My final game of the season, and it ended in defeat. Playing a Barlows Electrical side at Malpas – a cracking venue with a very good club house – we batted first and struggled to 125 off 30 overs, for the loss of around eight wickets.

In reply, Barlows knocked off the total with about five overs to spare.

It was our first defeat in five games and was difficult to take, even though we were without many of our regulars.

Batting was difficult against a very well disciplined attack featuring some talented players (who, I’d guess, were used to playing a better standard of opposition than us).

We started well enough with Ollie, back in the team, and Dave Ryder notching up 20-odd off the first four overs. But when Dave then Ollie departed, Pete Danby and another Pete, who’d been invited by Steve (Daulby), struggled to score and we bogged down. I went into bat with the score 50-4 and felt really good until I was run out for eight attempting an ambitious second.

Thankfully, our skipper Justin recovered some momentum, racing to 25 (and, consequently, having to retire) with a series of classic cricket shots – the cut, the cover drive and one beautiful flat, straight drive for six that almost ended up in the club house.

Two youngsters who turned out for us, Paddy and Steve, the tall left-arm bowler we encountered playing for Gresford a couple of weeks ago, hit the ball well to take us to verge of respectability.

In the field we again did ok, but we always knew we were a few runs short. Steve the tall left-armer opened the bowling and deserved more. I took the new ball at the other end and – thanks to a superb catch from young Paddy – managed to remove one of the openers.

I bowled three overs and only conceded one boundary which, given the quality of the batsmen, I was pleased with.

We toiled a bit, but Matt Daulby, Ollie, Paddy and Steve in his second spell all bowled well and we continued to pick up wickets. Justin was back to his fiery best and took a couple of wickets during a quick spell.

Unfortunately, despite picking up eight wickets, it wasn’t enough and they reached their target with overs to spare.

And that’s it for me this season. It’s a thoroughly depressing prospect not playing cricket for seven months so I’ll be watching as much as possible instead. In the meantime, I’m organising a curry night for our team as a season finale. I’ll update the blog with any amusing (and drunken stories).

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a historic moment. For the first (and possibly only) time, I am able to confirm that North West Water has just completed its fourth win in a row.

Now I’ve played for NWW for seven, maybe eight, years and I’ve never known us to win four in a row. So it’s a big deal, even though Shropshire Health Authority were a little under-strength by their standards.

Put in to bat, we managed to restrict SHA to 58 for eight off their allotted 15, eight-ball overs. That was some achievement, even if the pitch (Gatacre) and the outfield was a bit on the slow side.

The evening was also notable for another first: we played with a white ball for the first and, given the fact that the nights are drawing in, it was a sensible move.

Despite my indifferent form with the ball of late, Justin asked me to open the bowling again and, after a tidy first over which only went for a couple of runs, I managed to clean bowl one of the openers in the second over.

Although I still managed to slip in a couple of wides (I blame the white ball), seeing off stump rock back is a great feeling and it prompted an instinctive celebration (as if I’d just bowled Sachin Tendulkar) which I was a bit embarrassed about afterwards.

Anyway, that set the tone and we continued to bowl well. Justin in particular bowled a cracking spell with plenty of pace. He went for only three runs off his two overs but removed the other opener – I took the catch squinting in to the sun square at point – before his tight bowling prompted a suicidal single and a run-out.

Huw continued his fine form with the ball, clean bowling one of SHA’s promising young bowlers, while his son Rory also took a great caught and bowled. Ian was his usual model of consistency and Gareth pitched in with two wickets before Pete wrapped things up in style with a wicket off the last ball. To be fair, we might have had them all out had my fielding skills been better – I missed not one but two straightforward run-out opportunities. I’ll be in the back garden working on that over the weekend.

We were pretty pleased with the score at the halfway stage, but as Geoff Boycott would no doubt remind us (if he was ever desperate enough to watch us!), you don’t know what a good score is until both teams have batted.

Justin opted to continue with the pair that saw us home against Gresford – Dave and Pete – and it paid off handsomely. Dave raced to a classy 24 before missing one that seemed to move a long way off the pitch. Pete continued to pick up runs serenely – including four off another fine straight drive – but his call was too sharp for our number three, Steve, who failed to make his ground by some distance.

Steve had just pulled one through the legside for four and said after he felt it was going to be his night with the bat. No wonder Pete carried his bat – he was probably trying to avoid a confrontation with Steve in the dressing room.

Anyway, with Steve back in the dressing room thinking about what might have been, Gareth polished off the runs in style, hitting two fours off his legs to see us to our target of 59.

Unfortunately, that’s the last of our Wednesday night fixtures but, weather permitting, we have got a couple of 40-over Sunday fixtures planned. I’ll keep you updated as we go for a historic fifth win.

After a week’s break (while I celebrated my 31^st birthday in Whitby crab fishing and playing cricket on the beach), we returned to action with two games in as many days.

The previous week, I’m told, we lost a close match against Shropshire Health, so we were looking for an upturn in fortunes. By the way, I should mention that Ian apparently also found out why wearing a box when batting is a good idea.

Anyway, we lost to BT on Tuesday, but managed to beat the seemingly invincible Orthopaedic. Unfortunately, the shine was taken off the victory somewhat by a rather unsavoury incident, but more of that later.

We were probably a bit unlucky against BT in that we came up against a good side who were clearly up for it after our victory over them earlier in the season. We bowled well in fact, restricting them to 104 despite some classy and aggressive batting. I opened the bowling, and Justin allowed me four overs in succession (a nice change – we normally play two overs a man). I bowled alright, although I struggled with my run-up a bit, and ended up with figures of 1-14. Steve bowled beautifully and should have picked up more than his one wicket, Geraint bowled well despite being one of the youngest players in the side, and Justin bowled through the pain barrier to help us restrict them at the death.

Unfortunately, after a good start thanks largely to Carl, who made 20-odd, and Justin, who returned to form with 21, we collapsed to end the game on 68-8 (I finished on a couple not out after going in with two overs left). It was a real shame as we’d been keeping up with the run rate well until that point. Anyway, we lost to the better side on the night – but as it turned out, our fortunes changed the following evening.

We chose to bat first (I opened and made three – I don’t want to talk about it) and set them a target of 111 thanks to excellent contributions from Gareth (18), Justin (23) and Carl (29, including three massive sixes). It looked a decent total, but the pitch played pretty well and we felt it was maybe ten or fifteen runs short given the quality of their batsmen.

We fielded well and managed to keep the runs down early on. This was despite the fact I took the new(ish) ball and proceeded to bowl the worst spell I have managed for several years. I went for three wides, and my line and length was all over the shop. Amazingly, I didn’t go for many runs but I think that was more because the batsmen were too confused to play shots.

Then Justin brought himself on and things turned a bit sour. He immediately hit the Orthopaedic’s best batsmen on his pads and Merv – umpiring – raised his finger. Their batsmen was not happy – at first he questioned whether anybody had actually appealed (Justin had, quietly); then he said – loudly – that he had hit the ball first. To be fair, our wicketkeeper Dan later agreed (he hadn’t appealed) so it may have been a bit harsh.

I thought that was that, but a few minutes later, the same batsmen replaced his team-mate as umpire and things got worse. He called wide for Ian’s first delivery – a marginal decision – and then called no-ball, saying Justin had been changing fielding position as the bowler was running in. Justin angrily disputed this, saying he was simply walking in and the argument really took off, involving some pretty colourful language. At the risk of sounding like Arsene Wenger, I didn’t see the incident, but I would have thought a quiet word after the delivery would have been sufficient.

There’s not doubt the incident changed the game. Everybody felt awkward and one of the Orthopaedic’s batsmen, who I only know as Brian, looked thoroughly upset by the incident and I’m sure it put him off his game. It also affected Ian for a couple of deliveries, although he recovered his poise to take two excellent wickets, one a caught and bowled and the other featuring an excellent diving catch from Justin (who later said he was too angry to remember the catch).

We continued to bowl and field well and Dom Ryder, Dave’s son, bowled brilliantly at the death in tandem with his dad to see us home.

Winning against the Orthopaedic is always a good feeling, because they are such a strong team. It is just unfortunate the shine was taken off it by the unnecessary unpleasantness – which is thankfully very rare at our level. We all shook hands after and I hope it’s all forgotten - there is, after all, about nine months to get over it. And at least there were no jellybeans.

Well, we finally got to play again and - shockingly - we won, beating one of the top teams, BT, in a low scoring affair.

Annoyingly, I missed the game due to work commitments (now I know what you're thinking, you weren't there and the team win - is that a coincidence), but the skipper texted me last night to inform me that we had scored 82, before restricting BT to 75 with youngster Oli Morris taking 4-11 off four overs.

Oli was one of my tips to do well at the start of the season when I predicted we would be facing a fight for our places later in the year and, as someone who once played for BT (many years ago, so there's no split loyalty) I'm pleased he did so well against a team that normally makes life difficult for us.

The rest of the team must have bowled and fielded well too - to defend a total of 82 isn't easy.

On a personal note, I'll be facing a fight to get my place back now. Back to the nets for me to prove I'm not over the hill just yet.