Thursday night saw the eagerly awaited, top of the table clash between the Bray boys and second placed Lutonians. Most of the Eaton Bray team were on a high having seen the England team destroy Australia to reach the World Cup Final. The Lutonians arrived buoyed by rumours that they had secured a new sponsorship deal with Gillette.

Lutonians won the toss and, with the league points system seemingly favouring the team batting second, Eaton Bray were put in on a slightly green wicket.

Eaton Bray produced a solid batting performance against some fast and fiery bowling. Lutonians utilised their top bowlers to the maximum and there was little let-up in the pressure applied to the batsmen. The backbone of the innings was provided by Euan with an excellent 22. A flamboyant finish was provided by Ollie with 21 off 21 balls, including the shot of the day as we saw the Harris interpretation of the ramp shot. With Thomas, Charlie and Ben also contributing, Eaton Bray ended the innings on a very commendable 105.

Eaton Bray knew they would have to be at their best to keep on top of some strong Lutonian batsmen, and they made a great start with Shamindra and Ollie removing the openers for 1 and 6 respectively. However, this brought the Lutonians’ strongest batsman to the crease and Eaton Bray had to bowl and field magnificently to restrict the Lutonians to 53 off the first 10 overs.

With Alfie and Euan breaking through the middle order, the Lutonians introduced their debutant batsman (!), who proved to be quite a find, with quick-fire 21 that was sufficient to see them over the line with a couple of overs to spare.

The Bray boys should be commended on their performance and their attitude. Against a team seemingly desperate to win at all costs, Eaton Bray stayed true to their developmental philosophy and should be very proud of themselves.

With both teams now locked together at the top of the league on 200 points, the championship will be decided on the next four Thursdays, starting at Henlow next week.

P.S. Congratulations to England – world champions!