Report (which, in what may have been our only real success today, was deemed worthy of quotation at length in the Sharks' own report) by Paul Jordan:
For the third time I had lost the toss and was asked to field. Having glanced at the usual suspects for the Sharks and our team sheet I would say that they had a strong batting line up; confirmed by their four batting retirements at 25, while none of us achieved this milestone.
With the agreed retirement on 25 we knew that we should try and restrict their scoring as much as possible. Opening bowlers Joe White (1/18) and Naveen Chouksey (1/10) certainly kept the Sharks' opening pair quiet, with boundaries were thin on the ground and Joe producing another stunning opening spell with both pace and seam movement. He was unlucky not to finish up with a "fifer", were it not for some dropped catches. As it was a one wicket haul was far less than he deserved.
The Sharks were scoring well, but not at an alarming rate and our bowlers stuck to their task. This was particularly true of Faruk Kara (0/20) and Julius Rix (2/17), who both made the batsmen work hard for their runs. The fielding was improving as the game went on with Jim Dowsett working well at gulley and midwicket, although the star - and provider of most entertainment - was undoubtedly John Moore. Fielding at deep square leg he contrived to wrong foot himself and simultaneously kick the ball up, cracking the ball on his shin. Earlier he made a stunning stop at cover, where he appeared to take the full force on the family jewels. Gasps of admiration and shared pain were heard among the fielders.
With the introduction of the Hughes father and son combo came the beshorted nemesis and brutal left-handed batsman who usually spends 5 minutes at the crease and retires before you can say "new balls please". He didn't disappoint tonight, losing three balls with some huge sixes, one of which bounced off the roof of Dave Norman's house and onto Oxford Road. [Matt Hughes received the harshest treatment and, indeed, the harshest treatment a Remnants bowler has ever felt, his two-over spell of 0/49 putting him on top of the list of least economical Remnants spells - ed.] At this point the score was ticking over but by the end the Sharks had achieved a very good score of 164/5 - maybe 20 too many, but some good clean hitting accounted for his total, rather than poor bowling on our behalf.
Our reply stared badly when Faruk (0 off 2 balls) uncharacteristically chased a wide delivery and spooned a simple catch. Tom Collett (7 off 8 balls) batted with spirit, as did Julius (22 off 14 balls), who came closest to taking early retirement. Joe White (19 off 23 balls) and Atta Rehman (12 off 12 balls) added some classy shots but also perished short of the magic 25. Naveen (17 off 14 balls) kept the score ticking over but the Sharks bowlers always picked up a wicket when needed and left us struggling.
John Moore (10 off 15 balls) added some vital and injury free runs but our tail didn't wag enough and we fell well short of the target, but more disappointingly failed to reach 100. Sally was back scoring which was most welcome, but the scorebook appears to have buried itself. Drinks in the bar followed and talk of the rematch and a chance to restore parity was certainly on my mind.