After a day toiling in the field in wet conditions and with hearing impaired from what sounded like full on rave going on in the field next door (the local chav contingent presumably fishing for ASBOs) the rainfall eventually rendered the North London pitch unplayable and our clash with the Battersea Bohemians ground to an inevitable halt.

With Spencer losing his first toss of the season and with rain spitting, it was unsurprising that the Bohemians opted to enjoy first use of the batting track. Rob and Paul were handed the new cherry and hit a good line from the get-go. But, after ten attritional overs, the Bohemians openers began to put bat to ball. However James, bowling with more consistency than we have seen so far this season, found a length that troubled the batsmen and, with the score on 75, made the first breakthrough, bowling Kelly for 33.

Jonny Kemp, now bowling from the lower end, after a few looseners also found a good length and promptly managed to dismiss Kilpatrick with one that dipped late. A few beamers from Connell later - which naturally unsettled the incoming batsman - the third wicket was claimed in the same fashion and Leece was back in the hutch.

But, after the wobble, the Bohemians middle order steadied their ship. Tim Bentley looked in imperious form as he drove with increasing assurance and was supported well by Lancaster until another well flighted delivery from Kemp hit pad and, thanks to a speculative shout from Matt behind the stumps, the fourth wicket was down. But Alan Andrews, looking wily at the crease, did well to survive a probing spell from Connell and with Tim eased into a consistent rhythm, with scoring looked ever easier as the ball stood up off a wet track.

It was only thanks to some quick thinking from Spencer that Andrews was sent packing - the Strollers skipper getting his fingertips to a firm straight drive from Bentley and tipping the ball onto the stumps at the non-strikers end where Alan was run out of his crease. But this was to be the final wicket taken by the Strollers as the Bohemians captain, Rob Archdale, was looking in feiry form and hit a number of well timed boundaries to match Bentley who, having sailed past his fifty, was doing likewise from the other end. Spencer varied the bowling with Chris and then George introduced for variation to the attack, but to no avail.

The two hundred came up in the 31st over and, with fielding now becoming decidedly more unpleasant due to heavier rain and the incessant bass boom from the sub woofers next door, boundaries were let through and catches put down and the Bohemians score shot worryingly higher. With a flick to midwicket for four, Tim hit his hundred and with Rob striking two more boundaries off the final over, the Bohemians closed their innings on a daunting 289-5.

With the rain coming down even harder over tea there was some debate (particularly amongst the Strollers ranks) as to whether the match should continue but, in the spirit of making a game of it, Spencer agreed to at least try for a few overs so Gav and George padded up and marched to the middle. With the required run rate at 7 per over from the start and not wishing to get bogged down (literally) Gav was in no mood to hang about and lofted the third ball of the innings for a huge six over mid on, following that up with an uppish drive for four to mid off. George too got in on the act the following over with a powerful on drive for four and the talk on the boundary was of a Strollers victory on Duckworth Lewis!

However, in the third over, Gav failed to get forward to a grubber from Cooke that stuck on the wet wicket and skidded on beneath his bat to knock over his stumps. Shortly afterwards, George became the victim of a poor call from Chris (in at number three) for a single that wasn't there to be had and was run out for 12. Matt joined Chris at the wicket for a couple more speculative overs before Spencer walked out to the middle, prompted by Andy from NLCC (who was getting bothered by the state of the pitch), to suggest we call it a day. Rob, although understandably reluctant, ultimately agreed to abandon the match and so the game petered out to a wet draw.

One for the die-hards then - the only consolation perhaps being what sounded like a gunshot putting paid to one of the speaker cones on the PA system next door, which presumably shorted out in the rain. Glady we weren't the only ones to suffer rain on our parade...