The breaking team news this morning is that Mat Freeman has had to withdraw from the team due to a DIY accident. Unfortunately Mat dropped a large wooden box on his toe and he is currently struggling to walk. As a result, the selectors have called up Paul Sindrey as a direct replacement.

Marcus will captain the team on the day with Nick acting as his vice captain. This will be the first time that Marcus has captained The Pinks and hopefully he will keep up the good recent work of rookie captains.

Fairness to our team in terms of batting and bowling are vital, as well as ensuring that we adhere to the spirit of cricket. The later requirement is particularly important after last weeks fall out from the Mayfield game.

This afternoon’s opposition are a bit of an unknown as we have never pitted our wits against a veterans side before. The game came about as a result of our match against Harlow Town’s 3^rd XI last year in which some of the veterans were playing. They were so impressed with our sportsmanship and spirit of play that they requested a match this year specifically against their veterans team. This is obviously great testament to the high club standards that we set and something to be really proud of.

We want to give it our best shot, but as we saw last week results are not everything. We won, but it felt hollow as our reputation was called into question. Losing a game can be put right the following week, but losing a reputation can take years to rebuild.