But over the bank holiday weekend, they faced an unprecedented availability crisis, leading to fielding weakened sides containing players who do not usually play cricket, let alone for the club, including inexperienced teenagers. “Our availability this week was really bad,” he said. “We had about 40 players unavailable across our five men’s teams. We were struggling already, then had seven dropouts over Thursday and Friday. That trickles down and affects the fourths. The captains were calling friends of friends of friends just to get our teams on the pitch.” Spawton realised before the game had even started that a win could be on the cards for his team, based on the opposition’s introductions and attire. “They struggled to get a team together, what with it being a bank holiday,” he said. “There were a few lads saying ‘nice to meet you’ [to each other] before the game. There were a couple of lads wearing black trainers, which is a good sign [that they do not play often].”