Cincers take revenge on Actors as sun finally shines...but who ate all the coffee cake?

Test Match Tim hit form today to steer Cincers home against the formidable Actors bowling attack.
He and new recruit Gaurav - son of Dee -  put on an undefeated stand of 80 to take us past the oppo's total of 124.
Ten of the allotted 35 overs were unused  as Cincers seemingly coasted to victory.
But the result  - revenge on our heavy defeat at the hands of Actors last month -  was no walk in the park.
Firstly, the Skip did what he always does at the start of a game....lost the toss.
It was relief when Actors did what we wanted them to do - opted to bat first.
As ever,  several Cincers were late.
Majid, Farhan and Kamran arrived 45 minutes after the scheduled start, apparently thanks to an emergency stop at Carphone Warehouse on the way over.
By the time they finally rolled up, we were well under the cosh.
Alex W - thrown the new ball by the Skip in a cunning ploy to stop him moaning about not getting a bowl - was wild.
Or should that be 'wide'?
The big man was spraying it all over the show, leaving keeper Dee not sure which wicket we were supposed to be playing on.
The champagne moment came when he fired one down between first and second slip, and then berated them for 'just standing there' and not stopping the resulting four wides.
He was immediately dubbed 'Mr Angry' by the highly-amused opposition watching from under the trees.
Fortunately, Gaurav, opening at the other end, was a model of accuracy and good lines.
The batsmen played and missed, depriving the new recruit of a wicket.
Gaurav went, though, for just seven runs off four overs.
Eventually, Mr Angry at the other end hit the jackpot - a fast, straight ball that castled oppo opener J. Flood all ends up.
The Shock of The New, they call in the art world.
A ball on the stumps, we called it.
Mr Flood departed in a state of dazed surprise.
Sadly, the wides virus also affected Richard de Q's normally niggardly line.
Our generosity meant Actors were rattling along at over five an over after the first 10.
Richard hit back with a stunning caught and bowled which put paid to Actors' other free-scoring opener.
Charlie Barker came on at the tennis-court end Alex had operated from but he immediately hit a good length and line.
He was clobbered in his second over for two boundaries but  responded by clean-bowling Actors' number three.
A key moment came in the final over of his spell of seven.
First ball,  Actors' talented Kiwi batsman Simon put Charlie over the ropes for a superb six.
Three balls later, though, he was gone - bowled by a top-hole delivery which pitched leg and hit off.
Unplayable.
Presumably the Skip was inspired by his example.
Having first checked with Air Traffic Control, the purveyor of twirly leggies brought himself on at the allotments end and for once found a decent length straight up.
His first two overs went for a relatively scrooge-like nine.
With the first ball of his next,  the Captain made a breakthrough.
He bowled Actors number six who went back when he should have come forward.
The Skip's seven-over spell accounted for three more oppo batsmen  - two of them caught at mid-wicket by Alex W.
Majid, who arrived in a bright turquoise top that needed planning permission, was clearly upset he wasn't getting a share of the limelight.
So when he was finally thrown the ball, he took three in four balls in a triple-wicket maiden.
One of them was a spectacular caught-behind by Dee who threw himself across first slip (Test Match) to snaffle the chance.
It was left to the Skip to end the innings, taking the 11th wicket (12 aside-game so many people turned up) when Westie held one of his catches at mid-wicket.
Wayward as his bowling can be, Alex is establishing himself as one of Cincers' safest pair of hands in the field.
Pity he had blotted his copybook by escorting a clip through midwicket off Richard de Q over the boundary for four.
Actors finished on 124 - 16 of them wides out of 22 extras overall.
Tut, tut.
The 125 target off 35 was not, in theory, a mountain to claim, especially as at long last the sun was beating down on the venue at Ham near Richmond.
Cincers' batting this season, though, has been anything but summit-scaling.
Add to that Actors' bowling which is traditionally one of their strengths.
So it proved anything but easy.
Test Match opened with Biraj from BK who stepped in at short notice this morning when Tim M was ruled out by a domestic gas leak (all safely sorted, by the way).
 Actors' opening bowlers Jamie and J. Flood were on the money, pitching the ball up and getting lift, bounce and not a little swing.
Test Match and Biraj, though, picked off the few bad balls and the scoring rate was not a problem.
With the score on 21, Biraj perished - smacking the ball hard to shortish extra-cover where Jamie took a smart catch.
Enter Farhan at number three.
He was quickly into his stride, notching a couple of boundaries and looking in his pomp.
Actors were clearly scarred by Farhan's last appearance against them - a quick-fire 50-odd when he was batting at number 10 (hmmm...was that because he was late then as well...?)
Anyhow, Actors clearly remembered, muttering about how important it was to get rid of him as quickly as possible.
A snorter of a delivery from Actors' J. Flood  almost did the trick.
It pitched on off and reared away to first slip.
The very next ball did work the magic.
Pitched full and swinging late to leg,  it caught Farhan on his back foot, sparking a frenzied LBW.
It was given.
Cincers were on 45 with plenty of time and overs to go.
But a wobble was more than possible.
Actors, used to seeing Cincers collapse, sensed this could be their moment.
The sledging certainly increased as Gaurav joined Test Match in the middle.
Nervous edges came and went, as did appeals for LB.
There was one definite chance off Gaurav's bat that went down at first slip - to the fury of bowler Simon.
But all the time Test Match - not thus far this year in vintage form - was getting into his stride.
One sumptious extra-cover drive was just about the shot of the day.
Gaurav too was gaining in confidence, driving crisply and scoring freely.
In the end, the duo took us safely over the line.
Tim finished on 44 not out, Gaurav on 33 undefeated.
Thanks to Actors for a great game and for bringing the stumps, boundary markers and scoreboard.
Thanks to Dee for bringing the tea.
Thanks most of all to Mrs Hayles for the coffee cake!
Sadly, there was not enough to go round.
But sources very close to the Skipper say it was moist, creamy and quite, quite delicious.