Brockley, generously sponsored by Precon Products, travelled to Eight Ash Green for an unfathomably early start to their Two Counties Division 4 match.

The start time didn’t faze captain Dan who lost the toss in regulation fashion and Brockley found themselves in the field, in more ways than one, as Eight Ash Green chose to bat first.

They approached their task with some relish as Sykes soon nearly dislocated his neck trying to track one ball that was launched into the undergrowth. A few balls later and another fierce stroke flew back at the hapless Sykes who collapsed to the floor as though Gus had shot him and accidentally collided with the ball that then flew onto the stumps to run out the non striker.

This proved to be the end of Brockley’s good fortune for some period of time and certainly the end of any successful attempts at fielding – deliberate or otherwise. The Eight Ash batters were wasting no time at all as they flew along at over 5 an over despite a good spells from Geeves, Whiley and the idiosyncratic Lucas.

Spicer (92) and Nunn (74) looked likely to post a score well in excess of 300 until until Captain Dan called on the unlikeliest of spin twins : Jeffery and McCaffrey. As sure as night follows day, Jeffery was in the wickets (1 for 56) and McCaffrey became the only Brockley bowler to take a second wicket (2 for 26) however the runs still flowed faster than Corona down Ricky Meek’s gullet and the home side closed on a rather impressive 289 for 8. This report isn’t long enough to cover the 34 extras and numerous fielding errors that helped support that total.

In reply Brockley started remarkably positively for a team that had never chased down a total over 225 and never score more than 255 : Jeffery got off the mark with a six and Fisher collected 3 boundaries in the first over.

This set the tempo for an innings that never dropped below 6 an over and when Jeffery (38) departed he was replaced by McCaffery who followed up his wickets with a quick fire 60 runs.

When Fisher was finally dismissed for 97 Brockley needed 127 off 20 overs. Huffer (27) helped take the score to 234 before Spicer made his second major impression on the match by dismissing both batsmen.

Whiley (12) and Webb 19no steered Brockley closer to the line before the run outs of Lucas (avec shirt) and Steve Fenner again signified a typically abrupt collapse.

However the imperiously calm Webb and the under rated Geeves saw Brockley home to an unlikely victory with nearly two overs to spare

A special mention should be made of the Eight Ash Green team who played the match in a competitive but extremely positive manner with both sides acting sensibly in the face of poor weather. Eight Ash Green are a strong side who will do well in the second half of the season.

The recommended chip shop remains somewhat of a mystery.