Shardeloes on a hot June day with a gentle breeze blowing through the surrounding trees is the type of scene you'd expect to see in an American film adaptation of a classic English novel. On Saturday the only directors to be seen were searching for locations for Finding Nemo 2 and Piranha 4. Incredibly, with great patience from the umpires, a 'legitimate' game reduced to 70 overs was possible.

Newbury skipper Charlie Anstey won an important toss and asked Amersham to bat. Openers Stephenson and Nick Piper (5) started well and decided not to use the damp outfield too often. Piper fell in the 7th over with the score on 35. The scoring rate stayed around 4 an over as Jonnie Andrews (9) worked the ball into the spaces. Andrews fell just in time to fully enjoy an early tea, brought forward by another heavy shower. Immediately afterwards Stephenson (86) chipped the ball back to the bowler when looking to increase the score but this was achieved through valuable contributions by Ward (23) and Capper (18*).

With only 33 overs available to Newbury this looked like a good total. However a good start by Anstey (42), continued by number four Walker (44) meant that with 10 overs left, and only 50 required, a victory for the away side looked likely. As the nerves jangled Duncan Ward found a good line and the pressure began to mount. The re-introduction of David Sidebottom led to a steady fall of wickets and with three overs remaining 19 were required. A Garvey inspired run-out and another wicket for Ward meant that the last Newbury pair needed 11 from the last over. They survived though, denying Amersham the full 25 points, which would have been unjust given the spirited chase that Newbury had mounted. But 11 points keeps Amersham near the top as we look forward to a new away ground at Aldershot next week.