I'm a little lost for words as last season I stood on the boundary or in the middle nervous about every ball bowled by or to us. Tonight, I had to contain my smile while trying to umpire as each player contributed with bat and ball to kick start the season on a winning note.

Guildford won the toss and elected to bat. Rufus opened the bowling and, although I had seen him in the nets recently, he shocked as he bowled with genuine pace and a consistency not seen last season. Lennon, as keeper, had his job cut out for him as Rufus's balls came flying through. Rufus was unlucky not to get a wicket but ended with a respectable 0/13 from his three overs. Danny decided to spin tonght, a wise choice it seems as this proved difficult for the oppostion to read and he ended with 3/1 in his three overs.

Nathan (1/7), Jack (2/22) and Fin (1/ 15) all picked up wickets in their 2 overs, while Jake showed more consistency through his spell.

Lastly, having been nervous about moving up and playing in her first hard ball match, Chrissie stepped up and opened her spell with a clean bowl on her first delivery! Bam! She announced her arrival in the team and went on to finish with 1/9 off her two overs.

Guildord finished with a net total of 49 (8 wickets) and we knew that wickets would be crucial in our chase. Danny (13) and Lennon (3) got the team off to a good start with some glorious shots, spreading the field. They departed with the scoreboard on 28/0 and in walked Rufus (19) and Fin (13) to set the night alight. Fin started tentatively, but as he glanced one off his pads for four behind square leg his confidence grew. Clearly Rufus has not only been working on bowling as he despatched the balls continuously past the bowler for a few fours. By the end of their four overs, we were in a good position at 60/1.

Chrissie and Jake were next up and defended well against the straight balls received and were unlucky to have a run out off some good fielding by Guildford. Lastly Jack (6) and Nathan (16) came to the crease. The left, right combination made the bowlers think and with good calling, striking shots and some fortunate edges they accumulated a couple of boundaries taking the final net total to 101/2.

It was a glorious evening umpiring some entertaining cricket played by two evenly matched teams with great attitudes. Well done all!