Not much riding on it, lads.
Two overs to go, Finchley's fast bowlers steaming in and the sun seemingly setting on Cincers' chances of a winning season yesterday.
Six games won, six lost and it came down to the last 12 balls of 2012.
And the last two wickets.
Chris P and Chris Hope at the crease, the run-rate suddenly soaring to seven an over and the next man in - the Skip - nipping nervously in and out of the loo.
'I think this has slipped away,' sighed one distinctive Antipodean voice from the pavilion.
The day started remarkably well.
Nearly everyone was on time. Sort of.
Abid, of course, had seen through the ruse of pretending it was a 12 noon start and rolled up with Majid and new signing Ali at nearer to 1pm.
It was to be a family affair with Dee and his son Gaurav playing for us and Dee's other Saj skippering the home side.
Oh, and Dee's nephew Krisa batted two for Finchley.
As far as we know, no-one else on either side was a member of the Hingorani tribe but you may know better.
Finchley, fielding their strongest side yet for a Sunday game v Cincers, batted first.
They were unpleasantly surprised by the pace and accuracy of Ali who began with a maiden and ended up giving just six runs off four overs.
At the other end, Chris P was also tight.
He struck first, thanks to a sharp catch by Majid at mid-off.
Not long after, Majid himself struck without bowling a ball.
He ran out Finchley's dangerous number three with a direct hit, thrown under-arm.
When Chris P struck again, courtesy of a catch square of the wicket by Gaurav, Finchley were rocking at 21 for 3 off about 10 overs.
Enter Saj.
He and Krisa started to right the innings, with Saj in particular striking some meaty blows.
Just for the fun of it (well, he was asked to), the Skip brought Gaurav on to bowl.
So it was younger brother bowling at older brother with father keeping wicket.
It was all set up....for Gaurav to miss a dead-cert run-out.
Saj, in full IPL mode, had charged down the wicket from the non-striker's end.
He got sent back but was so far out, he needed a bus ride to get back in.
But the thrill of wrecking his brother's day (and winning some complex inter-Hingorani family bet not authorised by the Gaming Board) got to Gaurav.
He threw miles wide when he could walked up to the stumps, had a cup of tea and then taken the bails off.
That wasn't the end of it.
Not long afterwards, with Saj still grinning at his let-off, he edged one off Gaurav to the keeper.
Dee, as sharp a reflex-catcher as Cincers has had all season, could only tip it away with his finger tips.
'It's because he loves Saj more than Gaurav,' came the cruel quip from one of Finchley's umpires.
Should we add that Gaurav also put Saj down at point? No, that would be rubbing it in.
With the innings at 70 and the run-rate increasing, Krisa holed out off Majid to Chris P at mid-off.
Five runs later, another wicket fell - with Chris P again the catcher hareing in from mid-on to give Gaurav his first of the day.
Saj, though, was powering on.
And he was joined by Finchley's usual opener, Jilesh, a compact left-hander with a bit of a Sangakarra-esque look to him.
Well, the Skip would say that because he got him out.
Coming on after the drinks' break, he floated one up (what else does he do?) only for the batsmen to miscue round the corner where Chris Hope took a good catch.
There was better to come.
In his second over, the Skip was charged by Saj, done by flight, guile and vicious turn (we can tell who writes this rubbish) and smartly stumped by Dee.
When FInchley's big-hitting 'G' nicked one off Gaurav to Dee, Finchley were well and truly tottering at 114 for 8.
It should have been nine down shortly after.
With both batsmen at the wrong end and the Skip bellowing 'bowler's!', a run-out looked certain.
Dee got the ball up the other end. Not the best throw he's ever made but it should have been safely gathered by the Captain and the bails taken off.
Er..instead, it rolled harmlessly through his legs.
How the game restarted after that Keystone Cops' climax, God only knows.
But the farce took the edge of Cincers' game and the match drifted.
The Skip got carted for a few too many boundaries.
He and Abid started having a domestic, culminating in Abid at short-cover downing a sharp chance and compounding the error by telling the bowler 'I almost got you a catch'.
Almost. A word which gives so much meaning. But not a wicket.
Finchley were putting on the runs.
It took Frank at one end and Abid, after virtually threatening legal action if he didn't get a bowl, to finish of the innings from the other end.
Finchley closed with 4.2 of their allotted 40 overs unused.
But 163 was a tall ask.
It got even taller when we saw the quality of their bowling.
Majid's unfamiliarity with Finchley's electronic scoreboard meant that our run-rate to begin with looked astronomical - 1 for 0 off 0 balls.
As soon as he'd reset it, reality hit back with a vengeance.
Test Match was bowled for a duck.
He had been a reluctant opener on the day.
'I've had two hours' sleep because of the baby. Oh, and I can't see much out of my right eye,' he told the Skip.
'Join the club,' the Captain muttered softly.
Gaurav and Ali, though, started brightly.
We were well ahead of the run-rate.
After a very harem-scarem shots from Ali, the Skip was about to ask Take the Pin Out (sadly injured but umpiring for us) to tell him to calm down.
Too late. Next ball, Ali skied one and departed.
Moyners was next in, not before a few nervous 'have they any quickies' queries before he trotted out.
They did.
Shortly after he arrived, Finchley put on Dinesh...probably the quickest bowler we've faced all season.
From the sidelines, the Skip quietly reflected on the wisdom of batting himself at 11.
That said, the Gaurav/Moyners' partnership prospered.
Gaurav in particular played some sumptuous drives through cover and mid-off.
It was all going so well until Dinesh jagged one back in sharply...so sharply, he cracked one of the stumps.
Gaurav was gone but for a well-played 40.
Next in was Frank, hustling out with that familiar hunched look, sniffing the air and relishing the scrap.
And a scrap it was.
To our horror, he almost holed out before being dropped by G.
Saj's legspin (similar to our Skipper's but quicker and with the added ingredient of some actual spin) had Prenesti baffled.
Coach, coach yourself!
It was offspin, though, that did for him - a flat, sharply-turning delivery from Finchley's Will that pitched outside off and took the Aussie's leg stump.
He and Moyners had put on 40-odd at a decent lick.
But at 90 for four, we still need 74 to win.
Abid arrived but then departed for 0, bowled trying to tickle a right-arm round-the-wicket spinner down to fine leg.
Majid started as he finished last week's game - by whacking two fours square.
When Finchley responded by putting a man back on the boundary, Majid took due notice and then hit it straight to him.
That was his first humiliation. His second was being told by Abid and Ali, in Urdu, what a stupid shot it was.
Now it was our turn to totter. Not much over a 100 on the board and six down.
But as I said, this was a family affair.
Out came Dee to steady the ship and, in partnership with Moyners, get the show back on the road.
Some lovely late-cuts from Hingorani Senior, combined with trade-mark, middle-of-the-bat boundaries from Tim M, led to a few Finchley heads drooping.
History, well, the scorebook, doesn't record who was out next but let's assume it was Dee.
'It was the first straight one he'd bowled,' said Dee...which is presumably why he missed it. (Nets resume in October, folks).
As he strode out, Chris P, batting at nine, had all the confidence and bravura of a man going to the gallows.
And when Moyners went for a quick single (yes, that's right) to one of Finchley's best fielders (G), it looked all over.
A direct hit sent the batsman on his way for a fine 44 but seemingly not enough on the day.
Chris Hope, playing his second game for Cincers, was in at 10.
Busy running between the two Chris's seemed to calm Cincers' frayed nerves but slowly, slowly, the run rate started to climb.
A bead of sweat rolled down the Captain's brow as he fiddled with his bat and contemplated going in.
And so it all came down to those two overs.
Fourteen runs needed. Just two wickets left.
Too much with G back on at one end, surely.
Surely not!
With a swish, Chris H, batting in a bumble-patterned cap,hit a priceless four.
Chris P, who until then had dealt in singles, struck a three.
Another three came from Chris H.
Cincers on the side were going wild.
With Frank giving the Skip a bear-hug to calm his nerves, a huge cheer rang out when Chris P hit the single that drew the scores level.
So 14 off two became one off six.
Last over of the season and Finchley were forced to bring every man in.
The scene now truly was set - set for a swash-buckling end to the 2012 season.
No nervous jab from Chris P to finish it.
No, a might heave to mid-on, a boundary to bring victory and the curtain down.
And presumably to bring down those gallows he'd been expecting when he walked out!
A great finish and a great game.
Many thanks to Finchley for being fine hosts as ever and to Paddy for a great tea.
And many, many thanks to all Cincers for another great season.
Final result: played 13, won 7, lost 6.
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