A week late we were, but it made no odds to the 1s who, in this new phase of win-lose cricket, eased to victory with a huge win over promoted Bowdon on a Wilmslow Road ground looking (apart from the groundsman himself) an absolute picture, especially in the sunshine that blessed us, albeit too briefly. Seriously, though, it's official - Barbs is the best! However, the cloud cover which stubbornly refused to shift from around 2.30 onwards made temperatures akin to the Arctic tundra, many of the Dids fielders layered up with hands firmly in pockets as the Bowdon reply unfolded.

The visitors opted to chase, but enjoyed their only decent spell of the match first up, claiming an early wicket and keeping Charlie and Steve G in check with some testing bowling. The Dids pair, however, kept calm and built a composed 89 run stand in 20 overs, Charlie sadly falling two shy of an attractive 50 but the Wiz going onto an excellent 63, having changed his bat when 12* (off 35) - 51 off 63 balls was the fruit of his new willow. All of which provided a terrific platform for Nick to do what he does so often, 64 off 68 with three big maximums taking the game right away, James G hitting like a kicking horse, adding a late flourish with two sixes. It was an optimum example in how to bat for 50 overs, 267-7 on the board with few alarms.

42 of those runs came courtesy of the visitors as the extras column on my sheet received a regular update. 34 wides and two no-balls (which led to 10 runs off the following free hits) was a damaging concession, and Dids took full advantage.

The result was unlikely ever to be in any serious doubt and so it proved, although the rapid nature of the Bowdon collapse was somewhat unexpected, as they lost 5-10 in 3 overs at one stage, 64-2 becoming 74-7 in the blink of an eye. Will Street got a ‘Boston’ with his very first league delivery, and finished his first over with figures of 1-1-0-2, the Wiz the poor relation, managing a mere 1-0-2-2 after his first six. Only a spirited last wicket stand of 35 got Bowdon anything approaching respectability although, as we discovered afterwards whilst checking, their run rate of 3.26 is actually extrapolated over the full 50 they should have faced, and as it’s run rate that determines batting bonus pts, they picked up a solitary batting point to go with three bowling. My apologies over the confusion on commentary with that.

It was a great effort in the rapidly plummeting temperatures – Liam’s excellent 10-4-18-2 set the tone, with the two spinners picking up 8-54 between them (18 of those came as the last pair hit out). The only real note of concern was the extras count, 19 wides (three additional overs) given away, but interestingly, 15 of the 19 were bowled at the left-handed Bowdon opener, so something to address there. But otherwise, Dids looked in good shape and, weather permitting, will be looking to follow this up with a third straight win at Chester next week.