Neston away has always been a tricky game for the 1s, with more weight on this season's game given the 3-way tie for first place along with Hyde. And the game was remarkably similar to last week's against Hyde. Dids were invited to bat first on the very edge of the square, with about 45 yards to one boundary and at least 90 yards to the other side. Ash Davis ripped through the top order, with overseas Chris Dixon putting the ball in good areas with a little bit of movement. The 1s were soon reduced to 86/6 for the second week in a row, and again James was part of a partnership to lead the recovery. Together with Steve, the brothers saw off Davis and Dixon, and then began to score quickly off the part-time spinners. Both Steve and James hit a six over the long boundary, with Neston bowling well to avoid boundary scoring to the short boundary Steve reached a well made 54 before being caught in the deep off a Davis bouncer with the score on 160/7. It soon looked like the 1s weren't going to improve much on that total, with Davis yorking James and Liam in consecutive deliveries. Tom managed to see off the hat-trick ball and with Jack began a period of resistance for the 10th wicket. They both played brilliantly hitting Davis for a couple of boundaries to bring the score up to a very creditable 210, but did give Neston an extra 7 overs to bat.

Neston started off quickly with Dave Hurst hitting 7 fours on his way to 37 before being removed by a beauty from Liam, who got Guy Bradshaw two balls later to a good catch by James at square leg. Nick removed the dangerous Ali Chugtai and soon the 1s had them 55/3 and were right back into the game. In form Matty Strong came in with Luke Camden and together they built Neston towards their total. However, Dids would keep taking wickets when Neston were just starting to get ahead. Simon Stokes was dropped on 5 and that proved a turning point as he went on to make 48 to keep them from subsiding. Tom took two in two and Neston were reduced to 176/8, still requiring 35 runs from the last two pairs. Davis managed to get some hefty blows away to reduce the target, before Mike Stewart hooked a bouncer from Nick all the way to win the game in the 51st over. The result left the 1s 16 points behind Neston and Hyde who also won on Saturday.

On the Sunday, we arrived after a 2 hour drive at Barnt Green for the national knockout, Nick soon winning the toss and choosing to bat on a used wicket from the day before. Their bowling line up was slightly weakened, and Dids put them to the sword. Tim went early but Charlie and Ed proceeded to put on a fantastic partnership of 154 at a run a ball. Ed took their spinners to task, hitting an enormous bomb off a free hit, and Charlie ticked over with him. Ed fell for a superb 71 trying to up the scoring rate heading into the last 10 overs. This brought in Rob who brought out his whole range of shots, slog sweeping and ramping his way to 25 after being lidded attempting a Dilscoop. Nick and Sam both came and went for useful cameos in the last few overs, but BG did well to limit Dids in the last three overs, the 1s ending on a fantastic 273/8 off the 40 overs. While the carnage was happening at the other end, Charlie had been accumulating, with some lovely 4s and two 6s off their leg-spinner, and he reached a flawless first hundred for the club in the 34th over. His 120 at better than a run a ball was a quite brilliant innings in the circumstances, with a pitch that was just starting to misbehave.

Dark clouds had been brewing for almost the entire first innings, with some thunder heard throughout so we were very lucky to get the first 40 overs in before any rain, with the storm that first disrupted the test match missing by about a mile according to the groundsman. However, the heavens opened as soon as the players were off for tea, and we wouldn't get back on for almost 2 hours, apparently the amount of time it would have taken to Bowdry the sheet covers placed on the square. Tim got his way with the umpires and instead of that all it took was the 22 players lifting the 4 covers off in record time. So, down to 29 overs in the second innings, revised target of 225.

Openers Olly Cox and Jacques Banton, both having played for Worcestershire 2s, started off with a maiden from Liam, the only one of the game as it turned out. Cox dealt only in boundaries as Nick pinned Banton LBW for 20 after a few clean hits through the legside. Rob then took a stunning diving catch at mid-wicket to remove Cox, also for 20, leaving them 50/2 off 8, but only 9 runs behind the Duckworth-Lewis par score. Keeper Amrinder Brar set about to push BG above the par score only two overs later. With a few big overs off Steve, they got well ahead, but super overs from Jack and Tom managed to pull Dids back into the game. However amid increasing rain, two boundaries, time-wasting shenanigans and passionate discourse on both sides, BG managed to hold on, ending on 126/2 off 18 overs, winning by 6 runs on DL.

Those introduced to DL know that it calculates totals based on how many resources (overs and wickets) a team has remaining. This is why BG's eventual total was so low, as 94 off 11 is still achievable with 8 wickets left. However, this led them to being almost 2 runs behind the required rate at the point we came off. The powerplays were based on the full 29 overs, despite rain being almost certain later on, and so Dids ended up bowling a third of their overs with only 2 men out, as opposed to a fifth for BG who also got the last 8 overs with 5 men out, a luxury Dids never ended up receiving due to the early curtailment. Perhaps this kind of situation needs looking at, and the regs amended to ensure a fairer outcome in games likely to be curtailed by rain in the second innings.

Overall then, a disappointing weekend, but plenty of positives can be taken from the performances and hopefully the 1s can take them forwards into the rest of the season.