A strong Pacific side originally selected to destroy Washington were sent on a detour to Botany Bay thanks to the ever reliable fixture bureau. Hopes were high for a fine fixture as the smog of London faded into the distance to be replaced by hills, big green things with leaves, and four legged creatures with udders. Upon arrival at the picturesque ground they took one look at the skipper and shunted us across the road citing an ancient bylaw involving Foot and Mouth disease. The second XI pitch was still excellent and played perfectly.

Botany Bay had an experienced Sunday lineup with a smattering of youth and as such the bowling was friendly with the keeper standing up to all six bowlers. Our top order batted with aerial gusto and through a few dropped catches proceeded to build the innings taking us to a strong 85 for 6 from 15 overs – unfortunately this wasn’t a Victoria Park fixture so the remaining 25 overs were fully utilised by Rees (30), Fuller (47*) and Smith (38*) who nudged us back into the match allowing us to finish on 220-7.

After tea in the main pavilion we had a field with a tight but unsuccessful start provided by Gleadow (downhill) and Smith (the author who has inked that end for next year!). A few tight catches and chances went down but an unfortunate injury to the Botany Bay opener allowed Rees (2-9) to wipe the blood from the ball and snaffle some key wickets. After a spell of quick bowling from Faisal captain Webley realised the need to give slower bowling a go up the hill in fading light. Roy (3-20) bowled with excellent control to pick up three wickets including two c&b’s whilst the trundlers operated down the hill to end the Botany Bay innings at 123 from 38 overs.

Overall a nice Sunday friendly played in good spirit – we had a very strong team out and despite having only ten men we were able to give everyone a good game.

Captain Webley said "A comfortable win with one of the strongest Pacific XIs the Captain had seen. A good one for Wash to miss."

XI:- Chris Atkin, Nick Fuller, Lucius Faisal, James Gleadow, Peter Henry, Sammy Purcell, Shayne Rees, James Smith, Darren Tempany, Jon Webley* & Justin Roy.

Pacific v Botany Bay

Pacific innings  R  M  B  4  6 Chris Atkin   c & b Pearce   5  8  10  1  0   Justin Roy   lbw b Welch   12  30  16  0  1   Darren Tempany   c & b Pearce   25  18  12  5  0   Jon Webley   st b Skinner   21  0  27  1  1   Peter Henry   b Welch   2  4  5  0  0   Lucius Faisal   b Skinner   23  30  21  3  1   Shayne Rees   b Pullman   30  0  47  3  0   Nick Fuller   not out    47  0  64  4  0   James Smith   not out    38  0  36  3  1   James Gleadow   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0   Sammy Purcell   absent hurt    0  0  0  0  0    Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 13, nb 2) 17      TOTAL (40.0 Overs) 220

Fall of wickets:  1-6 , 3-43 , 4-45 , 6-85 , 7-141

Bowling  O  M  R  W    Welch   8  0  36  2    Pearce   8  0  51  2    Kara   8  1  30  0    Skinner   8  0  54  2    Pullman   6  1  34  1    Linsell   2  0  12  0

Botany Bay innings  R  M  B  4  6 Hodge   retired hurt    10  0  0  1  0   Kara   b Rees   13  0  0  1  0   Epton   c & b Roy   22  0  0  3  0   Marchant   c Henry b Rees   1  0  0  0  0   Welch   c Rees b Fuller   20  0  0  1  0   Linsell   b Roy   10  0  0  0  0   Pearce   c & b Roy   0  0  0  0  0   Patworth   b Fuller   1  0  0  0  0   Gorman   not out    7  0  0  0  0   Skinner   run out Fuller    5  0  0  1  0   Couzens   run out Tempany    6  0  0  1  0    Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 19, nb 2) 25      TOTAL (38.4 Overs) 123

Fall of wickets:

Bowling  O  M  R  W    James Gleadow   8  1  16  0    James Smith   8  2  21  0    Shayne Rees   5  1  9  2    Lucius Faisal   4  1  14  0    Justin Roy   4  0  20  3    Chris Atkin   4  2  11  0    Peter Henry   3  0  17  0    Nick Fuller   2.4  0  12  2