A Big Win for the Wandsworth Diet

WCC 112 (44.2 overs)

Hit or Miss 113-4 (35 overs)

Hit or Miss won by 6 wickets

The Enders' top order dashers were hampered by a slow, damp pitch, but nothing sets the blood of Steve Dunne coursing quite like a claggy track, and if his sternest critic, Carmel, is watching then so much the worse for the opposition. Dunne's brilliant block-and-pull 35 proved to be the game's top score. He was cannily supported by Lyons Senior and, for the first time in Weekenders colours, Lyons Junior. Toby played arguably the Weekenders' most mature innings of the afternoon, a notable accomplishment given the average age of the side. The grizzled wiseacres in the team, of which there were quite a few, smiled quietly at the break convinced that, on this surface, 112 was more than enough. It was nothing like.

Hit or Miss owed their success to ten steady overs from Clarke who exploited the uneven bounce to bag an economical six-for. In reply, the hosts' number one batsman stepped purposefully to the crease, several stones lighter than last season having spent the winter at Her Majesty's pleasure. In the cliche-ridden annals of club cricket reporting this was a rare instance of a batsman having genuinely got out of jail - particularly as he survived a succession of increasingly loud appeals for leg-before and caught behind. It was in desperately trying to make this lame observation that your correspondent lost his line, length, concentration, energy, composure and ultimately the confidence of his team mates.

Dunne masterfully unpicked the top order, again relishing ideal conditions for his niggardly art. He had sporadic support from Sood and Hennel but despite the combined age of the entertainment professionals in the Weekenders' squad there was to be no Escape to Victory.

WCC 112

Clarke 12-5-19-6

Lee 10, McDonald 14, O'Higgins 2, Sood 10, Wahi 5, Dunne 35, Douglas 0, J. Lyons 13, T. Lyons 6, Hennel 3 not out, d'Inverno 0.

Hit or Miss 113-4

Winfield 30*, Earl 29*

Douglas 10-2-29-0, Dunne 15-4-40-4, Sood 8-1-22-0, Hennel 2-0-15-0