ACC 4s start with nerve-jangling win v Old Wimbledonians

It was perfect weather at Addington for the eagerly anticipated first match of the league season. We had new players like Simon Witham, Ibad Siddiqui and Giles Fouhy. Nikhil Malotra made his adult debut after many years in the colts alongside his dad, new signing Vinay - and they brought great support from their family. Wily Senior Pro Lee Ramsey made his long-awaited return (with new hip) and Stevie Hasler, having invested so much in new gear, looked keen as mustard.

Jon lost the toss with a slightly confusing £2 coin with heads on both sides. Anyway, we clarified that OW had won it and they put us into bat on a dry but challenging-looking surface. Addington always plays low but at times the ball went subterranean and skipper Jon was quickly back in the pavilion from one that scuttled onto his middle stump. Giles was run out when he went wandering out of his crease but Steve and Martin Stone batted very well and took us over 50. We knew that anything around 120 was going to be challenging. Even though Hoff only scored 13 he did a great job for the team. Martin hit the bad balls, including a nice 6 off a no-ball and it was surprising when he was LBW for 28. Lee Ramsey then used all his experience to shepherd the new players - Nikhil and Vinay both scored 8 but along with Lee (27*) meant that we posted 119. It was not much - but I reckon it was worth 250 at Sandilands - and the important thing was we used all our overs.

After a great Sue Maguire tea (the Coronation Chicken got a lot of great reviews) we went out after a Churchill-like team talk from Jon that was missed by half the team. Lee and Vinay started off well - keeping it tight with lots of good support from everyone. Lee got the opener LBW and Vinay was unlucky not to get a wicket. Nikhil came on to replace his dad, bowled nice and tight and got their dangerous opener out LBW. Ibad came on and sprayed it around a bit but in his 3 overs he got 2 crucial wickets both bowled. Danny replaced Ibad and bowled nicely, getting 3 wickets all bowled. Their number 3 and number 7 had a good partnership and some of our fielding got a bit ragged after the drinks break with one over going for 14 runs which was massive in the context of the match. Danny finished with 3-19 off his 6 overs.

The skipper brought himself onto bowl and with Lee coming back on (off the short run) we tightened things back up but we did not have many runs to play with. With them only needing 10 runs to win with 2 wickets left, Lee bowled their number 3 with a beautiful off-cutter. It was the critical moment. Next over Jon got a caught and bowled and we had won a nail-biter!

Let's hope we can make Addington the Fortress it was last year. Thanks to Gavin for umpiring and Danny for scoring almost the entire batting innings and to everyone for helping out with the jobs. It was a great start to the season.