First‑game excitement was easily visible as the Colts 4th XI boys arrived, some having played together previously, some picking up the bat and ball for the first time in a few years.

Winning the toss, Wicket keeper and captain of the day, Alex Moore chose to bowl first. The boys settled quickly into tidy, accurate bowling with every player having a bowl with a mix of pace and spin.

The wickets came from good bowling. Jim Caldwell picked up two, hitting the stumps - rewarded by good line and length. The standout was Tom Berry, who delivered a brilliant five‑wicket haul — a huge early‑season highlight and easily the performance of the match. Tom also pulled off a no hesitation run out.

The fielding backed the bowlers beautifully. The boys held five catches, including two high grabs from Will Scholtens, who looked confident under them. Energy and motivation (traits that many of the boys in the team have in spades) stayed strong right through the innings.

Batting, however… could only be known as a shocker - and the boys would all agree. A few ducks, plenty of early wickets, Joey Imbriano kept the top order steady for a few overs while the first batters found it difficult to settle, they all seemed to have a need to hit any easy ball up in the air for their fall of wickets.  It was a hard innings to watch as the wickets kept falling, Tom Berry the only double‑digit knock of the innings also found it hard to find his groove, and Hugh Williams remaining not out with the boys finishing all out for 66 runs. The boys have depth in their batting — they’ve shown it before — and with more concentration and a focus on keeping the ball on the ground, the boys will surely get the runs on the board next time. As they like to say, they need to “lock in.”

First game of the season done and dusted. Great first innings with the ball, the boys all seemed to love getting back out there with loads for mateship and enthusiasm which was great to see - hopefully it was just about shaking of the cobwebs on their bats :-).