Thankfully there was no re-enactment of the ugly scenes that spoilt this equivalent fixture last year - in fact this game was played in an excellent spirit with the aid of an added umpiring stint from Bob Westbury

Neil won the toss, and with concern over his bowling attack decided to bat first. Rich E finally run out of luck after 2 unbeaten 50s to be well caught for 7 and then Adam (playing to cement his league place) was bowled 4th ball to one that apparently did everything. Matt Langley soon followed for 9 and the side were in some trouble.

Fortunately Dan Rollo and Teflon Jr put together a crucial stand that saw them safely into the 80s and past the drinks interval. Both fell soon after (Dan for 38 and Michael for 29) whilst looking to push the score along. From then on Neil batted sensibly at one end (finding it difficult to connect with too many big blows) whilst some useful hitting at the other end from Wellsy (25 in 13 balls) and Akash (16) saw the score to some respectability. Neil finished on 37 not out out of 185 for 8.

In reply Barnet clearly had some batting talent at the top of the order but it seemed that there was a bit of a rush for an early finish as wickets fell regularly. Their opener fell for 0 to Wellsy (and a good catch from King's) and then Akash picked up 2 well deserved wickets (2 for 23 from 6) bowling a much better length than on his last spell at Chalk Lane. Michael Smith made a telling contribution in the field with a run out and later picked up a wicket (trying in vain to bowl like his brother) thanks to a well judged catch by Rich E.

Spooks replaced Akash and his first over went for 10 including a towering 6 into the road. More poor shots though and useful nagging bowling soon did the trick and his next 8.2 overs picked up 5 for 13 with 5 maidens. Both Teflon Jr and skipper Neil took smart catches and the day's work was done with 14 overs to spare and not much effort to find the apparently missing bowling overs. A win then by 73 runs making it 2 wins out of 2.
 

A pleasant trip to the leafy surroundings of Preston awaited the second team for their opening Chess Valley game. Of course the Levymobiles were unable to fully enjoy the countryside, rushing as they were with 6 members of the team from an over running colts game at Finchley. Fortunately Neil lost the toss so those arriving with 10 minutes to spare had a few minutes to settle themselves down.

Preston were conveniently not at their strongest thanks to first team cry offs, but Fosters still lost an early wicket as Dan Rollo was bowled by a good inswinger for 2. Joe Barker also fell reasonably cheaply and a repair job was required from Neil, batting with ever more confidence this season, and Richard E. They put on a 50 partnership in reasonably good time before Neil fell in the over before drinks for 32.

92 for 3 after 22 and the skipper was looking for 200. In a rather curious manner this was almost achieved. Following the resumption the scoring slowed down dramatically despite Akash taking 12 from one over – before taking one too many liberties and losing his wicket. Spooks failed to trouble the scorers, leading to Teflon Jr joining the ever cautious Rich E. By the end of the 40^th over only 53 runs had been added since drinks and Wellsy was itching to attack!

Teflon Jr started the chaos of the final 5 overs by adding a quick 20 runs before he picked out a fielder for 36 just after his father had, for the second week running, checked whether he could afford a jug! Wellsy came in and immediately hit his first 2 balls for 4.

Rich E by then had reached 49 and agreed with Wellsy to look for a quick single. What Wellsy had not appreciated was that a tap back to the bowler would lead to a call of ‘YES!’ Realising the Travelator was never going to stop, Wellsy set off in hope and breathed a sigh of relief as the ball missed the stumps. Rich E looked back in concern but then raised his bat to celebrate his first Fosters 50.

Wellsy then hogged the strike so that wides, byes and the odd ball hitting the bat took the score to a close of 198 for 6, so that as many runs were scored in the final 5 overs and had been scored in the previous 18! Rich E staggered off to a good round of applause looking for medical attention having made 51 not out! 

In reply it was clear that the Fosters bowling attack was rather more penetrative that that of Preston. Wellsy bowled an excellent spell but oddly found that bowling full tosses and seeing a batsman jump over the ball was the way to take wickets. He finished with 4 for 26. Joe Barker wasn’t so lucky at the other end being somewhat expensive despite looking to be bowling well.

A double change brought on Akash and Dan Smith – the former bowling a much better length than the previous week and being unlucky to go wicketless; the latter bowling quicker as his spell went on and reminding Teflon Jr why wearing a helmet standing back is a useful thing after all. Dan picked up 2 for 22 as his pace hotted up. Another double change brought on Christian and Spooks, with Spooks carrying on where he had left off the previous day enjoying a mopping up of the tail as he completed 8.3 overs and took 3 for 20.

Preston were all out for 147 and in the end the final 5 overs of batting plus the better bowling attack had seen the side home by 51 runs……fittingly exactly the contribution of James Grant.