Back to reality

Everything went swimmingly for at least half an hour until it we discovered that Cope and Rosenfeldt made the basic error of believing that a booked alarm call would work and so were late for the photocall. So was Johnson, who announced that he could not possible have a picture taken without a breakfast first..

The game against the CCI was on the same track that they used for the Champions Trophy final and looked a belter. Henry won the toss and stuck the home side in, gambling on early moisture helping the bowlers and hoping that our display in the field could not be as bad as four days earlier. He really should have known better.

Pete Hobbs, who arrived with a broken knuckle and no hope of playing, declared himself fit and aided with some painkillers that would floor a mule and would certainly ensure he had more chance of failing a random drugs test than even Shoaib Akhtar, he steamed in from the far end and grabbed an early wicket. Ed Henderson moved the ball around – mainly down the leg side – but the catching was awesomely bad. Alan Cope led the way with three drops, and in all at least eight chances were spilled, so many that Henry (who put one down himself) gave up his customary teapot pose.

He did, however, reached a landmark in taking his 200th wicket for the club in the final overs, and in fairness we did well to peg CCI back after they took only 12 overs to bring up their first hundred.

Our reply came off the rails straight away when two of our key men – Nathan Ross and Cope- fell within two overs. Ross was bowled while Cope fell victim to some idiosyncratic umpiring when a loud shout for caught behind was turned down, only for a second appeal a few second later to be upheld. Mike Chase got a poor leg-before decision from the same official (although Henry persuaded Anna to tell a far from amused Chase that it looked out to her), frustration got the better of Eds Copleston who struggled before missing an attempted heave, while Johnny Gates again looked good before perishing to a poor shot.

By then we were almost down and out, but Damian Hill and Rosenfeldt led a spirited counterattack – always in vain but nevertheless face saving. Hill struck the first boundary in the 16th over and then cracked two more off subsequent ball for good measure, bring up our fourth fifty of the tour. Rosenfeldt drove well, exchanged blunt opinions with a particularly vocal wicketkeeper, went increasing red and was bowled, while Tom Hufton, Sam Langmead and Tom Merry all hit out well to ensure respectability.

Cricket Club of India 251 for 6 (Repani 79, Wanebanear 64*, Watkinson 2-49) beat Old Cranleighans 194 for 9 (Hill 51, Rosenfeldt 38, Langmead 25) by 57 runs