No, not balloons but the combined age of the Straggler first change bowlers, the Master Brewer and the Chairman. The red mist had descended on the Straggler batsmen earlier in the afternoon, who, with the honourable exceptions of Theo and the said Brewer, seemed to have an urgent desire to clatter the Elham boundary boards with every stroke. When the final wicket fell at 155, some forty minutes before tea, the crowd were packing up for an early finish.
However, all was not lost, and some extraordinarily frugal bowling after tea had the Stragglers inching back into the game. The Master Brewer continued his come back with a long spell, in spite of repeated parental reccomendations to the contrary to the Match Manager from the boundary. At 60 for 6, Elham were struggling; at 146 for 9 in the 51st over in near total darkness, the impossible was on. The winning run, chipped just over mid-on could so easily have gone to hand.