring an unbeaten 76.

It's easy to blame the weather and, even if Sonning praised the way we kept going and got the game on, they won the game because they batted better than us. Henley should still be proud of the way we went about our business. Ultimately, it means that the young (and older) members of the team got another 20+ overs of hard yards under their belt, which will help them prepare for the challenges of Division 9, next season.