Exiles were well beaten by the Surbiton Imperials on Sunday, as a combination of late withdrawals, a mis-communication over the start-time and the RideLondon Cycling event closing all local roads led to the Exiles only having 3 players on time for the start.

With an arranged toss, the Exiles batted first to allow the remainder of the side to appear, with the opposition generously allowing us one of their players to make it a 10-a-side match.

Keith Roberts (17) and Chris Plume (32) got the Exiles off to a solid start – adding 59 in 15.4 overs before Plume was bowled by the pacey Ashley Pillay. From there, the Exiles batting continued to lose wickets regularly and the sought for acceleration never really materialised – despite debutant Prasanth Pattiyil (23) and Andy Wingfield (22) making solid contributions. Exiles finished on 160 all out – well short of the 200+ par.

The bowling fared worse as the Imperials raced home in just over 21 overs – with only Tim Storey (1 for 42) and Wingfield (1 for 34) taking any reward, the Imperials hitting 25 boundaries at more than 1 an over.

Hopefully availability et al will be better next week – but Exiles need to get a fixture confirmed first…..