With the cake safely bought and paid for after last weeks magical promotion victory it was just down to Egham's "finest range" of sausages to throw a bit of icing on it by beating relegated Cranleigh and bringing home the Division 3 title to Vicarage Road on Saturday. Due to weddings, ankle injuries and the dreaded "F" word there were a whopping 5 changes to the line up with Hally, Stu, Risky, Boots and CD out and Christmas, Pricey, Tom Bouch, Jamie Hod and Danger coming in.

The home skipper had already pre-warned us of conditions before we departed, and we drove through some fairly inclement precipitation as we got closer to Cranleigh and things were looking pretty grim. However, we were surprised and relieved to find that the pitch wasn't too bad and subject to the rain keeping off we would be set for a prompt start. With the weather sure to take out some part of the match at some stage it was imperative to win the toss, shove em in and knock em over early. Your reporter's form in this area of the game has been slightly less than abysmal throughout the campaign and there were at least 11 breaths being held as the call of "tails never fails" went out. For once conditions worked in our favour, the coin "plugged" just off the track with Her Majesty getting a close up of some Surrey soil and Egham 1st XI had won a toss for the first time since July 26th!!

It took just 4 balls of the game before the covers made their first visit out to the middle and it was not going to be the last. Bouch (of the large Antipodean variety) took the new ball with Jamie Hod and it was clear from the off that conditions were going to favour the bowlers, so long as they could stand up. Cranleigh Pet Stores supply of sawdust was coming in very handy as Bouch seemed to be paddling in the stuff at one end, while the slighter frame of JamieHod was having less trouble at the other end. The first breakthrough came from Bouch when the Doctor took the first of 3 edges with the score on 21. The second did not take long with a replica dismissal, and when The Hodmeister soon gave the Doc his 3rd catch of the day it was 23-3 and looking good for the Sausages. Cranleigh's skipper Rich Bowers tried to counter as he and Harms moved the score to 53 with no further loss to frustrate the Sausages. However the form bowler 2Sips was now into the attack to replace the expensive Hod (1-6 from 6 overs) and he continued his remarkable run of form over the last 5 weeks. He used a leg stump half volley to devastating effect to remove the left handed Harms for 10 and then with the very next ball removed their right handed overseas with another superb leg stump half volley, both of which somehow cannoned into leg stump and it was 53-5. With Danger now on to rest Bouch, it was soon his turn to get on the scoresheet as a good yorker made it 54-6. 2Sips picked up his 3rd as the younger and considerably lighter Bouch version took a smart low catch in the gully for 57-7. Danger knocked over a couple more and when Sips finally got Bowers for 37, again caught by Baby Bouch it was all over. Cranleigh 73 all out, with Bouch 2-33, Danger 3-11, Hod 1-6 and Sips 4-23.

And so off to tea for a nice drop of Chilli Con Carne before setting about scoring 74 from 51 overs. However, things rarely go completely to plan at Egham, and with Christmas and Pricey about to walk out the rains came down, and boy did they come down. The already wet track, square and run-ups were limited on how much more water they could take and things were looking very grim indeed. With news filtering through of Leatherhead rattling up 201-3 dec and the likelyhood of a dis-spirited Farncombe folding like a deck of cards, there was a real possibilty of the title not making the trip back to Egham. However, massive credit to all the Egham and Cranleigh players (bearing in mind they had absolutely nothing to play for) who spent much of the next hour and a half trying to soak up puddles of water. Particular mention must go to Smudger and Baby Bouch who donated their towels to the cause! With the added help of our hardy away following, Marky K, Sucky, Chrissy Wot and Big Bobby Amon also mucking in we finally got there and the umpires and captains agreed that play could begin, subject to people being able to keep their footing, at 5.10pm with 20 overs left.

Luckily, the rain stayed away from Cranleigh for the next hour or so as Egham edged their way towards victory despite the losses of Christmas, Pricey, Smudger and Baby Bouch. The innings was being held together by our lovable Aussie who was playing some super shots as he was joined by the skipper at 52-4. The pair had moved the score onto 71, and with the skipper on strike and thoughts of him fittingly hitting the winning runs drifting through his mind, his opportunity arose in the form of a bread and butter leg stump full bunger. Such was his eagerness to pick out the square leg boundary, he was inexplicably early on the shot and somehow contrived to hoist a leading edge into covers hands! The victory moment was not long in coming though, as even more fittingly Bouch smashed one over the covers for

4 to finish on 46 not out and see Egham, the 2008 champions of Division 3, home to a 5 wicket victory.

With champagne corks soon popping, Calves even managed to land one in Big Bouch's eye socket, and cameras flashing it was a special moment to round off a special season. Huge thanks to Cranleigh and the umpires for getting the game finished and to our hardy band of away supporters, Chrissywot, Sucky & the boys, Mark & Lizzy K, Bobby and Marion, Big Glenn, Wardy & Paul.

Over and out from your reporter, mission accomplished!

Your match reporter is still in a slightly emotional state and can't quite yet believe that with a game to spare, Egham's range of "finest sausages" have secured promotion to Division 2 of the Surrey Championship.

An incredibly tense cricket match that could quite easily, and quite probably should have gone in Warlingham's favour, saw our never say die spirit win through against the odds and secure a nail-biting, nerve-jangling, heart-stopping, ring-twitching 11 run victory, that sent not just the 11 Egham players, but a good number of nervous supporters, into raptures as a 2Sips delivery crashed into "Uncle's" stumps to wrap things up.

The day had started in fairly normal fashion, CD was running late, Smudger was entertaining us with his comical inability to carry out a fairly basic fielding drill and the skipper was enquiring as to everyone's preference on what to do when he won the toss. Things continued as per the last 5 weeks and the 13th lost toss of the season meant that we were batting first on a decent looking track prepared by Baxy's inexperienced apprentice ground staff duo of Sucky and Marky K!

Good news on the team sheet was that our Nemesis of recent seasons Tim Slade was unable to make the match so Hally and Risky opened up against the relatively inexperienced seam attack of Patel and King. Risky blasted an absolute beaut of a cover drive for 4 off King before trying to repeat the feat and was well held by Pizzey at gully with the score on just 11. Not the start we were after, but Stu and Hally were ticking along nicely and we were doing ok. A double change after 12 overs meant it was spin at both ends, with the excitable Suggamar's leg-spin and "Uncle's" sometimes suspicious left armer's entering the attack. It is certainly true that bad balls get wickets and today was to be no exception as the leggy's plan of bouncing Hally out worked a treat. His first half tracker was rightly despatched in the general direction of the football ground, but the little chap persevered with his theory next ball and Hally picked out mid-wicket a treat. Gone for 20 and 49-2. Joel joined Stu and was clearly keen to knock the spinners off their stride. He twice launched Uncle over long on for 6 but got foxed by his cunning quicker, flatter one and chopped on for 17. Smudger had reached 11 when he too was bounced out by the leggy. As hard as Smudger can hit a cricket ball, it is doubtful that he has ever struck one as sweet as this, but in fairness Pizzey at mid-wicket took his 2nd blinder of the match and it was 98-4. Stu was still looking in good touch though as he and the skipper took the score into 3 figures and he produced his first half century of the season at the most perfect time. However, no sooner had he got to 50 than he was on his way after top edging another Suggamar long-hop and it was 113-5. Calves and the skipper were knocking it around fairly decently and had put on 30 odd when the skipper's hammies couldn't get him 22 yards as quickly as he needed them to and he was gone for 21.

Bootsie and Calves nudged things along but a bit of a shocker left Calves run out for a crucial 25. Bootsie got cleaned up on the slog for 17 important runs before the Doc and Sips cameos got us to 185-9 from 55 overs. Probably about 25 short of par but definitely a defendable total.

A simply must win game for Warlingham, it was obvious they would try and take the attack to us and so it proved, but they were ably assisted by some wayward deliveries and plenty of no-balls. Bootsie's return to football over the last fortnight had clearly impacted on his rhythm and he was despatched for 0-24 from 3 overs. Bouch opening at the other end was fairing better and made the important first breakthrough when their skipper, Louw, drove on the up to a well placed Hally at mid-off who had a little juggle before pouching the opportunity, 33-1. Sips was now on for Boots and Bouch had a breather and was replaced by CD who soon made two enormous breakthrough's. First a cracking delivery nipped back to bowl the limpet like Field before the dangerous Naidoo nicked one to the Doctor who took a good low catch, 65-3 and game on. In fairness White and Pizzey batted pretty well and their 4th wicket partnership appeared to take the game out of our reach and potentially destroy any promotion dreams, the score had moved to 112-3 when Calves, with the final ball before drinks enduced White to get a faint edge to the Doctor and we gave ourselves a timely lift. On a decent track with 6 wickets in hand, 74 runs from 23 overs should not have been a problem for Warlingham, but the Sausages had not given up all hope just yet. Calves was bowling nicely in tandem with Bouch, who was giving it everything from the other end. The score had nudged into the 130's when Pizzey got a leading edge off Calves and CD took a cracking low catch at cover. This was immediately followed up when he trapped Hitesh Patel LBW, perhaps a little unluckily, on the sweep and it was 136-6. Bouch was still pounding in and was giving McNamee a bit of a working over and it was obvious he wasn't going to stand there and guts it out for his side. He played a pretty average slog and top edged, where Calves took a really good catch running back from 1st slip, now 151-7 and it was all rather exciting.

Our excitiable friend Suggamar was batting down the order and was clearly going to be the danger man. He and Shane Patel continued to edge closer to victory and we needed to freshen things up. Bouch was looking like he could vomit at any moment, which is normally a sign to a skipper that he may need to make a bowling change, and so Sips came back into the attack. With the score now up at 168, Sips last ball of his returning over was a perfect yorker which Patel played over, and it was 8 down. CD had now come back on to replace Calves and kept things fairly quiet in his come back over. Sips turn again, and bingo, King went for the big drive over the top, mis-cued and Hally took the catch at mid-off, 170-9. Uncle Amin, a genuine tail-ender at the crease now and we are in the box seat for sure with 16 still needed. A slog to cow corner picked up a couple of runs to end Sips over and take them to 172-9. Suggamar on strike to CD, everyone deep to let him have a single, or try and stop the boundary, unbelievably first ball he nudges a single to gives us 5 goes at Uncle. He can hardly lay a bat on CD, other than to dig out a yorker, but he survives, 173-9. Back to Sips again, same format, everyone deep, oh my god, he does it again! A single off Sips first ball takes the score to 174 and gets Uncle back on strike to Sips. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.......and all that rubbish, Sips only needs a couple of attempts to knock back off stick and it's general pandemonium!!!

A large scrum appears on the square and somewhere near the bottom of it is Stefan Kaltner, hero of the hour with 3-24 also in there somewhere, Calves 3-33, Bouch 2-48 and CD 2-33 and on top is one very, very proud skipper!

Lets go to Cranleigh Saturday and finish it off.

Egham's "finest sausage selection" put in an excellent all round team performance to see off the normally hard to beat Old Wimbledonians on Saturday and thus move a step closer to promotion from Division 3. For at least the 5th week running the skipper wasted 2 minutes of everyone's time discussing what to do in the event of a successful toss. Unsurprisingly we were asked to bat first and Hally and Risky provided one of our best starts of the season as they both batted with great purpose, not only were there some flowing shots but the running between the wickets was as good as we have witnessed all season. Risky holed out at mid-off for the 2nd week running for an excellent 29, but Stu looked in good touch as the scoreboard continued to tick nicely. Stu eventually departed for 38 which sent Bouch to the wicket as we looked to press on for the declaration. Hally completed a fine half century and seemed set for many more until he top edged to mid-on for a super 62. Smudger did not quite get going and perished for 2 going for a big hit. The skipper joined Bouch who was looking in ominous form as the pair looked to take the score past the 200 barrier. Bouch was moving through the gears nicely and hitting the ball sweetly all around the ground and was homing in on another big score. The skipper nicked one behind for a quick fire 15 and when Calves soon did the same, it was left to JamieHod to play a couple of glorious shots as we came in on 232-6 from 50 overs. The Hod 13 not out and Bouch unbeaten after a cracking 56.

The 2 not out batsmen took the new ball but Bouch could not quite find the rhythm that proved so successful at S&M last week and was whipped off after just 4 overs. In the meantime, Hod had got himself on the scoresheet after ripping one through the oppo's skippers defence. It was another super 6 over set from the youngster before he was sent off to graze for a few overs.

2Sips, replacing Bouch, continued his great run of form as he removed the 2 danger men of Kurz and Lo, who both drove airily into the ring. His 3rd wicket put paid to Dunsmore as he was foxed by a cunning slower ball and OW's were in trouble.

CD came onto replace the Hod, great captaincy.......no need to move the sight screen! He wasted little time in joining in the fun as Storm who had blasted a quick 20, looped one up to cover where Bouch took a good catch over his head. CD, soon re-arranged Dawson's stumps for him, and when Van Heerden picked out Hally for his 2nd catch of the day, it was all put over.

2Sips bagged his 4th, before taking a breather as Risky took a tidy slip catch. Calves out foxed Collin and the returning Hod wrapped things up when Taylor nicked behind to the Doctor. 2Sips 4-42, Calves 1-5, Hod 2-10 and CD

3-29 as OW were all out for exactly 100.

This completed a fine day for the club as news filtered through of victories for all of the other sausage ranges, "Reid's Porkers", "Wayno's Economy" and even "Sweenies Tesco Own" brand!

With the newly implemented early start times kicking off this weekend, the Sausages had to rise nice and early in order to make their longest trip of the campaign around the South Circular to beautiful Streatham & Marlborough.

The skipper, on the back of a bad 24 hrs that had seen the withdrawal of Bootsie, CD and Hally for differing reasons, was extremely relieved then, to have all 11 players and scorer present at 11:25 and ready for a vigorous warm up led by our loveable Aussie.

After the usual pointless team discussion of what to do in the event that we won the toss, the skipper duly lost his 11th toss of the season and for the 2nd occasion this season S&M elected to have first use of the facilities against us. Joel and Jamie Hod opened the attack and proceeded to bowl some immaculate line and length that gave the young S&M openers little if anything at all to score off. Patience ran out in the 9th over when Deasy tried to hit Bouch over mid-off but only found the skipper's hands and we were on our way. Bouch claimed the next 3 wickets in a super spell as S&M slumped to 38-4.

Hod, after a 6 over spell that cost 4 runs, had an enforced breather while Danger came into the attack and was only marginally more expensive in a spell of similar length. 2Sips had now replaced Bouch and soon got his name deservedly on the score sheet when Fuller chose to leave a straight delivery. The rather irritating, but not untalented DeReuter was now beginning to impose himself on the attack and played some nice shots to move the scoreboard along. He had reached a very useful 40 before Sips trapped him in front for 6 down. Sips soon sorted out McGill and Danger's older brother/dad to claim his 4th. Khan and Corns then added a potentially valuable 30 odd before the returning Bouch cleaned up Corns and the 11 first ball to finish with 6-49 with S&M 128 all out. Sips 4-42 the other wicket taker. As well as both Bouch and Sips bowled they badly need to look at their economy rate! Young Hod came back for a 2nd set of 6 that, but for an umpiring error that had 4 blatant leg byes down as runs, would have cost just 2 runs! As it was he finished with figures of 12-6-10-0!! Danger's 0-11 from 6 weren't too shabby either as the seam attack again caused problems.

Whilst I don't like to be critical of other clubs's facilities, but it has to be said that never ever will we have 2 more contrasting cricket teas as those prepared for us on the last 2 Saturdays. August 9th saw a Pedro Bax special that is quite beyond belief and could of fed 50. This Saturday's looked marginally better than some road kill and struggled to feed 10!!!

Risky and Bouch (of the Tom variety) opened up against the spin twins of Khan and Danger's older brother/dad. Tom gave silly mid off a comfortable catch early on but Risky was looking in very positive form and took the attack to S&M. He was particularly severe on Danger's relation and hit some lovely 4's and a 6 over long on. The assault led to a change in tactics for S&M as the new ball and seamers came into play. It changed little as Risky continued to play his shots, one rasping cover drive took the S&M skipper's finger with it to the boundary and he left for the day to visit A&E to have his finger put in a splint for the remainder of the season. Stu was also pushing the scoreboard along finding the 3rd man boundary on at least 3 occasions and at 70-1 we were well set. Risky sadly fell 1 short of a deserved 50 when he drove to mid-off, nonetheless it was a super knock that did much to see us to victory. Bouch (of the Joel variety) took over in his usual positive style as the victory target moved ever closer. It wouldn't be Egham without a little wobble and Stu, Smudger and Calves all fell before victory was reached, which left Jamie Hod, 5 not out to partner Bouch as he smashed the winning runs over long off to finish 36 not out.

3 to go, 2 more wins and we should just about make it.

Back to Vicarage Road and back to winning ways. For the 2nd time this season the Mitcham batters took a pounding from the Egham attack and crumbled to a 115 defeat as the "Sausages" recorded their 2nd double of the season.

Things could have been different though had it not been for a middle order recovery earlier in the day that saw Egham improve from 46-4 to a very competitive 183-8. Asked to bat first on the greenest of green tops that saw some prodigious lateral movement Christmas, the skipper, Stu and Bouch were all back in the pavilion before the briefest of rain delays. Smudger and Risky responded in fine style to build a match turning partnership that was only halted with a wonderful one handed slip catch with the vice skipper on 25 and the total now in 3 figures. Smudger and Bootsie continued to knock it around nicely and Smudger recorded his maiden league 50 in the 1st XI. Bootsie went for 23 and Smudge for a top draw 59 before Calves played another super little knock to finish unbeaten on 22 and get us up to that very useful 183.

Bouch made a rare appearance with the new ball and took just 2 balls to make an impact with it, trapping Patel in front to set us of in fine style. Bootsie, opening at the other end took little time in levelling things up when Newell drove airily to mid off where Sips took a fine catch low down and proved that his hapless mid-week fielding performance was surely a one off! Considering they were 4-2, Mitcham's batters seemed to have a fairly care free approach to their innings and it was not a huge surprise when Bouch & Bootsie picked up a further wicket apiece both nicked to The Doctor (who now assures us that his 213 catches will get him in the league handbook). Bouch soon trapped the superbly named Blikkies Blignaut in front for his 3rd wicket and Mitcham were going down rapidly at 28-5. The skipper made changes at both ends and got immediate reward as Sips 1st ball was edged to Bouch at 3rd slip who took a good catch. CD, with a rare no ball problem was now on at the other end and cleaned up another hapless Mitchamite. At 7 down Mitcham's best partnership of the game evolved as Muller and Saville both played a couple of super shots each and it was rather unclear why the hell they were batting at 8 & 9. The revival did not last too long though as Muller picked out the skipper at mid-on nicely off Sips before CD gave Saville a bit of a working over and bounced him out as he top edged for The Docs 214th catch!

It was left to Sips to wrap things up as Mitcham's number 10, White-Young, popped up a simple catch to Christmas at short extra and it was 68 all out in the 21st over. Bootsie 2-11, Bouch 3-17, CD 2-20 & Sips 3-11 on the scoresheet for Egham.

Egham completed their month long tour of Surrey with a trip to new league leaders Chessington. Having occupied the top spot themselves from week 1 to week 11, the "sausages" were looking to regain the position immediately from their hosts and at the tea interval appeared to be in pretty good shape to do so. Having won the toss, the skipper decided it could be a good day to chase down a target. His bowlers responded in good style to dismiss Chessington for 166. Danger Morris making his 1st appearance of the season in the 1's removed Alan White on the 4th over of the game, good news considering he had scored 109 not out at our place back in May! Bootsie had found some exceptional line and length from ball 1 of the day and was causing plenty of problems that were soon to be rewarded with the wicket of Carter. He picked up 3 more scalps in a super spell for 4-34. Danger got a 2nd scalp and Chessington were in deep trouble 6 down. Calves soon got one through Walters defence and Egham were well on top. However Nick "MeatHead" Bailey came to the wicket and not for the first time in his career took advantage of the short straight boundaries to whack a quickfire 31. With the rest of the tail wagging as well, useful runs were coming thick and fast in some unconventional areas. Sips 2-14 and Bouch wrapped up proceedings in the 43rd over.

The 2nd half of the day didn't quite go to plan to say the least and at 40 odd for 6 we were staring straight down the barrel of an embarrassing defeat as 5 of the top 6 edged to slip. Stu Margetts fortunately had plenty of fire in the belly and even more concentration. At the crease in the 2nd over, he was still there in the 57th after a remarkable effort of concentration to finish on 49 not out from 177 balls. He found similarly dogged support in the form of Bootsie who was dismissed for a 53 ball duck!!! Surely one of the great Egham ducks of all time. The Doctor joined Stu after Bootsie's demise and joined in the blocking fun as we hung on comfortably in the end at 98-7. It wasn't pretty viewing but who know's, come September the point we got and the 9 Chessington didn't get could make a difference in where we play our cricket in 2009.

Egham's 3rd successive week on tour brought them up that bloody steep hill to Warlingham to meet their fellow promotion contenders for the first time in the campaign. Never a particularly happy hunting ground for the "Sausage Army" with the only victory in memory (2007) surely down to the presence of 100+ young netball players that seemed to inspire a young side to raise their game. With a lack of a netball tournament in 2008 a below par performance lead to the dreaded "London Bus Syndrome", no defeat in weeks and then 2 come along in a row!

Batting first, the skipper needs to take the blame as he set it all in motion by nicking one to 2nd slips armpit off the 2nd ball of the game.

Hally and Tinds soon followed before some dogged resistance ensued. Bouch stroked a fairly free flowing 39 but some very tight Warlingham bowling put Risky and Stu under the cosh. They both battled hard to score 25 and 32 respectively. Calves got a more than useful 21 but there was no wagging tail as we slumped to 140 all out on a tricky pitch against some good bowling.

The hardest part of defeating Warlingham is often removing the limpet like Nigel Field from the crease. He is as tough and dogged an opponent as we come up against in any season if not the most fluent. Today was no exception as he batted from start to finish for 38 not out from 46 overs to help his side to victory by a comfortable 6 wicket margin. There had been glimmer's of hope twice for the Egham boys. Bootsie removed Naidoo and Louw in successive balls with the score on 40 odd and then Calves repeated the trick on Deg and Pizzey with the score on 80 odd. But the lively Suggamar, fresh from his 5 wicket haul earlier in the day accumulated 40 not out to win the game with 2 overs to spare. His behaviour on reaching the winning target left a sour taste in the mouth and bordered on the very unsporting.

It is unlikely to take many words from the skipper to motivate his bowlers to bowl at him again in a few weeks time.

Well it had to happen sooner or later! After a top class effort in the first half of the season that had yielded 5 wins, 3 winning draws and a solitary losing draw, the 1st XI suffered their first taste of defeat in the 2008 campaign, going down by 2 wickets in a cracking, tense game of cricket against a Leatherhead team that will undoubtedly be challenging for promotion come September.

Asked to bat first on a green top that was doing a bit, Hally and the skipper got off to a more than useful start given the conditions, and posted a 50 partnership with relatively few alarms other than a number of play and misses. The score had reached 66-0 when Hally called for a sharp single that the skipper felt was too sharp for his suspect "hammies". The result was not good from an Egham perspective and Hally was on his way for 24.

This started a more than disappointing slump from the "Sausage Army" against a very accurate home attack. The skipper nicked one to depart for a decent 38 and then the introduction of spin made the situation worse as Hayne proceeded to claim a 5fer in no time at all. A rain break intervened with us 9 down and Dunny and 2 Sips at the wicket and 120 odd on the board. Tea was taken, the over allocation revised that gave us another 4 overs to go. The 2 young tail enders did a super little job and nudged us up to a defendable 143 with Dunny making double figures, a new personal 1st XI best.......by almost double figures!

Dunny the all rounder was now pumped up and got an early LBW to remove Peak for no score. The incoming Joblin, and Hayne seemed that attack was the best option and decided to swing at anything Dunny bowled that wasn't hitting the stumps. A succession of shots dropped just short or looped just over the field and the score ticked along at a fair rate. The introduction of CD into the attack swung the game dramatically back in Egham's favour as he bowled a superb spell to rip out 4 of the opposition to leave Leatherhead reeling at 72-5. Joblin was still there and in fairness looked a class act as he held the innings together. Bouch although not bowling at his best managed to ruffle up French a bit who was not up to the battle and soon departed. Baker batting 8 gave some invaluable support to Joblin and it looked like the two would see them across the line until Calves did the trick as he chipped to mid-wicket. With the light deteriorating rapidly Dunny was brought into the attack and soon sent Wouterz packing to leave Leatherhead 116-8 and still 28 runs adrift. We knew they batted deep but we had not banked upon the number 10 Wakefield walking to the wicket in such a tense situation, and taking the game by the scruff of the neck as he stroked a chanceless 23 not out along with Joblin's 55 not out to win the game.

A disappointing defeat which with another 20 runs or so would have been avoided, but nevertheless a cracking game of cricket, with faultless determination from Egham.

An away day at Worcester Park is always one of the highlights of any campaign and it is often the first fixture I look out for. I can't quite decide whether my favourite part is the 300 metre walk to the ground from the side road I park in, the fact that we get a 10 foot X 8 foot dressing room to change in that has no windows and therefore stinks before the game, let alone after it, or the bit where they normally turn us over every year!! But with all these negative vibes discussed in a team meeting on Wednesday and removed from our minds, a positive Egham side set about their afternoon's work. With the toss won, a team decision was made to have a bat, except for Bootsie who was still somewhere on the A3 and therefore kept up his impressive record of being late for 8 out of 9 games this season, I am still in shock he was early for Mitcham away!!

The skipper and Hally took to the wicket and got off to a solid start and had moved the score to 40 with few alarms before Hally played on for 18. Bouch, fresh from last week's blistering ton came in at 3, and was comprehensively out scored by the skipper, despite any claims he may make to the contrary, as the pair pushed the score up over the 100 mark. Our portly leader just about made his first half century of the season before departing for a more than useful 51. Bouch continued to work the ball around nicely and Stu blasted a few boundaries off the spinners and the score moved along nicely. Bouch soon chipped one up to mid-wicket though and was on his way for 45. With the innings now in it's final few overs, Stu eventually went for 30, but the good news was that the stumps survived his latest dismissal! Baxy went the same way as Bouch but without wasting any of Debbie's ink. Calves and Risky had a bit of a mix up which resulted in the former's dismissal by about 15 yards, but Bootsie and Risky were able to bat out the remaining couple of overs in entertaining fashion with some very interesting running between the wickets, the 3rd run off the last ball of our innings will live long in the memory, but did little to amuse Park's grumpy bowler Marshall. Risky 26 not out and Bootsie 9 not out saw us to a total of 209-6 from 55 overs.

We always fancy that if we can get through WP's top 5 you are in with a big chance against them, it's just that usually we aren't able to manage this! Bootsie made the first inroad though in the 6th over when Waite tried a more than optimistic pull shot and looped a top edge to gully where Gregs......sorry Stu took the most simple of chances. With the 2 Hill twins now at the wicket and there apparent ability to read each others minds and take ridiculous singles to keep the board ticking, it was a crucial stage of the game. To say Chris Davies rose to the challenge was an understatement. He gave the left handed twin a pretty severe working over that undoubtedly ruffled his feathers, not a bad effort on a track that doesn't really offer a lot of bounce and encouragement to pace bowlers. His efforts did not go unrewarded though as a fuller delivery knocked back off stick for a crucial breakthrough. CD's day was soon to get even better as just 2 overs later he trapped Park's skipper Bell in front and it was 3 down, and a massive wicket for us.

Any current or former skippers among you readers will no doubt know how you sometimes just get these sudden urges to tweak your field slightly for no apparent reason. Well I had one of these moments a few overs later, just as Bootsie was about to run in, and I had the urge to push Stu in the gully back 5 yards, I don't know why, Bootsie hadn't told me he was going to bowl a sh*te ball, short and wide outside off stump, the result was Marshall square cutting airily to gully where Stu pouched the chance and it was 4 down and a real opportunity.

Bouch gave CD a breather and removed Smith LBW when it appeared he was trying to sweep! A little piece of controversy soon followed as Bouch seemed to pick up his 2nd wicket of the day when the young "herbert" Kent, batting at 7 was blatantly caught behind, seemed to begin to walk, before deciding to chance his arm. Unbelievably the only person in the general vacinity who did not hear or see the edge was the one person who really counted and our appeal was turned down. Our young friend then was given a selection of free advice from his opponents about his actions, which he seemed to take in his stride, which was then repeated about 3 overs later when 2Sips knocked back his off stump!

At 6 wickets down and the overs ticking by it was clear that WP's game plan was now survival and the remaining Hill twin found a useful ally in Nicky Ball who was proving hard to budge. After a selection of bowling changes CD was brought back and seemingly had his man when Ball chipped him to Hally at short extra. More controversy, he stood his ground claiming a bump ball, a claim that was upheld after a short discussion by the umpires. Next ball, he edged sharply to Bouch at 2nd slip who could not quite hang on to the sharp chance. It seemed time was running out to force the win as the overs continued to go by. Some more bowling changes ensued and with 4 overs to go we got the breakthrough when 2Sips bowled Ball for 29. Next over, Bouch managed to get a short ball to bounce and take the glove of Hill which The Doc gratefuly clung onto, and he departed for a resilient 59. With the numbers 9 & 10 safely negotiating the rest of the over and then 2Sips next the equation was simple, we needed 2 wickets from Bouch's last over. He sends the first ball crashed into Brassington's stumps and it was game on. 5 balls at WP's number 11 Aiden Bell is not a bad prospect and we only needed 3 of them as he pushed to Risky at silly mid-off who took the chance and sent us crazy! Park finishing on 142 all out.

Bouch 4-24, Bootsie 2-46, CD 2-40, 2Sips 2-10, Calves 0-15.

A top bowling performance by all the boys and a massive win in our first game on tour in July. Roll on Leatherhead for some more tour fun and frolics!

The first XI took on the Old Boys from Wimbledon in their last Vicarage Road game before departing on tour for the whole of July. On a nice sunny day, the skipper won the toss and elected to bat first on the same wicket that the 2's used last week and thus avoid any potential 4th innings demons that might be lurking later on in the day.

When ball one of the day rapped the skipper on the gloves from just back of a length and then Hally took a couple of the same in the 3rd over, it was looking like it could be a good decision, surely it would get worse. The skipper then got out off another of these deliveries from the 5 foot 4 inch bowler at the other end, as his thumb took most of the pace of the ball as it looped to slip. 9-1. Bouch joined Hally and looked in imperious form from the word go and began to impose himself on the visiting attack. Backed by the solid Hally, the scoreboard began to tick along nicely. Bouch, on 44 struck a beautiful shot for 4 to reach 48 and promptly received his half century ovation from a number of the mathematically challenged Egham players, applause unsuprisingly led by Bootsie Willmore! Our lovable Aussie then proceeded to get dropped in the covers whilst still on 48 but eventually did get to the 50 mark. Hally was now begin to find the middle of the bat but managed to tweak a groin whilst in the late 20's. Requiring a runner, the only available option was an overweight skipper with a dodgy hamstring! Fortunately for groins, hamstrings and probably Bouch as well, Hally soon departed for 33. Tinds, making a final pre Olympic appearance stode to the wicket at 105-2 in the 27th over. What happened in the next 10 overs was about as savage and brutal a partnership as you could imagine on a cricket pitch, as Tinds and Bouch quite literally despatched the OW attack to all parts. 4's and 6's were flying all over the place. Bouch did an amazing impression of Botham hooking Lawson in the 81 Ashes series as he blatantly was not looking at the ball but still sent it 30yds over the boundary. Bouch reached his 2nd century of the season with another crushing blow as Tinds blasted another to the boundary to bring up a 28 ball half century. The partnership was eventually ended when Bouch was caught on the long-on boundary for a wonderful 127 which contained 4 maximums. The score now 210-3 after 37 overs. Smudger, with a licence to thrill smashed a quick

16 and then Tinds finally departed for a quite brilliant 38 ball 77 that included 5 sixes and 9 fours. Risky went out to round off the innings and got absolutely nowhere near the pitch of a ball but still smashed it over long off for our 10th six before chipping one to cover and we closed on a daunting 272-6 from 43.4 overs.

With a new ball to take and 56 overs to find 10 wickets we were hopeful of making it victory number 5 for the season but the OW batters would be no pushover, and so it proved to be. Hopes were raised early on as Boots bowled Kurz and then removed Smith and Lo to leave OW 56-6. Calves bowled a decent spell and trapped Nayak who got himself in a horrible tangle but Stewart was batting with Boycott like patience and Vincent similarly as wickets proved hard to come by. The skipper gave himself a go on the grounds that it is hard to keep patting back sh*t bowling and it proved a good theory as Vincent hit yet another half volley to Bootsie. Hod replaced the skipper immediately and cleaned up the No 7 with a good yorker but that was as good as it got as OW hung on comfortably at 209-6 from 56 overs.

With a bit of a birthday weekend on the go, the skipper was ideally looking for a fairly stress free Saturday to compliment Friday's Royal Ascot Day at the club. Perhaps a gentle drive down to Farncombe, pick up 13 points maybe, and then return back to base for more beer. What he actually got was just about the complete opposite.

It was with the convoy already stuck in traffic at the M25/A3 junction due to a car on fire, when proceedings really began to go "pear shaped". First on the hotline was The Doctor. PUNCTURE!! Parked up on the A3 hard shoulder, apparently Mazda RX8's do not come with a spare tyre, waiting for the RAC!! Oh well, we have got Baxy to start the keeping if necessary. Next, Bootsie. Just a phone call to advise us that the traffic is crap and he is stuck in it. We know Bootsie, we are all stuck in it, still I did manage to brighten his mood with tales of the afore mentioned Doc's predicament. Finally we get through the traffic, go whizzing past our stranded wicket keeper and finally begin to make some headway towards Farncombe. Phone goes again, Bootsie. Car over heating in the traffic, steam coming from the bonnet, have pulled over and called AA!! Great down to 9.

Finally arrive at Farncombe about 1225. Dunny is already there having been dropped off straight from golf, but doesn't have any kit, this is also stuck in traffic on the A3 with mum! 1235, phone goes again, Baxy being driven by Smudger! "Where the f*** is Farncombe skip??" For the 2nd time in 48hrs, (Normandy 20/20 Thursday) the loveable Smudger has confidently reassured his skipper he knows exactly where he is going and no need to worry about him! Smudger, the joke is wearing thin. Thank God we are back at home this week!

Like all quaint Surrey villages it seems to be the theme to have a little duck pond, Farncombe's seemed to be somewhat suprisingly located on a length at one end of their cricket pitch, and so with the toss won for a rare change, the options available to the skipper were both less than appealing. Bat first on what will probably be a seamers paradise or take to the field with 9 men. Option 2 won the day and so the Egham 9 marched into battle. Given the incredibly poor preparation perhaps it was not the greatest surprise that things did not go quite to plan.

Dunny, having finally found a track with some pace and bounce, induced the first batting error only to put down just about as easy a caught and bowled chance as you could wish to get! In his next over, the same batter nicked Dunny to Buckets Boucher at 2nd slip, who regretably today had a hole in his bucket!! So as not to be out done by, Skater Boy Hoddle at the other end was bowling some impeccable deliveries that seemed to all land in the centre of the duck pond without fail. Finally Jaggard did get some bat on one, but only enough to nick another to Buckets Boucher, who still had a hole in his bucket and 3 chances had gone down in the first 6 overs.

The side were boosted to the tune of 10 men with the 13th over arrival of Bootsie but were then immediately informed there would be a 43 minute delay before he was allowed into the attack. A breakthrough finally came in the 16th over when Bouch finally got rid of Jaggard for 27. Bootsie came in to the attack and immediately got rid of Pike for 10 and it was 70-2. Calves was bowling some very tight stuff in tandem with the seamers and the run rate had dropped down to about 3's when the number 4 came in. The former Warwickshire player looked in fairly tidy nick and preceded to up the tempo considerably. Ably assisted by Diprose, McCumber and Dray they batted on, and on to finally declare at 241-6 from 54 overs. For those still interested, The Doc finally joined the party at 3pm after 35 overs!! Egham wicket takers, Bouch, 2-55, Bootsie 2-62 and Dunny 2-45.

With a slightly changed batting order, Hally and the skipper opened things up and the account was immediately opened with a beautiful slip drive from the skipper that fairly raced to the 3rd man boundary. It soon became apparent that a drying duck pond was harder to bat on than one full of water and Farncombe's Edwards managed to hit the pond from the word go and began to cause problems. However, his Aussie team mate McCumber made the breakthrough taking a great return catch from Hally in the 3rd over. Bouch having moved up to 3 hit 2 or 3 nice shots before falling victim to an even better catch. The flying Warwickshire player at cover plucked one out of thin air to send Bouch back and it was 21-2. Smudger, managed to find his way to the wicket without the need of phoning the skipper for directions, and the pair put on a decent partnership in difficult circumstances. The score had moved to 71 before the skipper was held at slip for 38. Smudger and Risky kept things going nicely and with 15 overs to go only 90 was required for a winning draw, and with 7 wickets in hand we had a decent chance. However, the Farncombe bowlers had other ideas and when Risky was held at cover for 16 we got ourselves into a spot of bother. Baxy got yorked by a good one for 10, and then Smudger skied one to the keeper for 47. Calves looked to get bowled by a good one, Bootsie nicked one behind, Skater boy got trapped in front and we were right in the mire. 11 balls to go, The Doc and Smiler at the crease, plenty of chit chat flying around and two bowlers with their tails up, however, the pair managed to negotiate the remaining couple of overs without too many problems and hang on for a point at 140 odd for 9. A sigh of relief from the Egham players a quick beer courtesy of the secretary and then back in the car to Egham. Smudger, do you know where you're going!!!

Another 13 points in the bag, lead extended at the top of the table.........and a successful run chase by Egham 1st XI, surely life can't get much better than this!

Streatham & Marlborough or S&M as they will be known for the rest of this report were the latest visitors to Vicarage Road on Saturday to take on league leaders, Egham "we only play at home this year" 1st XI, and it turned out to be a performance of two halves by the home side as victory was achieved by a seemingly comfortable 4 wicket margin.

The S&M skipper won the toss and elected to bat first, whether this was on the back of them winning in this manner the previous week, or whether to upset our apple cart, as we had yet to bat after the tea interval so far in 2008, is yet to be confirmed, but nevertheless it was a refreshing change and laid down a new challenge to our bowlers.

To say they rose to this challenge was an understatement. Admittedly, there was some assistance in the track if you hit the right areas, and the Egham attack did exactly that. "Smiler" Dunn, with the added incentive of his lovely cheer leader girlfriend, Lizzie, making her debut appearance at Vicarage Road was certainly fired up, and with a bit of extra pace in this week's track, was bowling with good pace. Whilst Dunny is doing some tremendous things on the pitch for us, the youngster clearly has a lot to learn in the dressing room. His pre-match confession to Risky that he had to dress up and play the part of an Essex Girl in a recent Drama role play exam, has given us plenty of ammo for weeks to come, he will surely learn from experience! Anyway, Sharon continued to charge in, moving exceptionally well in his white spiked stiletto's and was unlucky to finish a six over burst with no reward. At the other end, Bootsie was bang on the money and bowled a superb 13 over spell straight off that yielded 4 more scalps for this season's tally. In truth, he could have had a couple more as a huge caught behind appeal and another very, very close LBW shout were both turned down for reasons unknown to most. After Sharon/Smiler's spell, CD came into the attack and for the 2nd week running hit his straps immediately. Bowling with good control and pace, he picked up a couple of wickets including a fantastic caught and bowled to remove the S&M skipper Ellis. And so to drinks with S&M in all sorts at 56-6 after 25 overs. The skipper, keen to keep his players honest this season is always asking questions of his troops and his drinks break talk was simple but to the point. Blonde or Brunette?? Such are the home comforts at Vicarage Road at the moment that we even have a couple of babes bringing the drinks out. The options, the always gorgeous Katie Bax or her blonde cousin. The votes were rounded up, it was a 5 each way tie with one abstention, which in hindsight was a bit of a relief, Baxy being the unwilling voter you will all be relieved to hear!

Back to the action, a rest for Bootsie and CD, with Bouch coming into the attack and a 2nd spell for Sharon. First over from Bouch, S&M's top scorer Bush tucked one off his legs past the athletic Bootsie who had been put out to graze at square leg, who took off in "keen" pursuit. Bush called for the second run but very unluckily fell victim to the man of the moment who unleashed a bullet like throw which hit direct from 50 yards and left him inches short of his ground, Bush gone for 27 and it was 66-7. McGill's stay at the wicket was just the one ball in length as he decided that Bouch needed to be despatched back over his head, no problem in theory, however the key ingredient of making contact with bat on ball had been swapped for ball making contact with middle stump and it was 66-8. Bouch was keen to add to his tally, and it seemed like he had when apparently everyone inside Vicarage Road, except the one person that counted, seemed to hear an edge to Meadows. This seemed to fire Bouch up by approximately a further 10mph and 2 balls later the guilty party managed to nick another one that fairly flew to Meadows. Clearly not keen to see Bouch bowl any faster at him, he decided walking for this one may be a safer option, and it was 9 down. Sharon was similarly pumped up, and now being urged on by Lizzy, the future in-laws and dad, he went passed the edge time and again with no joy. The skipper keen to get the innings wrapped up suggested to young Sharon that a full and straight delivery could be good enough for the tail-ender's abilities and so it proved at the first time of asking as Mortimore lost his middle stump and S&M had taken a bit of a whipping at just 80 all out.

Bootsie 4-27, Sharon 1-17, CD 2-18 and Bouch 2-16 the wicket takers.

And so the 2nd half, and at 9-0 the reply was looking fairly rosy until Hally got trapped in front in the 5th over but Risky soon put us back on track after peppering the boundary a few times to get us to 27-1. The skipper then very disappointingly got stumped down the leg side. Great piece of keeping but poor batting. Bouch, his new bat safely arrived from home, was keen to put it to use, and after punching a nice shot through the covers for 3 then launched McGill over extra cover for 6. A couple more boundaries followed and then spin was introduced at both ends which caused plenty of fun and games. First Risky left one that spun back and took off. Bouch hit a long hop to cover. Smudger and Baxy had a mix up on an overthrow and Calves got trapped in front. All this in the space of about 15 minutes and it was 53-6! With S&M understandably buoyant, it needed some calm heads to steady the ship.......but we had to settle for Bootsie and Smudger!!

The pair got the job done nicely. Smudger did chance his arm a little but hit some good shots in his 20 not out and Bootsie looking in excellent touch finished 16 not out as we got home in the 27th over. A few nails bitten and a few hearts racing but 13 points better off and looking in good shape at the moment.

""Egham navigate victorious path through Mitcham mine field!""

Four weeks into the season and finally an opportunity to go into battle away from the home comforts that nowadays come with a Vicarage Road fixture. Destination Mitcham. As the convoy moved down the A3 getting closer to our rendezvous point, some ominous looking black clouds faced us which suggested it could be one of those horribly wet on/off days. However we surprisingly made our destination without seeing so much as a drop of rain and the skipper was even more pleasantly surprised to see Willmore's car already parked up in the car park by midday!

For the 3rd time in 4 attempts the toss was lost and for the 4th time on the bounce we had the opportunity to have the first use of the facilities that had been so kindly provided for the two teams to bat on. In recent seasons both our 1st and 2nd XI's have witnessed the sad decline in the quality of Mitcham's track and it would appear the decline is still continuing.

In the pre-match team talk, it was suggested a score of 150 could be very useful, the reality was that it would have been unbelievably useful. Tinds and Hally opened up but in the 4th over we lost Hally who cut one firmly to gully and was well held. Tinds was somehow making batting look relatively comfortable and was ticking the score along nicely and had reached 23 for himself when he slapped one straight to cover and was on his way back. Bouch then suffered his first failure of the season to leave us 33-3. The score had only reached 38 when a mis-timed pull by Stu led to his dismissal and it was most definitely backs against the wall time. The skipper and vice (making a rare 1st XI appearance) were now at the wicket together and set about the rebuilding process. It was not pretty and not easy. Risky had already managed to upset most of the opposition early in his innings after being given not out from a caught behind appeal, and was still getting a selection of batting advice from some of the home side, as well as perhaps some more constructive advice offered by myself.

A brute of a delivery soon thudded into the skipper's thumb from his opposing number which soon started to swell up nicely but the pair stuck it out and had moved the score into the 80's before Risky was bowled by Blignaut for a vital 18. Calves came in and despite taking the 4th ball he faced on the lid off a good length batted well and another crucial partnership evolved. The skipper was finally dismissed after a fairly lengthy knock of 32 with the score on 102. Calves made 16 and then a flamboyant 18 not out off 12 balls from Stef, which included mauling the last ball of the 55th over point for 6 to take Egham to a very respectable 137-9 dec.

Egham were keen to put the Mitcham batters, struggling for runs so far this season, under some early pressure but got their initial breakthrough in bizarre circumstances. An LBW appeal from a Stef delivery was turned down but the ball had deflected to Tinds at 2nd slip who saw the batsman going for a little wander and with some quick thinking underarmed down the stumps to claim a cheeky run out. Dunny, quickly made a 2nd breakthrough, successful with an LBW appeal. It was still 2 wickets down when Bootsie trundled into the attack for his first ball and sent down a wide half tracker that the remaining opener smashed to point where Dunny, smiling and laughing as always, took a stunning diving catch. Bouch soon got in on the act to remove Dance and Mitcham were struggling at 28-4. Bootsie certainly found the track to his liking as he picked up 3 further scalps. Calves came on and took a couple of quick ones and Stef, replacing Bootsie, cleaned up the last wicket with his first ball. Mitcham 63 all out and a comfortable

74 run win for the Egham boys.

Egham so nearly snatched their 3rd dramatic win on the spin, but eventually had to settle for the better of the spoils and a 4 point winning draw, against Leatherhead & Cobham in a cracking encounter at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

In an early morning discussion with groundsman Bax on Saturday it was leaked to me that this would be a belter of a track and we needed at least 240! Regrettably, our batsmen let us down badly and we could only muster a disappointing 238 all out after being asked to bat first by the opposing skipper.

With Noel "Christmas" Smith on his hols to the Algarve we had to settle for Tinds as a replacement at the top of the order with Hally. With all his recent pre Olympic hockey training, and little time to dedicate to cricket, he clearly looked a little out of touch and it took him as long as his 6th ball to find the boundary. After his pedestrian start, he was able to pick up the tempo of his innings slightly, and fortunately the paying public did not have to witness too many more periods of such dull play. Both opening bowlers came in for some punishment but the treatment served out to young Wakefield by Tinds was particularly severe as he and Hally rattled up 50 in 7 overs. As early as the 8th over Leatherhead elected to take the pace off the ball and Kiwi off-spinner Hayne was introduced to the attack. It proved a shrewd move as in his 2nd over with 62 on the board Hally was adjudged caught behind and he returned disappointed back to the pavilion for a good looking 20. With Tinds in full flow now, Stu was able to play himself in and watch from the other end as the score rattled along. After just 33 balls of Tinds innings the half century was acknowledged and he seemed well placed for a quicker 2nd fifty until he was bowled by Hayne for a wonderful 50 ball knock that yielded 80 runs. With spin in the form of left armer Roberts now on at the other end, Leatherhead were able to start turning the screw a little on the Egham batsmen as both bowlers found turn and bounce in the track. Bouch tried to take the attack to L&C and he notched 31, Bootsie a decent 22 and all of Stu, Smudger, the skipper and Calves made it into double figures before perishing to the spin twins. With L&C flying through their overs we elected to go just past the 50 over mark and were dismissed for 238 from 52 overs, with Roberts 5-69 and Hayne 4-76 doing all the damage and clawing back our run rate handsomely.

Previous opponents had suggested that the L&C batters were not shy at playing a few shots right from the off and it is fair to say they weren't telling me any fibs! The Baker brothers opened the batting and they got off to an absolute flyer as they helped themselves to boundary after boundary from some wayward CD and Bootsie bowling. Despite the occasional stroke of luck they certainly had no problem getting their total to rise, but with the score on 56 in the 10th over they got themselves in a sticky situation, a mix up going for a 3rd run was punished by some good work from Smudger, the skipper and the Doctor who whipped off the bails for an easy run out and D.Baker was off back to the pavilion rueing the decision of not using his loaf very well.

With a lack of any Butcher's or Candlestick makers in the team, the left handed Peak came in at number 3 and looked in good touch and supported Matt Baker as he continued his onslaught against the home attack. He got a half century not a lot slower than Tinds earlier in the day but with 64 to his name and his team on 92-1 possibly the pivotal moment of L&C's reply happened. They say catches win matches, not true in this case, but Stu Margetts diving effort at a deep gully to remove Baker was out of the top drawer at any level of cricket and did much to change the possible outcome of this game. If Collingwood had held this chance in a test match it would have been talked about for the rest of the series, a truly wonderful effort, although it did little to help his already injured right knee. Bouch was clearly lifted by his wicket, as was the pace of his bowling. In his next over, following a Stef maiden, with the score still on 92, he deceived French to claim a caught and bowled and then sent Wakefield packing with an absolute brute of a delivery that ended his miserable day first ball, 92-4 and game situation massively changed. Hayne joined Peak and the pair steadily consolidated the innings until another 3rd run mix up, following good CD work, left Peak short of his ground for 25, and L&C 117-5 and seemingly with a mountain to climb. Gibson then took his opportunity to turn the game back on its head as he constructed an excellent innings that culminated in a half century. Whilst he was scoring, he lost Hayne to Bootsie for 17 and then McCullough to Stef, but he was joined by Roberts and the pair scored at a rate that kept all results open as the game entered the last 6 overs. Bouch came back and sneeked one through Gibson for 57 that effectively ended L&C's winning hopes but a winning draw was still on. With the score on 212-8 with 3 overs left, Egham were gifted their 3rd run out present when McCullough junior and Roberts couldn't agree on taking a single to Tinds and the result was not good news for the young McCullough. 212-9 and Egham looking at the possibility of a 3rd straight win. Stef came back to bowl the penultimate over but alas couldn't find a way through Roberts defence and a single off the last ball meant he was able to face Bouch's last over. He negotiated it with few alarms as L&C finished on 214-9 from 50 overs. Bouch 4-41, Stef 1-33, Bootsie 1-54, R.Out 3-0!! A cracking game of cricket that was a pleasure to be involved in. Pack your bags lads for next week, we are on our travels at last! A week off for big Sal in the kitchen, let's hope for the 2's sake Pedro Bax can remember how to make some sandwiches!!

At last a victory over Worcester Park! If ever a club in recent seasons has had a bit of a jinx over Egham it would undoubtedly be Saturday's visitors to Vicarage Road, so it was all the more pleasing not just to pick up a fantastic 13 points but to finally stop the rot against a good side who will more than likely be finishing somewhere in the top 4 come September.

Toss lost, grey and murky conditions, so no great surprise to be invited to bat first. Christmas and Hally went out to open and we had reached just 13 went Christmas nicked one to 1st slip who hung on to the chance after the 3rd attempt. Park's skipper Bell was getting some pretty decent pace and bounce and looked a real threat. Hally and Stu were standing firm though, but as the first of many little showers came down Hally gave a bat/pad chance to short leg who took a decent catch. 20 odd for 2 and soon off for the first rain break. Egham's ground staff were soon to find out that one of the blue tarps has a nice juicy hole in it so we managed to spice up the wicket just a little bit more for our opponents seam attack. Back on after a brief break and Bouch and Stu were looking good, played and missed at a few but not too many alarms and nudged up to the 50 mark before Stu got an absolute beauty from one of the Hill brothers, off the new wet patch, and was good enough to nick it behind for 14. 63-3 after 21 and time for a big rain break which took in a Big Sal tea, and lots of work by the ground staff, who had used a selection of buckets, saucepans, jugs and a dog's water bowl to catch the overflow from the covers. Eventually managed to convince the ump's that it had stopped raining and we reckoned we could get back out there, the alternative was to stay in the pavilion and listen to Big Glen's half time analysis of the FA Cup Final and Little Jamie didn't fancy that much, so off we went! With a revised innings of 43 overs maximum for us, we soon lost Smudger, who got yorked by I think the same Hill brother, but can't be too sure. Skipper went to the wicket to join Bouch who was batting with his usual panache and the scoreboard was ticking along nicely with Bouch doing most of the scoring. Eventually he went for one hit to many and got caught on the cover boundary for an excellent 43. Calves came in and produced a fantastic little innings of 28 that seemed to come in no time at all. He took a particular liking to Hill and began to pepper the boundary before eventually holing out. A top knock that helped to up the tempo of our innings at just the right time. Bootsie and skipper then finished the last few overs accumulating nicely using the many gaps in the field and got us up to 163-6 from our 43. Bootsie 15 not out and Markywot 34 not out.

A quick change around, a quick Hally warm up drill and back out into the gloom for 34 overs. Bouch bowling at the top end started with a couple of half track looseners that both went in the direction of the football club at a fair rate of knots. Bootsie had a little no ball problem as well as giving away a couple of bad balls and before we knew it, Park had rattled up 24 off the first four overs. A breakthrough required, and Bootsie came up trumps as Waite nicked one to the doctor. Bouch was withdrawn from the attack after 4 overs and replaced by JamieHod who produced a quite superb spell that put the Park batters under real pressure. Although wicketless, he completely tied up an end bowling 6 overs for a miserly 8 runs. During his spell a rare loose ball was cut to backward point where a valiant diving attempt by Stef resulted in a nasty looking elbow injury which effectively removed Stef as a bowling option.

Bootsie was continuing at the other end and after 2 enormous caught behind appeals were turned down against the right handed Hill brother he finally got his man, well held by Smudger at mid-on. Bouch came on at the pavilion end to replace Bootsie and turned the game with a fantastic spell. A sharp caught and bowled off the left handed Hill brother was followed by a straight one that was about 3 yards too quick for their number 5. Marshall and Bell were still a big threat though and Park were looking good for at least a winning draw (129). But Bouch had other ideas and Bell nicked one to the Doctor who took a quality catch low to his left, a massive wicket for us. Bouch still had more to give and when he yorked Marshall, victory looked a real possibility. He completed his 5fer when the number 7, facing his first ball, made the rather surprising decision to shoulder arms at a full delivery on middle stump, that rather unsurprisingly crashed straight into his afore mentioned middle stump! With JamieHod's allotted 6 overs now finished, Calves had come into the attack and bowled well enough that the Park batsmen couldn't really get after him and he added his name to the score sheet trapping Kent LBW on the sweep. With overs running out and Park just 10 runs off the winning draw at 119-8 Calves was replaced by Bootsie who immediately won a LBW shout that may have been a touch fortunate. 3 overs to go and Bouch concedes just a couple off his over but the No.11 takes a single off the last ball to get on strike, happy days. Second ball of the penultimate over and Willmore takes the decisive wicket as Bell edges to Hally at 3rd slip who unselfishly palms the chance to the skipper who gratefully accepts it at 2nd slip. 121 all out. Bouch 5-46, Bootsie 4-44, Calves 1-17. A great victory. 16 weeks of rain and we're up!!

Egham's league campaign got off to a wonderful 57 run winning start on Saturday, after 13 points were secured in a nail biting Vicarage Road encounter with just 10 balls to spare.

After winning the toss, warm sunshine and a good looking track seemed good enough reasons for the skipper to elect to bat first, although the thoughts of 20 odd for 3 in all of the 3 previous Saturdays were definitely lurking somewhere in the back of his mind.

There was really no need to worry at all, as Hally and Christmas promptly got us off to our best Saturday start of the season........18-1! Christmas the victim undone by a Bailey yorker. Stu joined Hally who was already looking in good touch, and the pair had moved the score upto 50 before Stu drove very hard to cover who took a decent catch. Bouch, finally free of a jumper for the first time in England, but alas, like the skipper too portly to be able to fashion the new "Richmond Sausages" range of shirts, strolled out to join Hally in what turned out to be as entertaining a partnership as we are likely to see all season. Hally, clearly has been putting in some extra hours with the coach and he produced undoubtedly his finest Egham innings. He scored all round the ground, but some of his straight driving was an absolute joy to watch. Bouch also played undoubtedly his finest Egham innings to date, but this was only his 6th ever, as he stroked and bludgeoned the Chessington attack in a 72 ball onslaught that brought him a quite stunning century. It is fair to say he gives a cricket ball a fair old whack and it is becoming apparent that perhaps the new fence should have been built a little higher! After a wonderful 166 run partnership the young Tassie missed a straight one from Randall and walked off with a 100 to his name. Smudger, sporting a fairly severe case of pad rash came in for the last few overs as we pressed for a declaration. One stunning late cut/dab found the boundary before he holed out in the search for quick runs. Bootsie was pushed up to 6 and was soon back in the pavilion after being run out in what was possibly Hally's only misjudgement of the day, before the skipper went out to join Hally, and used all his skill and experience to see him through to the magic 3 figures. A hundred of the highest order. Eventually he missed one from Randall when on 102 and we came in with 244-6 from 46.3 overs.

A splendid "Big Sal" tea was enjoyed by all and it was soon time to go about our search for 10 Chessington wickets from 53 overs. The first one only took 5 balls to come along as young Dunny found the outside edge of Norton's bat and The Doctor did the rest with the gloves. White and Carter then began a fantastic partnership that seemed to be taking our visitors towards victory. Despite juggling the pack a bit, none of the bowlers could quite find enough consistency to pressurize the batters as they seemed to find a boundary almost every over. Just when we needed it, the drinks break came along and that is often good for a partnership breaker, sure enough at 116-1, Bouch induced Carter to drive airily into the covers, where Christmas gratefully accepted his gift. Calves was now into the attack and made a crucial breakthrough. Many times over the years we have seen Nick "Meathead" Bailey smash our bowlers around the ground, but not today as the wily Calves undid him with the quicker ball and it was 3 down. The skipper then made a couple of brave changes by removing the wicket takers to get the openers back on. First ball, Bootsie does the honours with a yorker and later in the over wins an LBW appeal.....what a skipper! Oh yeah, well bowled Bootsie as well. Next over it is Dunny's turn as he breaks a bail in two with his 2nd ball and then gets another LBW......what a skipper! Oh yeah, well bowled Dunny as well. These 2 overs reduced Chessington to 148-7 and their chance of victory had gone, but Egham still needed to find a way through the defences of White, the opener who was still there on 80. Randall did his very best to support him and the score had moved upto 184 Calves re-introduction to the attack got the vital breakthrough as he edged low to Bouch who took a good catch at slip. Bouch was now back in the attack the other end and soon put paid to Dillon's innings with an LBW shout, 185-9 with 8 overs left. As is often the case with Egham, there was to be more drama rather than a straight forward victory. First ball at the No.11 Bouch finds the edge only for the normally reliable Meadows to spill the chance, not at all what the Doctor ordered! White by this time had already passed the 3 figures mark in a super knock and milked the strike to protect his less skilled partner at the other end. With just 2 overs left now, young Jamie Hoddle got the skipper's nod to come into the attack from his less favoured pavilion end. It was another inspired/lucky change as with Hod's 2nd ball Singleton pushed heavy handily to Bouch in a deep silly mid-on position who fended the chance off his nose before taking the rebound and sent the Egham boys into raptures as Chessington were dismissed for 187 with the valiant White unbeaten on 109.

Dunny 3-24, Bootsie 2-38, Calves 2-32, Bouch 2-44, Hod 1-33 the bowling heroes.

Egham 1st XI got a more than useful workout against a fairly strong Teddington side on Saturday, in what has transpired to be their final fixture before the league campaign gets underway this Saturday.

After Oxted & Limpsfield's withdrawal earlier in the week, we were extremely lucky to get a chance to visit Bushy Park and pit our wits against the mighty Teddington of the Middx Premier League. With all due respect to our original intended opponents, a Teddington side made up of  five 1st XI players, four 2nd XI players, one 3rd XI player and a popstar was probably a far tougher encounter than we may have had in the depths of Surrey. And this was indeed the case as the early season winning run came to an end with a 55 run defeat.

Skipper won the toss and asked Teddington to have first go in another 45 over encounter. Young Matty Dunne taking his place in the side for the first time this season has clearly been taught how to do some impressions of famous England bowlers over the winter, and started by doing a perfect "Steve Harmison, 1st ball of an Ashes series down under". Just in case, we didn't work it out immediately he proudly showed his new trick off twice more in an opening over that yielded 10 extras as Dunny couldn't quite get his radar working early doors. At the other end, for about the 17th year running, Bootsie (Steve Willmore) did his impression of an Egham opening bowler with a slight no-ball problem!!!

Despite those early extras, Egham soon clawed back the run rate as both bowlers found some excellent areas on a track not compatible for flambouyant stroke play. Dunny made the first breakthough as Boucher swallowed up a regulation gully catch in those big Tassie hands of his. More was to come from the young pace bowler as a near perfect yorker was plenty good enough for Teddington's other opener and they were 30-2. Bootsie finished a very decent opening spell of 0-19 from 7 overs and deserved better. Jamie Hoddle replaced Bootsie and immediately found some prodigious swing which was causing all sorts of problems. With Boucher now into the attack at the other end and finding some excellent areas, the change seamers were causing many a problem. Young Hod made the 3rd breakthrough and there can be no greater sight in cricket, as a vicious inducker hit the top of off and gave us at least 3 cartwheels of the stump as Dr Meadows ran for cover.

Dunny came back for Boucher and made an immediate impact with another successful yorker and in Calves (Jamie Hamilton's) first over, he induced a wild hit to mid-wicket which Dunny gratefully pouched. Inspired bowling changes by the skipper!! Things got even better for Egham as young Charlie Mac's first over brought a stumping after good work by the Doc. At 125-6 Teddington seemed to be in a bit of strife but a good stand by the popstar (Harry from McFly) and another chap boosted the score to a challenging 180-8 after Hod and Boucher had picked up further wickets. Dunny 3-24, Hod 2-23, Bootsie 0-19, Calves 1-24, CharlieMac 1-22 and Boucher 1-56 can all be pretty pleased with some good work.

After an excellent tea, not disimilar to a Pizza Hut buffet, Hally and Christmas opened up the Egham's reply. However Hally's innings was curtailed early on after a slight error in judgement by Christmas, left his partner run out by around half the track. The skipper came in at 3 and appears to be saving plenty of runs for the league campaign as he nicked one behind to our friend from McFly for just a single. Boucher and Smudger could not provide their heroics of previous Saturdays this week and when Christmas was out for 29, Egham were staring down the barrel at 70-5. After Hod was dismissed with the score in the 80's a decent partnership from Calves and Bootsie began to evolve before the latter was undone by a great slower ball. Unfortunately the tail was not offering much in the way of a wag and we crumbled to 125 all out. Calves scoring a useful 24.

Roll on Saturday when the cricket starts for real.

With temperatures a noticeable 15 degrees warmer than last Saturday, no rain, little wind and the sun shining, Vicarage Road was a pretty good place to spend the afternoon. The ground was looking in close to mint condition thanks to the work of Baxy, so it was just down to the Egham 1st XI boys to finish things off nicely with a victory on the pitch.

Not only did the lads manage to do this, but with the new air of confidence flowing through the squad, it was felt that 10 players should be sufficient to secure the victory and thus keep others nice and fresh for bigger challenges to come.

Skipper lost the toss and Cove decided to have a bat in the agreed 45 overs per side match.

CD and Bouch took the new ball and both found the line and length immediately. CD more than happy this week with underfoot conditions and Bouch now seems to have the hang of this Pommy 22 yard stuff! CD made the first breakthrough when a slightly optimistic attempt at a pull shot was missed and the top of off was knocked back. Bouch had a couple of decent LBW shouts turned down before he finally appealed for one long enough and got a deserved finger raised in his general direction.

Young Hoddle and 2Sips took over from the openers and Jamie Hod made a breakthrough in just his 2nd over, removing the stubborn Cove opener as he flashed at one and nicked it firmly to Meadows, who is still clearly getting used to a rare investment into a new pair of gloves and could only palm the opportunity to the skipper who happily clung on at 2nd slip.

Three wickets down immediately became 4 as a suicidal run between the Randall brothers left Nick 3 yards short after a textbook pick up and throw from coach Hall.......that's how it is done lads!

The skipper began to show some of his worth with a cunning change in the field placement to the new batter, however the mistake was moving himself to the short mid-off position, instead of someone else, as he promptly spilt a costly opportunity low to his right off the unlucky 2Sips. The key partnership in Cove's innings now developed as the run rate moved up to close to 4 an over. Bouch finished off an excellent set of 9 overs, as did JamieHod, but not before knocking over Randall for a good 60 to finish with 2-31 from his 9. Calves second spell at the pavilion end probably wasn't his best ever and he went for a few before CD and Stef brought the innings to a close with some decent bowling at the death. Jonesy, after a quiet day in the field, finished off in style with a great piece of fielding down at 3rd man which not only saved the boundary but got the throw back in over the top for The Doctor to complete the 2nd run out of the innings as Cove closed on 181-7.

Similar to last week at Windsor, the start of Egham's innings was a complete disaster. The skip played a very loose shot and was caught at gully, Jonesy nicked one to the keeper and Hally got a potential harsh one and was adjudged LBW to leave us at a mighty 14-3! Fortunately, Bouch and Smudger just carried on where they left off last week, albeit wearing slightly fewer clothes this week. Smudger crashed an array of fierce drives down the ground and a more subdued Bouch took a bit more time to find his feet before launching one of the Randall's way over long off for a maximum. With the score around the 100 mark Bouch holed out at mid-on, but Smudger and the well organised JamieHod kept the score ticking nicely. Smudger made it 3 50's on the spin but was eventually well caught at mid-off for 65. Calves came into join his younger name sake and looked in very good touch as Egham moved nicely towards victory, however a mix up between Jamie's led to the younger being run out for an excellent 21 to complete a very promising display. CD came in with 18 required from 4 overs and after a few "swing and a miss's" soon began to pick up the singles to give Calves some decent strike. A fine penultimate over for Egham yielded 11 runs which left Egham needing just a single from the last over. CD had a little look at the first ball before deciding he was going over, rather than through to ringed field, as he smeared one straight back over the bowlers head to wrap things up at 185-6.

What a glorious day to start the 2008 campaign. As I pulled up into Windsor's car park, I took one last look on the dash to confirm the outside temperature.......8 degrees celsius, perfect.

As we stepped out onto the spacious and extremely windswept Home Park ground to begin coach Hall's vigorous but much needed warm up I took a look over my shoulder to check out the usual great view that comes with a game at Windsor, I think somewhere through the dark, dank cloud and light drizzle, I could make out something that looked vaguely like Windsor Castle.

The toss was won and a rather brave and/or ridiculous decision to bat first was made. Hally and Christmas stepped out into the gloom to open the batting, and after 3 productive overs had produced 15 we lost our first wicket of the day, when Christmas seemed to get a good one that hit the top of off stump. Worse was to come as Hally chipped one to mid-wicket and the skipper was trapped in front to leave us reeling on 23-3.

Fortunately, our sun loving Aussie, who was relishing the conditions, looked in good touch and was pretty severe on any loose bowling that came his way. Alongside him, Smudger, who was sporting his infamous German "U Boat" commander's sweater, amongst many other layers, was giving Bouch some decent support and the score began to move along nicely.

It was a change in pace in the bowling that did for Bouch as he missed a straight one from the newly introduced spinner and departed for a good looking 38. Jonesy went in similar fashion to the skipper and we slipped to 81-5. The good news was that Herr Smit was still at the wicket and now seemed to be seeing it like a large depth charge as he launched an array of 6's to the mid-wicket boundary. Calves was lending his usual good support as we moved towards a decent total. Smudger deservedly passed the 50 mark and then possibly got a little carried away and was eventually well held on the boundary for an excellent 60. CD (including a mighty 6 over long-on), The Doctor and 2Sips all made little cameos to support Calves who finished with a decent 39 not out as we closed our innings on a respectable 189-9 from 40 overs.

After the usual good selection of buffet (most of which was appropriately hot) that the merry wives and girlfriends of Windsor had supplied for us had been consumed, we headed back out into the Antarctic like conditions to begin our quest of trying to bowl 40 overs in an hour and twenty and get back in the warm again!

Suprisingly, young 2Sips seemed slightly less than enamoured about getting the opportunity to run directly into a 25mph Easterly wind, and appeared on occasion to be a little off with his skipper. Some of the mutterings definitely had shades of his father about them! CD on the other hand, only found time to complain about the underfoot conditions and the lack of sawdust available to him. Despite the conditions, both can generally be happy with their opening spells and although neither could make the breakthrough they put the ball in decent areas. Macka came into the attack to replace 2Sips and after a couple of early attempts to bounce out the opposition had seemingly failed, decided to try option 2.....line and length! This seemed a far better idea and he went past the bat on a number of occasions in a decent 5 over blast.

Bouch came into the attack after CD's spell and clearly thought he was back home in Tassie, where evidently they play cricket on a 26 yard wicket. After a couple of overs he seemed to get used to this new concept of playing cricket over 22 yards and began to bowl an excellent spell and was desperately unlucky not to pick up any wickets. As was so often the case last season it was our seasoned campaigner Calves who was required to make the breakthrough as he made an immediate impact after replacing Macka. Admittedly, there were a couple of long hops and full bungers in the first five deliveries but number 6 was in the right area and a fairly average slog to mid-wicket could only pick out our man Smudger who safely pouched the catch. A further wicket from Calves left the homeside around a 110-2 after 31 overs when the 2 skippers had a conversation about the rapidly deteriating conditions and an early halt to proceedings was called.

A decent enough workout and just about a moral victory for the Egham boys on run rate required, if not wickets taken.