Nostalgia time as the Sundays, led by Clive in his final appearance (for now!) travelled to Graveley, a picturesque ground at the top of a hill near Hitchin. Rizwan, Aamir, Gayan and Thiru took the opportunity for some match practice before the Saturday campaign begins, and Gayan and Viyath opened the bowling after the home skipper won the toss and chose to bat.

Gayan soon had his trademark swing going and Viyath gained 'interesting' bounce - high and low - on a pitch that looked underprepared. After G bowled the opener with a big inswinger Graveley's no.3 came in and a few lost balls in adjoining fields resulted, as he pounced on anything loose. However a slightly controversial stumping (not given by umpire Steve, I hasten to add!) saw no.3 depart, and though the experienced no.5 also added runs, it was soon the turn of Thiru to dominate with a superb spell of accurate medium pace.

Simply by putting the ball in the right area, with his stock outswing enhanced by variable bounce, he returned the fantastic figures of 6 for 17 as Graveley were bowled out for 146 in 33.5 overs. Viyath came back and took a wicket in his second spell and impressed all with his accuracy and action.

Graveley's quicker opening bowlers gained more extreme reactions from the pitch with wides (for height) abounding, low scuttling deliveries also common, but as the ball got softer Eklavya and Gayan built a partnership and got us within striking distance. Gayan fell LB to a low one (after being hit twice on the helmet) but X went from strength to strength, putting away bad balls with aplomb and going past a well-deserved fifty. Though there were a few jitters as Inpan and Josh were unable to get on top of the high bounce, the calm head and experience of Hilton who had joined X saw us home with plenty of overs to spare. X's 74 not out included 14 x 4 and 1 x 6.

Meanwhile Clive moves on to a new stage in his life and we wish him all the very best, with many many thanks for his Herculean efforts in not just running the Sunday side, but contributing so much to the running of the club, his good sense and good humour. Bon voyage!