Another busy week – and a difficult one in several respects. Thanks to a combination of Covid isolation and injuries through the week the sides who went out on Saturday were significantly different from those selected on Tuesday. Huge thanks go out to the club skippers (especially in lower XIs) for their patience through a trying week, and thanks also to players who came in at short notice, or who were playing in a higher team than usual.

The Saturday results were frustrating, as we seem to be on a run of coming out on the wrong side of close results: surely our luck will turn! The 1s lost convincingly, posting 105, which Actonians chased down comfortably. The 2s were denied victory having dominated the game. We made 185, Matt Harrison’s excellent form continuing with 48, but Actonians survived at 112-9 as we just couldn’t take the last wicket.

The 3s lost narrowly, Wycombe House reaching their target with 3 wickets to spare in the last over of the game. Swaps Anaokar earlier made an impressive 72.

The 4s had a very strange experience: despite the idyllic weather there were puddles on the outfield at Gunnersbury Park making it unplayable. Showing our goodwill and sportsmanship we waited around till the 5s had finished and starting a belated game on their adjacent pitch, which we proceeded to lose to a strong Shepherds Bush. Cricketing karma owes us one.

We were able to get that game on as the 5s maintained a 100% record for stand-in skipper Tim Yates, comfortably and quickly beating Actonians.

On Sunday the MDL team got a winning draw against Brentham, dominating the game but again unable to pick up the final wickets. We made a solid 180-5 declared, with 65 for Matt Harrison and 50 for Sai Bhatia, and Brentham finished on 120-8. The friendly side lost despite 51 by Steve Brookes.

Earlier in the week the T20 side beat Perivale, thanks to a brilliant all-round performance from Anurag Zende. He made 40 coming in at number 8 to propel us to 147-8 and then returned extraordinary figures of 6-9 in four overs with the ball, including a hat-trick.

On Friday evening at a magnificent-looking HQ the Under 19s Dragons side beat Barnes, making 168-4 and winning by 16 runs.

In the light of the issues we have had with Covid this week can I please remind you to be sensible and careful, to avoid us having more problems than necessary. Can you please continue to test yourself regualarly at home and to let the club know immediately if you have a positive test, or if you have to isolate.

With regard to wider considerations of the re-opening, the club executive committee is meeting on Wednesday and will discuss the way forward, but in the meantime existing rules will continue to apply regarding changing rooms and social distancing at the club. I will let you know what changes we will make following the meeting, but we intend to be prudent and try to minimise the risks at this potentially pivotal moment.

Finally, and in the light of the challenging selection situation this week, can I please ask you to make your availability clear on Pitchero – whether available or unavailable – ahead of selection on Tuesday, to make life as easy as possible for our hardworking skippers? Pitchero has worked really well this year, but the decisions made by the selection committee can only be as good as the data going into the app.

Thanks everyone and have a good week.
Bernard