On a somewhat soggy day at Wray, Pacific batted first in the inaugural "October Cup" match (never mind that it's still September) and struggled against good bowling from Strongroom's tall medium-fast bowlers who utilised the variable bounce, with some balls popping and some skidding through on the wet astro. Mark Woodland "Creatures" played a handy innings up to. He played and missed a fair bit outside the off stump but also smashed a few boundaries, including a one-bounce four that fell just inches short of being a maximum. Mutz described him as having "the wrists of AB De Villiers and the backlift of Graham Gooch", only to see him caught at point the next delivery. He had hit the ball like a rocket with his trademark cover slap but unfortunately for us, Strongroom would hold their catches, despite a bit of juggling here and there.

Paul Rajkumar was to be our top scorer, the back-foot Aussie cutting and yelling his way to 26. His only blemish was the unfortunate run-out of the club captain, when both batsmen ended up after the same end as Rajku refused to even move for a single behind square. Mutz Siddiqui and Tim Garrett were the only other players to reach double figures as we found ourselves bowled out for 126 in 31.5 of our allotted 35 overs.

The highlights of the tea were Walt's lentil concoction, Ahmed's potato prize, and Creatures' sandwiches. And then we took to the field.

Defending such a small target was never going to be easy. Bowling-captain Rizwan Siddiqui and Ramiz Khan opened up but neither was quite on the money in their first over and Strongroom were able to hit a few wayward deliveries to the boundary. A couple of tough chances were held – Rambo's catch diving forward at long-on the best of them – but a few also went down, with Siddiqui again desperately unlucky not to pick up a wicket.

Joe Deighan, drafted in at the very last minute to replace Rafiq, looked good as he belied his mild manners to follow through almost as far the batsman and was rewarded with the wicket of Ilyas. Timbob was the pick of the bowlers, following up his spirited rearguard action with the bat by taking two wickets.

But Strongroom got over the finishing line easily enough and then buggered off to celebrate somewhere else while a few Pacificos drowned our sorrows in the WB Yeats.

Thanks must go to Mark "Doc" Smith for scoring. Loving his work.