On a glorious May day the Stoics ventured to the Queen's back garden at Windsor Castle to play the Royal Household CC. The Stoics side was a good mix of experienced, some may say ageing Stoics (President Ken Henderson, Ranjit Latchman, Dave MacVicar and Rod Moore) and young Aussies.
Having won the toss, the President decided to bat. The innings did not start auspiciously with Albert Helg getting caught first ball in the second over but then Arfan Akram (21) and Nick Walker (63) had a quickfire 61 run partnership. After a mid innings stumble Max Barson (57) and Tom Sky (32) put on nearly 100 allowing Ken to declare on 208 for 7 after 42 overs.
When the Royal Household CC batted, DaveMacVicar, who has played at least one Stoics game every season for the past 35years, took an early wicket due to a smart leg-side stumping by Nick Walker. The Stoics then struggled to contain the the opposition and when the last hour started the Royal Household CC needed just over 100 runs with 8 wickets inhand. However the introduction of the spin twins Rod Moore (3-48) and Arfran Akram (3-38) changed the course of the game as the opposition was reduced from127 for 2 to 151 for 7. However solid defence from the Royal Household's "fendersmith" - look it up on Google - frustrated the Stoics as theRoyal Household hung on for a draw.