Members, new and established, turned out in force on Saturday for the opening match of the 2010 cricket season. The thirty five over inter-club game served as an ideal warm up for the Help for Heroes charity match affording the players match practice after three months lay off. The teams, The BJB’s (Big Jon Barratt’s XI) versus The Diamonds (Andy Diamond’s XI) contained a number of new players; The Diamonds won the toss and elected to bat in perfect conditions. Babar Qamar-Shahzad and Andy Nicholas posted 36 when first change Rob Hughes bowled Nicholas for 14. Sadly Wes Walker’s innings was but brief; Hughes bowling him for 4 with the score on 45. Qamar-Shahzad looked in fine form and had just dispatched a couple more deliveries to the boundary when ‘keeper Thomas Harder held a catch off Hughes to send the Pakistani back to the dressing room with 38 to his credit. With the board showing 58-3 The Diamonds appeared to have lost their sparkle. ‘Kiwi’ Frazer opened his account with a boundary before Terry Mott fell to a catch by Barratt off Roger Marnoch for 4. Hughes struck again dismissing Frazer lbw for 14 with the score on 76 for 5. Dave Borrie acquitted himself well on his debut making 3 but Ali Mujahid-Bajwa held a catch off Marnoch: the score 79-6. Simon Burnett found the boundary twice before Marnoch struck again bowling him for 10 with the score on 96. Just after the hundred came up Dylan George became Marnoch’s fourth victim, out to a catch. The Diamonds: 103-8. Youngster Adib Yaseen batted with fortitude holding his ground whilst Jamie Squibb impressed on his debut hitting three boundaries. Yaseen was out caught and bowled Neil Cook for 1. Andy Diamond and Squibb pushed the score to 131 before Barratt finally put an end to Squibb’s fun, bowling him for 17 with the score on 131 in the twenty ninth over, Andy Diamond finished unbeaten on 4. However, practice was needed, so the game continued until the 35 overs were played out. Qamar-Shahzad returned to the crease adding a further 17 to his score. Nicholas augmented his tally by 13. Walker: 2 and Mott 7. The final score a respectable 173 all out.
The Diamonds bowling figures: Mujahid-Bajwa: 6-0-26-3. Hughes: 6-0-22-4.
Marnoch: 6-0-25-4.

With the fiercely competitive Barratt at the helm the BJB’s were taking no prisoners. The first wicket fell with just 1 run scored and a dejected Mujahid-Bajwa making the trek back to the pavilion: out for nought, caught behind by Frazer off Walker. Eric George and Barratt enjoyed an impressive second wicket stand of 90, Barratt notching up his half century with a boundary before Frazer held a catch off Qamar-Shahzad to send ‘Big Jon’ back to the dressing room with 53 under his belt. George proved that he’s still a force to be reckoned with despite sustaining some nasty knocks last season; he retired after making a creditable 51. Thomas Harder was out to a catch by Walker off Burnett for 10 with the score on 121 and it was left to Neil Cook and Hijazy Yaseen to finish things off in the twenty ninth over hitting 21 and 24 respectively. The final score: BJB’s 175-3.