The forecasted showers never appeared, which meant we were treated to a Sunday afternoon run fest on Chorleywood Common.

To start off though, we celebrate a phenomenal achievement by our skipper of the day, Aarav. After 10 innings, and a tally of 329 runs, this was the day Aarav was finally dismissed in a Radlett shirt, and in true Aarav style, he made the maximum possible you can score without having to retire, 39, before his leg stump was knocked back. Overlooked by the county, his next challenge is to better that average! As records go, this is right up there with the very best, a special feat Aarav!

Aarav was half of an explosive top order assault on the Chorleywood bowling attack. He and Akein batted brilliantly, with both bludgeoning the ball to all parts. When Akein (40*) retired with an eye catching strike rate above 200, Luke S (40*) came to the party too, driving on the up particularly impressively, and he also reached retirement in ultra-rapid time. After 14 overs, Radlett were 161-1 and 200 was well within our sights. However, 3 wickets in 3 balls changed things, this included Patrick, who again looked well set, for 16. Suddenly it was a case of making sure we used all our overs! We achieved this thanks to Dylan K and debutant Eeswar, but Chorleywood were back in the contest. A fast outfield and a compact boundary pavilion side, you felt no score was defendable, so at 186-6 we could not relax.

Our opponents took double figures off the first over and the game was on. Akein (1-26) got a much needed breakthrough, trapping their reverse sweeping opener in front. This didn’t really check Chorleywood’s stride, and Ben (1-26) took a welcome second wicket when he produced some extra bounce to snare their other opener, courtesy of a nicely taken catch by Dylan K. The opposition Nos 3 & 4 both attained retirement and so going into the latter overs, the result remained in the balance. However, with the run rate tracking upwards, Radlett maintained enough control, bagging a couple of run outs in the process, one from Raoul remaining calm, and the other on the last ball of the innings (Luke/Issa). Chorleywood ended 15 runs short in what was an extremely entertaining match.

M.O.M. On any other day Akein or Aarav would have won the award hands down, but Luke S really stamped his authority on this game with his batting, so it is his today.