Hammering at Haydons Road as Cincinnati are humbled by sharp-swinging SLICC

And it all started so well.
After bungling out opponents SLICCfor just 130 nine overs short of the allotted 40, what could go wrong?
A superb spell of sharp inswing bowling, that's what.
Skittled, we were.
Blown away.
This is one batting card we won't want to see again..ever.
The top five read: 0, 0, 0, 0 and....0.
Number six, Majid, was the first man to trouble the scorers.
Only two Cincers got into double figures, with Chris P top-scoring on 13.
We had no answer to an inspired spell of fast-medium inswing from SLICC's Danny.
The Skip led the way, opening the batting with Test Match Tim (because no-one else would) and leaving one outside off.
Except it swept in to re-arrange his stumps.
At least the  next three batsmen - Farhan, Richard de Q and Alex W (his first appearance of the season) - played a shot.
Fat lot of good it did them, though. They were all bowled.
At the other end, facing SLICC's skipper Will, Test Match Tim was our big hope.
He looked ready to dig in, grind it out, edge towards victory......until he left a widish ball outside his off stump (all the best players do).
It pitched and seamed sharply back in. Clatter. Another 0.
Dee arrived at the crease looking determined to see off the savage inswingers at the other end.
So determined, he got everything he could in front of off stump.
And then looked back in utter amazement to see his wicket shattered by another pearler of a Danny delivery.
At one stage, Cincers were 2 for six.
Getting cocky (and why not?) our opponents dared to think the wickets column would outmatch the runs tally.
They reckoned without a minor rally from Chris Payne and debut player Chris Hope who plundered two late boundaries before nicking off.
A sad, sad total of 45 off 14.5 overs was our return for the day.
Before,  Cincers had done well (so we thought)  to keep SLICC down to just 130 on a breezy, showery day at Haydons Road, South Wimbledon.
Test Match led the way with a cracking spell off 4 for 3 off 6!
But Richard H also shone with  3 for 13 off 4 (one of them a rare 'hit wicket'..by the batsman, that is).
New boy Chris Hope opened his wicket account, courtesy of a nick from the batsman, an assist from keeper Dee and finally a diving catch from Test Match at first slip.
But Dee needed no help when he took a quite stunning one-handed catch off Chris P's bowling to get the opening wicket.
Later, the loss of the ball - thanks to a top-edged six by SLICC skipper Will off Kamran - sparked a nice row.
It disappeared into a locked-up tennis court and the proposed replacement - an odd-looking Kookaburra - sparked protests from Will.
'I wouldn't worry about it  - you'll be out soon,' said Alex sportingly.
He was right.
Will was bowled by Kamran and a promising start of 73 for 1 collapsed into 130 all out, with several of the oppo's lower-order batsmen being very obliging.
Pity SLICC's bowling didn't follow suit.
They did seem to be using a rather posh ball.
But no sour grapes, boys.
And many congrats to Danny for his 6 for 12 off 6, five of them bowled.
ROCKIE'S REVIEW (As told to the Skipper): If there's one thing worse than turning up late for a game, it's arriving on time.
If only Cincers had shown some sense here and rolled up late.
Better still, don't turn up at all when the bowling's this good.
It's bad manners, I know.
But not showing up for a match is sometimes the only way.
I should know. I've only turned up for one game so far this season.
And it's done wonders for my batting average.