So near and yet ...

The tour ended in a seven-run defeat, and so we finished with a 2-3 record, but it could – and should – have been a different story. For almost all the 70 overs of the game against Payyodes we were in a strong position only to throw it all away with a batting collapse that must rank among our most dismal. With five overs remaining we needed 25 to win with seven wickets in hand and Nathan Ross hitting the ball to all parts with ease. Then he tried to pull a bouncer only to spoon a catch to midwicket. Henry Watkinson fell next ball, feathering a catch to the keeper as he tried to run the ball to third man, and off the final delivery of the over Rick Johnson drove a catch to the one man on the cover boundary. The experience had almost all gone in one breath.

Mike Chase, who had endured a wretched tour, was finally finding some form but his ideal role was as foil to a more aggressive partner and now he had to get a move on. When he departed to his third leg-before of the trip for 22, the pressure was really on.

Still we held the advantage on paper, but we lacked an old head to calm the ship. We started the last over needing 13 and we never got close, with three more run-outs ensuring that there was to be no dramatic finale.

The innings began so well, with Tom Hufton and Eds Copleston making a breezy start before Hufton was run-out by a direct hit for 23. Copleston and Cope then added 83 for the second wicket with ease and aplomb, and there seemed to be only one winner. Cope holed out to long-on shortly after reaching his fifty, and then Copleston fell to an excellent low return catch. At the time it seemed little more than a small aberration as Chase and Ross put on 79 for the fourth wicket.

We had bowled well, although we did look slightly weary and Peter Hobbs seemed to be paying the price for late nights, strong painkillers and an upset stomach. Ed Henderson was also below his best, but Watkinson rose to the challenge with another tidy spell. Unlike the game the day before, the Payyodes batsmen took the attack to the bowlers but despite the heat we did not wilt.

As the game reached its conclusion Copleston was struck down by remarkable cramp, starting in his toes and rapidly spreading to all parts. For more than two hours he had team-mates working on his arms and legs as his muscles convulsed. So bad was he that he missed fines!

Payyodes 241 for 4 (Bhosle 94) beat Old Cranleighans 234 (Ross 54, Cope 52, Copleston 36)

Fines were particularly savage as Rosenfeldt looked to unleash revenge on senior players, fining Messrs Watkinson, Johnson, Williamson and Bailey what amounted to 20 shots of spirits between them. The quartet were shaken but not bowed and vowed revenge the next night. The remainder of the evening was spent at the city's most prestigious fish restaurant where we behaved admirably well. It was probably the fatigue of the previous three days more than any growing maturity.