Eridge made it 11 out of 11 with a comfortable victory at Eridge Park as Mick Pooley returned to play his first game of the season.

His son Zak Pooley made his first Eridge appearance for 16 years but it might be another 16 after he ended the day in A&E with a suspected broken collarbone after landing heavily whilst diving for a ball in the gully.

His brother Jake has opened the bowling alongside Rory Heilbron and it was Rory who made the first breakthrough as Desmond was fooled by the straight one after some leg-side fare from the seamer.

He had already had a life after a flashing drive burst through Ellis' fingers at 2nd slip. No such luck for #3 Sylvester as Mark Utting parried a similar chance before pounching the rebound to give Rory a 2nd wicket.

Jake beat the outside edge on countless occasions but ultimately went unrewarded in a spell of 5-1-10-0. Jimmy Hall (also making his seasons bow) replaced Heilbron and his pace was too much for Satish who chipped tamely to Rory at mid off. He should have had another wicket in his next over, but Goldsmith never quite got under a chance at deep mid-on as he back-pedalled and ultimately got fingers on the chance but spilled it.

Luckily for him, the same batter picked out the safe hands of Jake in the next over as Tour '24 bowling award winner Tom Brain continued to impress.

Hall then struck twice in two balls - firstly finding the outside edge of Satish and Utting repeated his juggling escapades at slip. He then produced a jaffa to clean up Kristian but there was to be no hat-trick.

Soon after this, Zak (who had fielded energetically to that point) dived in the gully and at drinks at the end of the over, 12th man Mark Thorpe drove him to A&E and later on, it was confirmed that he had indeed damaged his shoulder ligaments and fractured his collarbone.

Eridge plowed on with 10 men and Brain was continuing to bamboozle the batters - Stefan out lbw trying to sweep a straight one.

Tom Parminter had now replaced Hall from the Castle End and he produced a typical Minty wicket with a short ball that the batter somehow missed and the ball looped back down to displace his bails. Minty then produced a much better delivery in his next over to claim his own lbw - Hit Wicket now 9 down.

Mike Severn came on to replace Brain (8-3-15-2) and he also found a good line and length but was not rewarded with a wicket.

Ashley Goldsmith came on to try to wrap up the innings but his 2nd ball was flicked over the short square leg boundary for 6. After a couple of wides, he found his radar to clean bowl Narayan and then he ran off to prepare his tea - filling in for Tom Cary who had informed him earlier in the week that he would be out of the country...so it was a shock to everyone when he turned up with his sons to watch a few overs mid-way through the Hit Wicket innings!

During the break, Ash told Dave he was happy not to bat (so that he could focus on the wahsing up!) and with that, Dave and Mike Severn were selected to attack the target of 94.

Ellis was immediately into his groove as he dominated an opening stand of 17. The partnership ended when Rory adjudged Mike to be lbw for 3 in the 5th over. Jimmy Hall came and went quickly - falling for 2 thanks to a good catch. What it meant was that he could spend the rest of his afternoon helping Thorpe put out some mole traps after telling Mark that he was a bit of an expert - amazing!

Back in the middle, Jake - fresh from opening the batting at Westover last weekend - came in at 4 but despite playing out a few overs, he was bowled without score on what was to prove a disappointing day for Team Pooley.

Rory went out to bat with a clear mission to ensure Dave did not get away from him in the MVP standings! He was extremely lucky to be put down twice though early on. Dave continued on his imperious way and a big six sent him to 51* and he promptly retired.

Rory fell soon after - out bowled trying to cut for 22. With just 10 or so to win, the stage was set for Poo to hit the winning runs, but after running a couple of leg byes, he was dismissed 3rd ball after nibbling at an away-swinger and edging through to the keeper.

With Zak in A&E and Dave retired, umpire Ash and scorer Minty both had to rush to get some pads on, but Tom Brain played out the final ball of the over without alarm and then Utting hit the winning boundary to seal yet another Eridge win.

How long can the run go on? Next stop Pembury...