Highgate. Dick Holly. And the declaration that never came...

In stark contrast to the previous week, there was not a cloud to be seen in the sky. The thermometer was up to 27 degrees centigrade; a good day to bat first.

Alas, Smiler's tossing skills were at an ebb, and we were fielding.

Sundowners finest donned their hats and sun cream and meandered out on to the fast dry outfield. The boundary was short on one side and we were expecting a run feast.

The first ball of the day from quickie Dom Pilgrim was leg side. Highgate opener Nick Brunner set a precedent and flicked at it one handed; the ball flew to fine leg for four.

The silver fox, Ringo Tailor, proved to be less than cunning as far as Brunner was concerned. Soon Brunner was despatching Tailor to all parts of Highgate. Ringo held his nerve and slipped in a couple of good recovery overs but we didn't look like dislodging either Brunner or the Highgate skipper "Dick" Holly.

With the score on 64, Brunner stroked another boundary to reach his 50.

Dave Cattell and Clive Moore were introduced to our attack, but this made no difference to Brunner whose innings continued in the same serene manner.

We have been plagued in past matches by Highgate skipper, Dick, and his unusual interpretation of the game. He did it again! With no warning he suddenly retired himself on 34. Without an apparent injury, I hope he consulted the laws, which state in such circumstances you are retired "out".

He was replaced by his son (what a surprise!).

Brunner soon raced to his ton, which apart from a couple of half chances was faultless. Soon after with his score on 129, he copied the Dick entry in the book.
We did get a couple of legitimate wickets. Both fell to Dom.

The first was an excellent catch from Clive "Brookside" Moore on the boundary, to remove Deller.

Highgate after several attempts to get the young Dick to 50 eventually declared their innings when Dom knocked his off stump out of the ground in the 48th over.

We were chasing the imposing total of 275.

In the absence of Andy Vernon, your correspondent was called upon to open the batting with skipper Herlihy.

A quick congratulatory mention here for the missing V, who is the proud father of three day old Ella Louisa. He informs us he will be back in the fold next week - best of luck to the Andy & Rachel.

Our innings started well. After our running fiasco against Wembley, Smiler and I seemed to have sorted the scampering out, and I was the beneficiary of a 5 from some zealous overthrows.

The score had reached 33, when I swung a short delivery to leg from Lynch. We all stopped to await the resulting boundary apart from the Highgate fielder who leapt to his right to snaffle the chance one handed. I departed for 27.

Jani "the run machine" always strides out to the wicket in a confident manner. He once again disappointed himself being bowled a few balls later by Lynch.

In retrospect Jani should be given some sort of award for his intuitive dismissal, which let Clive Moore to the wicket.

The scoreboard read 34 for 2, and 276 to win seemed an awful long way away.

Clive however seemed undaunted and set about building an innings. Luke Vassey was his new partner as Smiler succumbed to the accurate bowling of Syed.

Together they took the total to 114 before Vassey became another victim of Syed. Still our target of 276 looked somewhat distant.

Wicket keeper Mick McGowan was next to join Moore, rekindling a batting partnership that dates back to their youth on the bumpy pitches of Ronaldsway on the Wirral.

Clive swept past 50 and continued to pick off the Highgate attack. Mick dug in at the other end in the support role.

Unfortunately with the partnership in the 90's the Sundown running curse came back to haunt us. Clive called for a quick single. Mick said no, but realising our best chance was if Clive stayed in, set of on a suicide run. A direct hit gave him no chance. Mick returned to the pavilion disappointed for 25 well made runs.

The tension was definitely starting to build in the middle. Highgate were continuing to bowl Syed, by far their best bowler, and setting tight fields to boot.

Alex Heathcote was Moore's next partner. They took the total up to 248. Clive reached the magical 100 figure and kept going. It was a truly magnificent innings with shots all round the ground, and Highgate getting few sniffs of his precious wicket. One particular pull for four of Syed (I had the pleasure of umpiring at the time) sticks in my mind.

Time was beginning to run out for us. Alex was out LBW to Lynch for 15 and the Cat replaced him.

Despite some more lusty blows by Clive we couldn't quite emulate the Highgate total and ended up on 259 for 5 from 46 overs.

Clive staggered back to the pavilion, the applause ringing in his helmet for an undefeated 129.

It was as we thought a run feast, with 534 runs being harvested from 93.1 overs. However an honourable draw had to be settled on by all concerned.

There is just one name I haven't mentioned - Mark Naisbitt. Mark made his comeback today, fielded 47 overs at gully, did not bat and moaned about the state of knees. We could tell that he was happy to back!

On to the days winners and losers;

The Winners:
The two centurions - Moore for us and Brunner for Highgate. Two fantastic innings to watch but not bowl against!

The Losers:
Most of the bowlers - it was a day for batsmen

Next week we are back at the home ranch in Woodside Park to entertain another Highgate side - Calthorpe. This is a new fixture for us so tune in anon for all the facts, tears of joy and tears of failure and of course the gossip.