Bank holiday weekend at the end of August, and the North Middlesex CC tourists made up of fifteen U13, 14, and 15 boys and girls, along with eight parents, sat at two long tables polishing off tasty pub grub served by a slightly stunned waitress at the Sun Inn, Hulverstone, Isle of Wight. This was a celebration of the squad’s third win in two days, and of excellent cricket and a strong team spirit. Despite heavy clouds and a brief cyclone, the sun had shone at all the right moments, Robbie Clark and Ben Musikant had joined the tour in the early hours of the morning having played in the U17 cup win at the Midd the evening before, providing another cause for celebration, so we all raised a glass to the superb organising by Adam and Graham.

This was Saturday night, two days into the tour, and the whole tour party watched as Benji and Francesca Chambers re-enacted their run out from earlier in the day in the middle of the pub restaurant. Who was to blame and who should get the Lime and Soda shirt? Votes were massively in favour of Frankie, and though Ben clearly felt he sacrificed himself for the greater good, she seemed to wear the shirt with pride.

Most of the tour party had left home at 6.45am the previous morning, and thanks to ruthlessly efficient timetabling, we got the ferry and were at the Shanklin and Godshill CC ground, 111 miles south-west from the Midd, for a 12.30pm start. Ben Chambers led the side out to field first, and immediately the team was positive, focused and supportively noisy, a well-oiled cricket machine. We reduced the Isle of Wight representative side, which plays county-level fixtures, to 96 all out well within their 30 overs, with fine accurate bowling from Oscar Turnill (3 for 21) and Sam Dunn (3 for 19) in particular, Sam swinging it prodigiously, and good catches taken. We knocked off the runs in 12.2 overs, Benji leading the way with 24 off 16 balls to make an emphatic victory. After lunch of fresh baguettes, which Graham produced from his GM cricket bag (see pic below), we played an extra T10 match – which we again dominated and won easily, Herbie Walford leading the charge with 32 off 18 balls, taking us to 71 off our 10 overs. We used 8 different bowlers in our 10 overs, most of them accurate and backed up by aggressive fielding, and we kept the Isle of Wight to 60 for 4.

In high spirits, we headed to check in at our accommodation on a farm seemingly 30 minutes from everywhere else on the island. We lodged in converted shipping containers, each with five bunks. They worked a treat.

Saturday's match was at Arreton CC, with a bowling-green outfield and an astro strip. In another 30 over match, we batted first and were positive and aggressive from the first ball, Ben Musikant and Robbie Clark opening the batting with a stand of 89 off the first 10 overs. Arreton fought back, first with the infamous Chambers run out, then with Frankie’s wicket, and Ben Musikant retired on 50, but this brought Herbie to the crease in dominant mood. His fluent drives and rapid running between the wickets took him to 50 in short order, and by the time Max Spooner (19), Rudra Patel (24) and Marco Hyam (19) had played their cameos, we were 223 for 9 off our 30 overs.

In reply, North Midd produced an emphatic bowling and fielding performance. Sam Dunn and Isla Clark opened with accurate spells that immediately put pressure on their batters. Oscar then bowled a teasing length, taking 2 for 4 from three overs, before the Spooner siblings (Max 1 for 4, Dillan 3 for 3), Henry Wells (2 for 9) and Frankie (1 for 5) put the game to bed. The fielding was mostly very tight, and Ben M took a memorable diving one-handed catch at mid-wicket while Dylan Jones took the gloves, looking tidy and effervescent throughout and taking two catches. They were all out for 77, giving North Midd victory by 146 runs.

The rest of the afternoon was spent back at the farm, where most of the party went to the onsite water park, which involved everyone pushing each other into the water as many times as possible, wrestling each other off the inflatable platforms in what looked like a mash up of It’s A Knock Out (I hope I’m not the only one old enough to remember that) and Mixed Martial Arts. Several parents present were lawyers, but they were not required for any personal injury litigation.

Then to the celebratory dinner, where Frankie got her Lime and Soda shirt, and Henry picked up another for his cheeky ramp shot for four on Friday.

Sunday's final match was a more competitive affair. Ventnor CC had heard that we had won easily in the previous matches, and they strengthened their side with some older players. The weather was sunny and the ground picture perfect, though the straight boundaries at both ends sloped up steeply. They reduced us to 26 for 3 off the first 6 overs, but Rudra (49) and Oscar (50 not out - a Lime and Soda innings) built a gutsy partnership to dig us out of the hole. Each run had to be fought for, and they ran well between the wickets to haul us back to respectability.

After Rudra has fallen one short of his fifty and Oscar retired, Marco ("I want 180") threw the bat con brio, but the Ventnor slopes turned straight-hit fours into ones or twos, and by the time he was run out for a run-a-ball 15 off the last ball of the innings, trying to turn a single into a three, we had only reached a modest 159 for 6 from our 30 overs. If we initially thought this might be enough, Ventnor’s openers soon dispelled our hopes of victory, putting on 135 for the first wicket. We never gave up, but the Ventnor batters capitalised on anything short or wide and exploited the flatter square boundaries. They knocked off the runs with more than eight overs to spare and only three wickets down.

To cap the day, the group walked down from the ground to the picturesque cove below, Ventnor beach. We jumped in the sea and had ice cream. Idyllic.

Dried off, we piled into the cars and headed to the ferry, talking enthusiastically of organising it all again for next year – as soon as Graham and Adam have had a chance to catch their breath.