With the sun shining and the prospect of the wicket firming up as the day progressed, captain Danny won the toss and elected to bowl first. Nathan and Waqas opened and bowled tight lines, but it soon became clear there was not a lot in the wicket for the bowlers.

Line and length kept the Dullingham openers at bay, restricting the run rate to below four an over, but neither looked like getting out – especially after a couple of early half-chances went down. Jack and Danny kept up the pressure, but neither could find the breakthrough.

After drinks, the batsmen began to open up, and another chance went begging as skipper Danny dropped a sitter at point. Mixing up the bowling attack, with spells from Zinny and Graham, kept the batsmen on their toes, but still no wickets came.

It was Waqas’ return at the School end that finally found the woodwork and ended the partnership. Jack followed suit soon after, with a superb off-cutter that clipped the top of off-stump. Mike Snr took off the gloves to bring some variation into the attack, and also managed to hit the sticks. Then he proved he can catch without gloves by snaffling one at long-on during Graham’s last over.

None of that was enough to put the brakes on the remaining opening batsman, who reached an unbeaten 109 to set a total of 232.

After the healthiest cricket tea I’ve ever seen (cheers, Neil T!), Jack and Graham set out to begin the chase. However, Dullingham made full use of the lifeless pitch, and both batsmen struggled for timing against the slower bowlers. When Jack holed out off a highish full-toss, the scoreboard read 35 for 1 from 12 overs.

That brought Phillip to the crease, and he immediately injected some urgency into the chase, dispatching his first ball for 4. The boundaries flowed thick and fast from there, including a six over the pielder at deep square-leg, combined with plenty of ones and twos from both batsmen. By drinks, Phillip had reached 51, and the scoreboard showed a much healthier 109. But there was still a long way to go.

As Phillip tired, and Dullingham covered the square leg boundary with their best fielders, the run rate slowed a little. But Graham, having reached his 50, began to relax and find his timing. By the time he was stumped (chasing a slow one wide outside the off stump) we were 175 runs up, with 12 overs left. Phillip followed soon afterwards, bowled trying to sweep a perfect-length ball that just clipped the stumps.

That brought Rajiv and Saqib together, which proved a solid partnership. Neither wasted any time getting into the runs: Rajiv punching into the gaps, and Saqib driving and cutting to the boundary. They knocked off the remaining 50 runs required with six overs to spare.