A glorious afternoon of April sunshine at the Walker, and a beautiful day for some pre-season cricket.

A chastening defeat at Woodford Wells was soon forgotten as Southgate 2s won the toss against Minchendenians and elected to bat. Unfortunately, this meant providing three fielders for the opposition who had a bevy of latecomers.

It was the correct decision, though, as Mustapha Mirza and Amila Cooray put on a century stand. The former retired after passing 50, while a strong knock from Cooray ended with an edged cut on 45.

The new ball had raced to the boundary, but the dry ground and the old ball made it harder to score. Bellwood raced to 20, then ground out 30 more much uglier runs before inviting his bbq victim Mohit to pad up again. There were several positive contributions in a big total of 261.

In reply Minchendenians lost 2 wickets in a rapid first 50 runs before captain Parinda and Arpith ran through the middle order.

After that, it was over as a contest but all the bowlers got valuable mileage in their limbs.