There was a time not so long ago when the Pilgrims’ amassing 208 in a 40-over innings would have signalled a sure-fire victory.

Alas, after such a promising start to the season the mighty ’Grims appear have found a formula to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

The exact scientific breakdown goes something along the lines of: “Eating too much tea plus slight apathy in the field divided by a propensity to bowl full tosses.”

This, coupled with a very handy young batsman from Oakley meant that the 208 was never going to be quite enough and the fact that Bishop managed to bowl the only maiden of an 80-over match gives a further clue as to the batting conditions.

In the scorching heat (28c) The Pilgrims’ innings had a couple of early scares with the ball skidding through early on, meaning that both Juggs (four) and Bambi (three) failed to continue their early season batting form. “Good for 40” only managed half his allotted runs but a useful partnership with Kommander (54) got the innings moving along nicely.

A few more quick wickets followed, including Omlette, who had decided to bat while wearing his “Jackie-O” sunnies. Needless to say this resulted in a heavy fine. In walked Bishop, all hunched shoulders and seeming indifference, but today he had called on a favour from his buddy upstairs. Seeing it like a football he dispatched boundary after boundary and a 70-run partnership with Whippet – yes Whippet – brought the final total to 208.

Special mention must go to Xero for not batting for his average but going for a big cross-bat heave-ho off the last ball. Bowled and, needless to say, fined.

TEA: good – cheese and onion sandwiches especially.

After tea the ’Grims trudged out into the field, slightly bloated, and it quickly became clear that the boundaries were just as short for the Oakley batsmen as they had been for us. Strange.

Some steady bowling was interrupted too frequently with full-tosses and Oakley were soon hitting the required rate.

Special mention, too, for Bish for some tight and effective bowling but equally for his slightly scary and odd behaviour in the field. Boris also deserves a mention for a very fine catch running in from mid-off whereas Bumpy decided to do a little pirouette in the outfield rather than swallow his chance.

There were moments when it looked like the Pilgrims might just be getting themselves back in the game but our inability to go for the jugular and strangle the game resulted in defeat with an over and five balls to spare.

Man of the Match: Bishop