And so to the picturesque Sussex village of Balcombe, at a rare away ground that rivals the beauty of The Outwood Cricket Ground. Toss was duly lost and we were sent into the field by the knowledgeable Tony Rawbin, long-term skipper of Balcombe Sundays.

A very strong bowling and fielding performance ensued with Paul and Rizwan leading the way with very tight spells. The opposition's father-son opening partnership was broken by Paul Cox on debut, before a classic cricket moment. The elegant Callum Botting drove the excellent Rizwan hard and straight and Rizwan's athletic fielding deflected the ball onto the bowlers end stumps running out the stranded Tim Wall for a duck!

First change of bowling saw Kyle and Haroon continue exerting great pressure and it was the former who calmly sent the dangerous Callum Botting back to the pavilion, clean bowled. Dave Ward ( a Saturday 1s player for Balcombe) provide the charge for the opposition and his many blows contributed 58 off 55 balls, before Haroon with the catch and Dan (with a trademark spell of tight bowling) saw him off before too much damage was inflicted. When the skipper fell last man, Outwood felt a job well done (and a tea well earned) restricting the opposition to 159, though with last weekend's low score flitting around some cautious heads there was still plenty to do.

Tea - by the way - was superb with an array of cakes and pies, and crisps and sandwiches, but also included smoked salmon and prawns. No pressure on Oli Howell for this coming Sunday's tea!!

Kendall and Zain started the chase, but rhythm - on a pitch that was keeping low- was hard to come by for the batters early on and three LBWs saw The Wood at 37-3. Our stalwart opener Adam Kendall (32) was faultless in his application and Marcus joined him in moving the score on steadily. A partnership of 68 for the fourth wicket saw us over 100 and we felt ahead in the game. Haroon's 17 saw another partnership of 30+ and we were getting close. A couple of late wickets kept Balcombe interested, but Marcus (81no) was able to hit a final blow for 6 to secure a 4 wicket win.

The Helles Belles Moment - Rizwan running out the backing up number three for the most exquisite, unluckiest of ducks! What a way to go!

Next Up - Falconhurst visit The Wood on Sunday 26th May before Bank Holiday Darts on Monday 27th.