The Woodpeckers came to Headley in the middle of a tough run, as this season we’ve been lining up against some very strong teams and have been building the wrong type of run. Headley are one of the strongest we play, having triumphed the last three and I knew it was going to be a tough challenge. We had a swifty at Rossi favourite the Cock Inn and met the Beetle.

Three senior Pros discuss the current crisis or I could be eating a delicious Bagel

It was great to welcome back a long-time sponsor Dupa and another bright note was the debut of Ollie ‘Beetle’ Dunger. Cat’s cousin is cleancut, posher, much more athletic and hard to see the resemblance. We elected to field on a greenish wicket and I tossed Beetle the new cherry.

Inspecting the slightly green wicket -Dupa

Last week at Barnes was a hideous opening spell but this was quite the opposite, Our Openers took advantages of the verdant conditions to induce some false shots and a series of enthusiastic lbw appeals. The first was denied but after that a flurry as the Beetle set about the legs Barton and Cowie both lbw Dunger,Spinach nipped in to remove Calvert and these great opening spells left Headley 13-3. Beetle wanted to come off after a loose one but Headley stalwart Steve ‘Winnie’ Winslet decided to get after Traash early and the scoreboard began to motor

At 70-3 in Traash’s third over was the pivotal moment Winni top edged one which ballooned over mole and cat, the Cat ran back got two paws to it but spilt like his milk. Traas has since been quoted…’Was Mole’s catch really’. History repeated three balls later as Winnie mistimed a drive close to Pippin at cover, but the slightly braver Kwakka ran across calling but it also ended on the deck. Cat only got the bonnet for three balls, did the wrong man go for both catches and little did we know what it would cost.

At 108 Traash and Snax got wickets, but the brutal assault from Winnie continued, as he Pooh-ed all over our attack,raining blows all over the hundred acre wood and disturbing Rabbit, Owl and Eeyore . I went off to give Dupa a run but came back to get the Beetle back on and he managed to bowl the stoic Saffer de Vlieg for 8 of 26

Sometimes a wicket isn;t a good thing. 18 year-old Daniel Greayer-Smith has played some Surrey Schoolboys, and he came in with only attack on his mind as balls disappeared to all parts.Young Dan plundered 7 maximums in 72 off 29 balls. I think we ended up with 8 lost balls as Winnie also bludgeoned 142 not out off 87. No bowler was spared this last assault, Trash particularly not accustomed to going for 63 off 7 and Headley ended 285-5 off their 35.

Tea was a welcome relief from the onslaught and nice mixture of sandwiches and cakes. 285 a lot but with short boundaries and some decent bats, I hadn’t given up hope. It was great to have my sister and nieces there and Dupa’s GF Allie

From Back L-R Dupa, Butternut, Beetle, Spinach, Traash, Moleman FR-Tiddies, Pippin, Cat, Kwakka, Pobsy, Snax

Cat and Kwakka opened up against the left-arm medium-pace wiles of Headley skipper Gruntles Waller who is a master at putting the ball on the spot.. Cat struck a couple of clean boundaries, but a similarly accurate medium pacer Barney Cowie was introduced and the Kwakka (10)-Cat(30) combo were castled 45-2. Beetle just looks like a number three and batted well with the Mole. I’ve just realised our Headley top four is like a cast list from Wind in the Willows, - Cat. Kwakka, Beetle and Mole.

Beetle got an edge, and Traash joined his long-time alarm clock Moleman. Traash got his head down against tight bowling and tried to build a partnership with Mole. He waited for opportunities to score and managed to get us up close to the challenging RRR.

Mole was also bowled for 31 and Traash tried to marshall a few Peckers down the order, but when he became Cowie’s fourth victim of the top 5 for a well-made 65 the writing was on the wall. None of the bowlers hung around for long as Cowie and Waller took 4-31 and 4-32 bowling impressively

last guard Dupa and Snax left needing 110 off 7 overs

So a professional Headley team who play their peculiar conditions very well were too strong again, four wins in a row against the Peckers , we completed six losses in a row. It could have been different if we’d pouched one of those chances, but catches win(and lose) matches. The last time we broke the other record 2015 we followed with a losing 2016 so it's a trend and this is just the ebb and flow of village cricket.

I also feel good about the next two games against Marlow and Teddington, and we are having fun which is the main thing ! Peckers Up