With the 5ths league opposition conceding late on Thursday night and gifting us 20 points towards our league campaign, we organised a friendly with what appeared on paper to be a strong opposition team (Frimley Phoenix 2nd XI).

Having won the toss and elected to bat, any notion of a potentially tough game appeared unfounded, as Roehampton quickly went about scoring in excess of 6 an over against some friendly bowling. Ravi was first to fall, playing over the top of a loopy delivery for 16, bringing Terone 'Vivian Richards' Alexander to the crease. Viv didn't hang around, smashing a big 6 over cow corner before being beaten in the flight by another loopy delivery for 13.

The skipper, Ben Abrams, carried on the trend, cracking a full toss back over the bowler's head from his 4th ball and keeping the scoreboard ticking along. Fozan, watchful throughout, dispatched the bad balls, but was otherwise happy to watch from the other end. The skipper eventually went for 29 off 22 balls (not the 22 from 25 balls showing on the scorecard), bringing Mark Boag to the crease. Fozan suddenly came to life, cracking 26 runs off 4 balls (including three 6s) to double his score in a matter of minutes and take his score to 50. Viv's constant calls from the sidelines for more 6s were finally being heeded!

Drinks were taken and were quickly followed by the wicket of Fozan, holing out on the legside to bring Sharan to the crease. Both Sharan and Bogie kept the scoreboard ticking along at a relentless pace, rotating the strike and hitting the bad balls for 4. 75 were added before Sharan (38 from 29 balls) underedged a short delivery onto his stumps with the score at 196 after 25 overs. Bogie, taking advantage of a rare foray into the middle order, scored freely in partnership with Fezaan, until holing out to cover for an excellent 43 from 37 balls.

The tail did their job, moving the score along to leave Roehampton on 253-8 from their allotted 35 overs.

After the tea break Roehampton continued their dominance. George and Raghib caused the oppo all sorts of trouble, taking out 5 of the top 6 batters and leaving them teetering on 17-5 after 8 overs. The result was all but decided at this point and Roehampton decided to rotate their bowlers, with Fezaan picking up a couple of nice wickets and Alexander Rimmer mopping up the tail to pick up 3 wickets and bowl the oppo out for a total of 61 from 19 overs.

Overall, a top effort from the boys and it was nice to let our hair down a bit. Back to the serious stuff next week as we continue our charge up the league table!