- 11 players? Tick.
- Glorious weather? Tick.
- Opposition? Unfortunately withdrawn.
Following a few frantic phone calls, the Badgers found a suitable opposition up the Northern line and headed to Barnet.
Before the game, the Badger WhatsApp group was heavy with travel tips. Eventually, the consensus was reached that the best bet was to take the tube. With that in mind Rhori, Martin and Pedro decided to drive and promptly turned up a mere three overs into the game. It did not help matters that Cade had earlier added to his consistent streak of losing tosses resulting in the Badgers fielding first.
Despite starting with eight and losing the lovely Robin from the bowling attack to a rigorously enforced no ball rule, the Badgers made inroads into the Arkley attack. The conditions strongly favoured seam and swing. Arkley where eventually out for 102 - Jerry and Ali were pick of the bowlers.
This all looked very positive and, following a really good tea, we set about batting. Jim and Rhori opened, making it quite hard to work out who was facing, especially when they both hit a four off their first ball.
These early boundaries made 103 look a very manageable total. However at 46/6 this looked less easy. Cade and Shone rallied to try and tick off some runs but, once Cade (missed a straight one) and Shone (LBW) were gone, it was difficult for the Badgers to recover from 79/8.
We fell short by 21 runs in the end, but the oppo were nice as was the pub afterwards, so swings and roundabouts.