As a curtain raiser to the World Test Championship between India and Australia, Brigands took on the Old Boys of Winchester College on a scorching Sunday.
Other than Adam Jay who turned up with one shoe, Brigands started well putting on 32 for the first wicket. Bowling line and length proved the right tactic as three wickets then fell in quick succession LBW and two clean bowled.
Henderson (25) and Turner (15) got the score to 80 before more wickets fell requiring Guy Ladenburg (57) to dig deep with his first half-century of the season, with solid support from Blackburn and Wood.
Brigands declared on 181 but lost the initiative after tea with a drop first ball of the innings and conceding boundaries, byes, and wides galore in the opening spell.
The match had attracted a bumper crop of spectators, some local like Roy Newman and Pete Tomkins, some from as far away as Bristol and Lancashire; one observed "you need a miracle to win this" at 66-0 off 8 overs with the Maclay Brothers playing with freedom.
Not quite a miracle, but Ali got a run out from mid-one then a wicket in his second over, and Beardall a wicket in his first; but Brigands were always behind with further drops in the field and the Old Wykehamists reached the target in the 29th over.
Brigands 181-7 declared, lost by 4 wickets to Old Wykehamists 183-6
Photos by Friend of Broadhalfpenny Down, Simon Arnold, and Dave Henderson