The brave Toft Fourth team arrived at a sunlit Over Peover chipper and confident after defeating a solid Wilmslow side last time out. However, things turned sour on a warm night in leafy Cheshire after a solid bowling performance was spoiled by a swine of a batting collapse on a pig of a pitch.

Captain Andrew Jackson welcomed back senior seamer Matty Walker into his attack, who opened the bowling with the over-improving pace of James McNamara. He picked up a wicket early doors, and Walker helped himself to a brace as Toft started brightly, despite a trio of dropped catches. Jackson’s malaise was helped by wickets for both Phil Raffo & Chris Bongard, as they restricted the hosts to 97/6 from their 20 overs.

However, Toft’s reply was greeted with all the enthusiasm of a man who has been told Freddie Krueger is performing his vasectomy. McNamara was dismissed for a golden duck after a sharp catch at slip to get the visitors off to the worst possible start. Alex Davies was his partner opening up, and he fared better, seeing off the new ball. Bongard was in at three, who has been on a barren run, starved of runs. And he was force-fed a diet of spin and seam that wasn’t particularly palatable on a surface which such uneven bounce. At the other end Davies, a PE teacher by trade, looked to teach the opening bowlers a lesson, and was looking well set until he departed for 16 to a delivery that scurried along the deck.

When Bongard & Tom Carter swiftly followed, the scorecard had a familiar forlorn look to it. The 97 posted earlier all of a sudden, looked a decent effort. Simon Donald, who revels on these poor surfaces, strode out at 5 and contributed a useful 21, including a steepling six over the bowlers head.

However, once Donald perished, the tail produced the kind of limp showing we have become used to, including two jaw-dropping run outs, and Fraser Prest & Jackson being dismissed inexplicably in successive deliveries.

All in all, a bad night at the office, but next week there is chance to put it right. With lockdown restrictions easing, it’s time for the fourths to let the mask of despair slip, to reveal the beast within.