Thriplow first team lost only their second match of the current campaign when exiting the National Village Cup to Foxton at the regional final stage on Sunday.

The Green Man had already called 'last orders' for the afternoon by the time Foxton team manager Matt Gray had finished his intensive pre-match pep talk and kept the umpires and Thriplow openers Peter Richer and John Howe waiting out in the middle, way beyond the allotted start-time but agreeing on what they would have for dinner. If it was a ploy, it seemed to work, as the initial batting was edgy and Howe, Craze, Desai and Giasemidis all failed to reach double figures. Peter Richer benefited from a simple catch being missed in the gully but then went for a battling 23, the third of three sitters to Paul Dean at cover.

At 55 for 5 after 15 overs, skipper Alastair Cliffe and key all-rounder Freddie Preston knew that their recovery effort meant they would need to bat long to be able to set any kind of challenging total. However such was their intensity that they had both got to 50 and the partnership was well past 100 by the time Cliffe smashed a long-hop, destined to set off the alarm in a resting Mercedes, to the only man on the leg side boundary. Preston tried manfully to stage-manage the rest of the innings but the tail barely troubled the scorers and from 164 for 5 the innings folded to a disappointing 175 all out.

West Indian opener Lennon Lawrence set out his stall from the start by batting with immense power but Preston blotted his copybook by dropping him at deep mid-off. When Lawrence departed with the score on 63 and with Adam Webster batting with coolness at the other end, further immediate breakthroughs were required. However Alex Hooley overcame his initial nervousness to control the reply with an unbeaten 57 and, despite the odd alarm, Foxton were home by 6 wickets in the 33rd over.

In truth Thriplow never really played to the standard required in any of the three disciplines, with the 100-over game at St.Giles on the Saturday appearing to have taken its toll. However as the current league leaders they still have a lot to play for in what has so far been an extremely promising first season at Premier level.