Baggy Blues Matt Watson-Broughton b Manuel 8 Neil Evans b A Singh 6 Andrew Leckonby * lbw b Manuel 0 Damien Naughton b L Singh 7 Gabor Forro + c Kumar b Reddy 1 Dean Marshel b Jain 13 Nitin Bhudia b Jain 0 Hiran De Silva b Reddy 0 Kaushik not out 19 Jim Plai c L Singh b Gandhi 2 John Murphy b Manuel 0 Extras 1nb 17w 2b 2lb 22 Total 20 overs all out 78

Royal Tigers won by 100 runs

Terrific Tigers' 10 Tame Terrible Team - the title says it all really. The Baggies arrived with a team they believed could truly test the Tigers, and left with a team that had a stronger sense of reality. 'Too good' was all that could be said of the in-form and deservedly top-of-the-table Tigers after this 100-run thrashing of the Baggy Blues: and that was with a team of just 10 men.

The day started badly for the Baggies with a dropped catch in the very first over, and things never really changed from there. The opening stand of 48 from just under 5 overs made it clear that the Tigers were here to win (surprise!), and right at that point came the potential turning point for the Baggies: Damien Naughton claimed the first of his 4 wickets on his way to 4 for 23, and together with Baggies' debutant Dean Marshel-Courte put together a 10-over period that brought 5 wickets for 'just' 43 runs. Enter Tushar. Apparently a season of mixed fortunes for Tushar, this was to be his day. Dropped early and with a couple of 'near misses', Tushar survived a steady (by Tushar's standards!) start to then explode in the way most teams in the HCA justifiably fear. Tushar blasted his way to a match-sealing 50 not out, having only started his innings at the drinks break. Ably supported by the aggressive and rather talented number-9 batting of Amandeep's 29 not out (coming in with just 6 overs left!), the final pair tore apart the Blues' regular opening bowlers of Andrew Leckonby and Kaushik Venkatasubramaniyan to add an unbeaten 58 runs in those last six overs to the already daunting total: yes, the Tigers' tail wagged and proved to be even longer than Kaushik's surname. And that's saying something. Six dropped catches were of course less than helpful, and the supposedly 'gettable' 150 or so was instead the 'how the *!@*¡ can we get that?' 178. The powerful hitting of the Tigers also resulted in five balls being needed to complete the innings, and a few nice surprises waiting for the workers in the sheds next to the RAFC pitch.

The Blues' batting innings started more positively than the bowling efforts: 0 for 14 off 2 and on target to overhaul the total at a canter? Well, er, not quite. Suman bowled Matt Watson-Broughton and shortly after had Leckonby following, with a second consecutive and majorly disappointing LBW duck. (Does that count as a pair?) Naughton's day proved better with the ball than the bat, which left the opening for some true entertainment as Gabor Forró enjoyed his first 'real' opportunity for a bat in a cricket match. Needing to leave early, Gábor came out at number 5, got his first run to go with his first catch in his first time to wicketkeep earlier in the day: congratulations Gábor on making another small step for Hungarian cricket! Marshal-Courte proved that he can not just bowl but also bat, giving the Blues at least some joy from the day at having found a talented new player. The only thing left worthy of report from the Blues' innings was Kaushik's discovery of some batting form with an unbeaten 19, sadly the top score for his side on the day. All out for 78 against a team of 10. Oh dear.

Congratulations to the Tigers on their truly impressive cricket, and congratulations to both sides for a match played with a true spirit of competetively aggressive but fair sportsmanship from both teams.

Interesting fact: Despite having just 10 players, 7 of the Tigers bowled and 6 of them claimed at least one wicket.

Man of the match: Tushar Gandhi