Nigel must have had a Delphic premonition about fathers facing sons, as he dropped himself in favour of Toby for the Fixture Secretary’s XI at Belmont with some dubious agricultural excuse, and then only donned his whites in the penultimate over. Out in the middle the clash of Oedipus and his father at the crossroads between Thebes and Delphi was a pale imitation of the damage inflicted on fathers by their sons at Belmont.
Simon took the first blow, as Theo, in scintillating touch, smashed one back into the bowler’s chest. Bart then clipped a legside shot towards Eliot, who got enough of finger to the ball to knock it very painfully back. And to finish off the paternal pain, Jasper, bowling in the closing shower, hit Matt just where it hurts. Are the boys trying to tell us something?
