The sky a clear azure blue, the sun beating down pushing the temperature up past 30', and only the occasional breeze meant that winning the toss would be important. Only mad dogs and Englishmen would consider three hours fielding with the sun high in the sky, so Praba winning the toss and electing to bat was met with great relief. Time to retire to the shade and watch Danish and Nikesh open the batting.

The opening over was exactly what the home support had ordered, and as Clements was trying to settle into his line and length, Danish blasted him for 13 off the over. Eyes and minds turned to the scoreboard and quick back-of-a-fag-packet calculations meant we could be looking at over 400 runs.

Alas, no. For in the second over, Jones begins his first spell of inswinging medium pacers, yielding the wickets of Nikesh, Mike and Praba for 1, 2 and 6 respectively, and the score wobbling at 32/3. But not wobbling as much as Tanzeel's running between the wickets! Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the excitement of batting but Tanzeel was somehow run out for 3 whilst laying on his back halfway down the wicket!

Raheel in next, still aided by opener Danish, who by now was starting to open up and showed the St. Annes side an array of cuts and drives on his way to a partnership of 36, forming the cornerstone of the Presidents innings. After ten overs, Presidents had posted 61-4, still competitive, and plenty of overs yet to play. Danish was finally out LBW painfully close to his half century on 47, and Raheel capitulating on 15.

Carey and Ravi out next, neither looking like enjoying the heat out there, yet both well aware they needed to stay there as long as possible. Carey scampered to 9 then fell to Haddow-Allen's fastish right arm, the ball perhaps showing some signs of the uneven bounce that would prove to be so perilous in the second innings. Richard in next, cutting a single boundary down to third man before drinks, then fell to Jones, who returned with magnificent figures of 4-32. The score needed one final fillip in the form of Tony coming in right down the order and scoring a breezy 11, including a couple of classy punches for 4 back down the wicket. Only 20.2 overs played and the Presidents were all out.

St. Annes were set a target of 111, and after a fine tea by Anne Worms and Adele Corazza, the game resumed. Slightly cooler than earlier and with the pitch showing signs of some uneven bounce, a great contest was in the offing.

Praba and Danish open the bowling, hoping that the right arm - left arm partnership would unsettle the batsmen. None more unsettled than in the third over when on of Praba's quicker balls hit the pitch and lifted fast and high, straight into the face of the batsman Halladay. Ravi calls for an ice compress and calm is restored, albeit with one batsman off hurt, sporting a black eye.

With the weather so hot, rotating bowlers would be important to conserve energy. Praba's changes were inspired. First, Tanzeel came on, tempting Haddow-Allen into swatting at a ball moving from leg stump to off. A snick was heard, Tony was smiling, and the first wicket had fallen off Tanzeel's first ball. Tanzeel's first spell was incredible - 12 dot balls followed, then another wicket with Danish scooping a ball up for a superb reflex catch.

Danish's replacement was Ravi, who began with a wicket-maiden, clean-bowling Dyer for 9, then scalping Clements lbw for another 9 runs, and ended on 2-15. Tanzeel was spurred on by this and soon had a close field set, menacing successive St. Annes' batsmen. Tanzeel ended up with figures of 7-2-33-4, with only Hipwell getting any change out of him on his way to an unbeaten 32.

By the time of Praba's return, St. Annes were struggling just shy of the 100. Hipwell bought up the 100 with a boundary, but with only 6 wickets down, it would take something amazing for the President's to pull off a win from here. Praba took a quick wicket and the Presidents erupted in cheers - how many wickets were to come though? Would the injured Halladay be making a reappearance? In the end, the ball was tossed to Nikesh to finish the job - and finish it he did with wicket, dot, wicket from his only three balls. The St. Annes' contingent has rapidly dwindled (yet the Horse and Groom opposite looked full ...), and without a number 11 coming in, the Presidents were victorious, bowling out St. Annes for 103 after 24.3 overs.