A tough start to 2025 continued for Southgate 2s as they went down at Enfield after starting the day in encouraging fashion (at least as far as the match was concerned - the warm-up left a LOT to be desired).

Asked to take the field with just ten after a work emergency for Ravi, captain Michael Cox threw the ball to Onky, who appears to be using the facilities of Loughborough’s cricketing centre of excellence to great effect. A profligate opening spell, marred by front foot no-balls, did little to distract from the enormous potential shown with a fluid action and high level of skill.

At the other end, Javed continued his good start at his new club, taking two important wickets. The pick of the bowlers were the evergreen Ravi Desai (3fer) and Lewis Johnston, whose two spells brought four wickets at a miserly rate. Captain Cox was unlucky to run into a belligerent left-hander, two dropped catches tipping that particular duel against him.

On a used pitch which, while short of Enfield’s usually very high standards, was perfectly adequate, Southgate should have made a better fist of chasing 157, a reasonable target.

It was clear that both sides are short on confidence and the momentum to-ed and fro-ed. Sadly, despite putting together three or four partnerships of 20+, no match-winning effort emerged.

Individual scores of 25, 22, 18, 15, and 12 tell the story. To win games, one of those batters must take their start and force home the advantage.

All that remained was to return to the club to see Jez’s arras, George’s javelins, and a third team victory, Javed’s Afghan snacks providing a superb accompaniment.

Ollie Bellwood