Ii was clear to anyone blessed with the gift of sight: Sunday was going to be one of those days. Heavy rainfall on Saturday had rendered many pitches throughout the land unplayable. Matches were cancelled or rescheduled for many.

But with the hockey and football seasons starting to breathe down our necks, some brave cricketers decided to ‘give it a go’. The Fabulous Firsts sniggered, having lost the toss and seeing their opponents decide to bat. The Sympathetic Seconds correctly predicted the side of the coin to be showing and chose to bowl.

So, we too, freshly returned from having plundered, pillaged and conquered new lands, decided to see what the pretenders from Hoofddorp could possibly do to us.

It was not to be. Where once there was the great Outground 3, there was now just a pond.

The view was splendid, majestic even. Water as far as the eye could see. In the end a number of our players tried to overcome these conditions and waded to the middle.

Alas, it was all in vain. It was not long before we realised that this pond was being conquered by a new species. And they were multiplying. In what seemed to be minutes, they were everywhere.

As per the Law 3.10, the match was abandoned, as the density of this new species was now so great, that their safety could not be guaranteed during play.

A sign will be erected as soon as possible: “Protected nature reserve. Beware of mostly-golden-ducks.”
 
Alexander