Eugene Berger, Nigel Gordon and the rest of the TCC team have been working hard to get everything in and around the club in Covid19-compliment order. Their efforts subsequently mean we are all stations go for three friendlies on Saturday 12 July.

East Molesey 2s come to the Green
With plenty of folks still going through the gears in terms of availability, the Ts have opted to field a mixed 1s/2s side against near-neighbours East Molesey. The game will be 40 overs per side and kick off (on the Green) is midday.

Eugene Berger will be leading the troops and he'll be backed up by plenty of familiar faces. Don Manuwelge and Ben Leale-Green will be looking to set the tone with the bat, whilst Sanjit Sandhu and Ajmal Allahdad are bringing the flair to the party. Parampreet Singh and Dom Thamby also have chances to impress with the ball.

Thirds travel to Molesey
The thirds make the short journey over towards Hampton Court to play East Molesey 3s for a T20 encounter (17h30 kick off). Connor Finney will be making his captaincy debut, although he'll have the Voice of Wisdom, Steve Watts, in the ranks offering support.

Steve Cowley, Sam Cliffe and Kev Cavilla have also been round the block plenty of times, whilst with the ball Ozzie Qavi, JP Bowman and the returning Firooz Ahmed will give Finney plenty of options. Will Finney also throw the ball to Watts to get some leg spin in the game? One of the big cricketing questions of the weekend, no doubt about that.

Fours also in T20 action
The fours are the final Ts side in action on Saturday. They, too, are going to be in T20 mode, welcoming the Moles to the Green for a 1730 start (i.e. right after the 2s have finished). Hinay Dassani is washing his hair so 5th XI skipper Harmeet Singh is stepping up to the plate.

And Harmeet has already stamped his mark on proceedings. Two aficionados of the longer format, Phil Walker and Andy Donelan, have been brutally dropped (or maybe they simply weren't available). That decision may, however, be a very wise one; quite how Phil Walker is coming to terms with the idea of a cricket game without a traditional tea is not clear. Help is on hand, Phil, a problem shared is a problem halved and all that ...

Harmeet certainly has a number of big hitters in his side. Pete Burke and Jonny Bosier much prefer hitting the boundary to making a gentle two into a quick three, whilst Uzzi Khan has the ability to bat both like Geoffrey Boycott and Ben Stokes in the same innings. Jon Trippett's presence will also ensure that life won't be dull for Harmeet and his side.

In all seriousness, it really is great to be back. Everyone needs to follow the social distancing rules, to be aware of the new regulations (no sweat or saliva on the ball, for example) and to generally be on the money. But that all seems a small price to pay.

Bring the cricket on!