On a beautiful hot summer’s evening, Murphy won the toss with tails never fails – shh don’t tell anyone. In the Burghley Midweekers, we are extremely charitable, and I gave their captain the chance to bat first; feeling hospitable but also very confident that with this line-up, we could chase anything down. We had Lawrence Rayner striding down the slope from the Pavilion end, with Simon Sherwin trundling up the hill from Diana’s. Both were economical, but it took until the 7th over for us to break through. Birch was the first out for Stamford Town, who made 19 from 20, followed by Boom Boom Perring, who smashed his first couple of balls for sublime straight 4s up and over the infield. Murphy pushed the field back…but then Rayner, like all good fast bowlers, over-ruled his captain and dared Perring to hit up and over again. Perring fell at cow corner, where the impressive Burton snaffled his second steepler, having refused an attempt in the previous over.

Mini Dinnie then came on to bowl from the protected Pavilion end. Aman has learnt quickly from his cricketing peers and decided to bowl a Popple – the non-spinning, non-pitching full toss – which was caught well. A quick rearrangement of the field by Murphy saw Dinnie senior move round to field at a catching position behind square on the leg side – to the immediate delight of all to see Bowled Mini Dinnie, caught Dinnie senior. Both David Popple and Lewis Banthorpe were asked to take on the danger end of Diana and protect her short boundaries. Both bowled beautifully and picked up wickets in the middle order to stifle the total that Stamford Town were working towards. At the end of 18 overs, a score of 106 for 7 looked hard to protect. Burghley were sensational in the field, taking all their catches and setting the right tone.

Burghley opened the batting with a mixture of youth and experience – having learnt from their previous game. Armstrong and Burton batted beautifully, putting on 63 for the fall of the first wicket. Poor Stamford Town’s catching was not up to it, and this proved the difference between the teams. With immense pride, Harry Armstrong scored a faultless 50 and retired not out to bask in the glory of a rich vein of form. Dinnie senior came out at number 3 and was in a hurry to get Mini home, caressing a fast 18 from 15 balls faced. Burghley reached their total in the 15th over, leaving enough time for a well-earned beer overlooking beautiful Stamford as the sun came down on another game at Burghley, and that warm afterglow of a well-earned win.

This match was sponsored by King West