Saturday saw John Kendall (33 points) win the hotly contested golf competition at Wycombe Heights, defeating Simon Eddolls into second place. John also won the nearest to pin contest, with Simon claiming a somewhat contentious long drive challenge victory. A small tour of Amersham's finest establishments made for an enjoyable evening, with the regulars at the Eagle particularly pleased at some of our karaoke efforts.

Sunday began with a trip to The Polecat Inn, before we moved on to visit our longstanding friends at Hyde Heath in a bid to retain the Brian Hartley trophy. Bank batted first and were off to a fine start with Cam Lindsay registering a diamond duck to claim the kitty honours. Tom Campbell (54) held the rest of the top order together, but a collapse to 96/7 looked ominous. Fortunately the tail (Matt Bartlett, Freddie Oxland, Harry Varney collectively) wagged to get us to a competitive 163 all out.

Tea was a triumph and a well fed Bank engaged in an intensive fielding warm up. Andrew Merriman (3/25) registered a couple of early victims, with Campbell confident of finally claiming a personal victory at the 17th attempt this season. Unfortunately Hyde Heath did not play ball (but they did play some good cricket) and ended up strolling to a comfortable 5 wicket win. The match ended on a high with Lindsay bowling a ball backwards, much to the delight of those Bank spectators who had been "rested" for the day. Full scorecard available here (scorecard here).

The traditional Sunday fancy dress theme this year was "your own name" (see picture) - how many can you guess? Oliver (Blue) Jay was a crowd favourite amongst several fine efforts, with Olympic swimming fans particularly pleased by Mark (Spitz) Streather. Post match pizza helped to line the stomach, before an enjoyable late evening back at tour HQ The Saracen's Head.

Monday started with a lunchtime visit to The Red Lion and a group hoola hoop tutorial session from Max Johnson. Our second game at Little Missenden started slowly, but Merriman (3/27) and Richard Down (2/40) turned the game from 64/0 to 87/5. Streather took a one handed screamer behind the stumps despite a potato leak (ask him), but we couldn't prevent Little Missenden from reaching 198/6 declared.

The Harry Varney party kicked the innings off with a succession of boundaries, but at 57/3 the chase looked a tough ask. Merriman (26) combined with George Barton to add 66 for the 4th wicket, taking Bank to 123 with 15 overs remaining. From there it was a family affair as Barton (75 not out) and Richard Kendall (49 not out) successfully navigated a path to victory with an unbroken partnership of 78 to win with two overs to spare. Seasoned tour veterans cannot remember us ever chasing 200 to win this fixture in 35 years, so it was certainly a win to remember Unfortunately Campbell had been selected for the pub darts team for the day, so remained stuck with a personal record of 0-17. Full scorecard available here).

Post match curry was interesting, with the salmon bhuna described as "flavoursome in a wrong way". For most it was successful, which set us up nicely for the John / Merriman Olympic themed sports quiz. Kendall Jnr was successful and earned the right to prepare next year's edition - 2025 tourists can look forward to that...

Tuesday kicked off with an emotional goodbye to HQ, with a few tired looking faces at lunchtime venue The Crown. On the cricket front Ley Hill smashed their way to a quick 89/0 from 10 overs, but George Glew broke the deadlock to turn the tide. At the other end a mammoth 15 over spell from Superman Matt Bartlett (3/55) brought the score back to 138/5 with Bank back on top. The fielders manning "the wall" a.k.a the road on the short leg side boundary made a sterling effort to restrict the score, but Ley Hill fought back to reach 256/6 declared.

Bank were struggling in response at 40/4 but step forwards Matt Luddington (127 not out) and Shiraz Husain (102 not out). A ridiculous stand of 217 with some brilliant all round stroke play ensured victory with an over to spare. Perhaps most importantly Campbell was playing, taking his 2024 record to 1 and 17. The winning streak begins! Full scorecard here).

Overall it was another really enjoyable tour and was fantastic to end on a high. Thanks to John Kendall, Richard Kendall & Simon Eddolls for all their work organising the trip, plus to all of the drivers who help to make it possible by ferrying everyone around. We already can't wait to go back next year!