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                                        As the teams gathered to do battle in the 13th edition of the Mike Sorby Cup, so did the storm clouds. Fortunately, it allowed players, parents, children and ex-staff members to get stuck into the cakes early and reminisce about the good old days. It was great to welcome back Clive Hicks, and Eddie Walker (in their roles as umpires) and Dave Machin too, attending for the first time and thus forming a worthy triumvirate of wisdom. Ahem.And so, to the cricket, openers for the Ben Colvin XI took on a rather lop-sided look, with serial slogger and multiple man-of-the-match winner Henry Castle Smith pairing with… Oli Dobson. True to form, Dobbo looked great but never got himself in, giving his wicket away cheaply to Steve Sorby. Unmoved, HCS made a punchy 30, with small knocks from Matt Hall and debutant Richard Fenton, gradually building the score. It took some oomph from Andy Craig to accelerate the innings before retiring on 30 and heralding Ben Colvin to the crease and one of the finest moments in Mike Sorby Cup history. Finally tea was taken with 174 on the board.The Alex Colvin XI got off to a flyer with Steve Haystacks Sorby smashing it all around the ground and retiring with an all-time best of 30. His opening partner Matt Horn, also scored 30 before retiring. At this stage the run rate was looking very healthy despite the best efforts of Oli Spencer’s and Richard Fenton’s line and length bowling. No one then, could have predicted the middle order collapse that followed. Ben Whitley, Alex Colvin, and Ed Clark all failed to get into double figures, with the rest unable to extend beyond the teens. This left Puddocks specialist Nick Clarke and Charlie Pidgeon the enormous task of 53 runs to win. Things were looking very close with 3 overs remaining, but debutant young gun Richard Fenton, held his end with aplomb and The Alex Colvin XI fell 11 runs short on 163.I was asked by the Sternians Association to write a shorter match report and talk a little of what the Mike Sorby Cup means to each of us. I will try my best with the latter. In truth, it will mean different things to all of us, but what I think we all share is the pride in the friendships that we have forged out of Mike’s tragic death in 2004. It is something rare and unique and every summer, the bonds of friendship are refreshed and renewed by our shared memories of Mike and the game we play in his memory. The Mike Sorby Cup has a nomadic past, having been played at a number of grounds including Brown Candover and Wield. In 2019 we came back to LWC and now this is very much our home. I think I can speak for all when I say having the likes of Clive Hicks, Ed Walker and Dave Machin joining us in the past few years has been brilliant and we hope to welcome them for many more years to come. It would be remiss of me not to mention Seb English within this article, who of course died on the same day as Mike. His death was no less tragic and in the past few years, we have mentioned Seb, alongside Mike in the obligatory post-match speech. We hope in years to come we will welcome Seb’s family to the match, they’d be most welcome.Next year’s game will be played on 6th July – all are welcome!ED CLARKE(2002, Summerfield, E030)REUNIONS Mike Sorby Cup 2023Strong bonds, legendary umpires and a decent game of cricket.18

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