With the captain and vice-captain otherwise engaged, the mantle of responsibility fell on the shoulders of Dollimore to skipper the side for its run out against Seveno CC.
The interim skip started well by actually winning the toss. An occurrence rarer in the Badger 2013 season than Blake keeping his shirt on in the sunshine. Deciding to bat first, the power obviously obviously got to the new captain with him promoting himself to number one in the order in a land grab that even Robert Mugabe would have balked at.
There then followed slow progress from Dollimore and Parkinson, amassing not much from the first 10 overs. With the skipper calling it a solid foundation (others remarking, more like watching concrete dry) it was left to Foord and Morse to build the tower block with some big hits, finishing with 52 and 46 runs respectively. Stretching an analogy too far, Mackrell finished the innings by adding the penthouse with a quick fire 31.
Badgers setting Seveno a total of 189 runs to win.
Seveno went about their chase but early wickets fell quickly. The pace and precision of Mackrell (4-27) and Blake (2-37) proving too much. With Cade chipping in and an incredible one stump / 30 yard run out by Foord, it was looking good for the men in black and white. Seveno now reeling at 86-8.
At this point the interim skipper was heard to remark "this captaining thing is quite easy, does anyone know what the biggest Badger win of all time is?". Such hubris was not to last long.
What the naive Badger leader had failed to realise was that the sneaky Seveno captain had hidden his best batsman at 9 and 10. These behemoths of the cricketing world set to work bludgeoning the Badger bowling line up to all parts of the ground.
And as the overs increased, so did the Seveno score. With 6 overs left the Badger leader needed to try something different and so turned to Foord and, in yet another dictatorial move, himself to see if a vital break through could be made. 2 overs later and still no wickets, Seveno needing 9 runs to win.
And then it happened.
Dollimore bowling his trademark outswing got one to nibble the batsman's edge. The Badgers began to roar in celebration, only to see the keeper (naming no names but it rhymes with Stinks) dropping the ball. Was that the Badger victory slipping through their fingers?
Well, no, actually it wasn't.
Two balls later Dollimore had his man with a sharp catch taking at mid-on by Cade. Seveno still though only needing 5 runs to win from their last wicket.
And that's when Foord, determined to finish a great day's work with a win, fired the ball in to the Seveno No 11 and made an all mighty mess of his stumps.
Badgers victors by 4 runs, delirious. To the pub to celebrate and to commiserate a devastated but magnanimous Seveno.
The stand-in skipper much relieved and grateful to an all round team performance. More of the same next year please!