A superb bowling and fielding performance from the Finch boys more than balanced a second successive batting collapse. Kanki attained a fine Michelle (his first for Finch?), TJ a Forfar after a year in the colonies.  On what must be the worst wicket in the league at Camberley Arena, only Simmo as opener came to terms with the variable pace, bounce and uncertain sideways movement. With amatuer Cap'n Kev taking the helm from bike-holidaying Cap'n Bob, the toss was inevitably lost and Finch surprisingly batted first.

The opening overs hinted little of what carnage was to come, with the Bagshot bowling at that stage generous and friendly. Mal Blogg looked, as always, calm and confident until he tested out the bowler's catching ability and took to the shade. Simmo soldiered on, despite loss of star batsman Rosey, clearly not a top bad-wicket player, Dylan and Scott LBW to identically-obscene shooters and  Joe Bloomfield to a good-length, unplayable lifter. Simmo was eventually out to a tame cut taken by a statuesque gulley for a fine 54, with only Nick Davey scoring any further runs of not, other than the 26 extras, of course.

Finch took the early tea - worthwhile pasta and pizza again but disappointing sandwiches and cakes - at ~3.30 pm. With Cap'n Kev providing the inevitable roasting a fired up Finch took the field, with Dylan and Kanki opening with the old (and somewhat underused) ball to an ultra-attacking field.  Dylan was simply unplayable, bowling some 6 overs without any batsman (and Stumpy Scott sometimes) being able to put a bat on him. Kanki found his range after one variable over, however then hit the spin turbo. With Kanki forcing 1 stumping (hurrah for Scott !) and 3 batsmen caught at ridiculously short range, Cap'n Kev turned to TJ to continue the Bagshot  collapse with the new ball. It took TJ only 3 balls to rip out one unfortunate’s middle stump, but what was this ?  At 7 wickets down and 50 on the board suddenly the Bagshot VC started peppering the boundary. Kanki was hit for a glorious straight 6 ! Two leg-side 4’s behind square ! The Bagshot stumper, an unlikely-looking partner, also started pushing and cutting the ball into gaps – was there to be a recovery ? Nah – TJ got their keeper caught then made their VC hit the highest vertical steepler in Surrey next ball leaving CK trapped, gasping underneath it like a drowning man, somehow taking the catch at waist-height and thus defying all coaching logic. With TJ so nearly getting his hat-trick, an involuntary first-ball push to Dylan at short mid-on (another close catch!) closed the Bagshot knock for 78. A shell-shocked Bagshot took the manner of their defeat well, leaving a hard-hearted CK to berate 10 of the batters (himself included) to perform better next week when finally taking to the Leas but warmly congratulate all bowlers and catchers. A match memorable for the great team spirit shown by the team, the quality of catching and the high class of the Finch bowlers.

This 25 pointer moves Finch out of the relegation zone and within striking distance of 4^th place – season back on track ?!?(Please note- corrected scores to follow, CK had a nightmare with the scorebook – sorry!)    Bottom of Form