She will be sadly missed, especially when we have our vice-presidents' lunch on the Wednesday of Cricket Week. You may have noticed the Talbot flying at half-mast at the pavilion as a mark of respect.

We also received more sad news with the death of Leighton Jones. Leighton was a larger-than-life character, and was a stalwart of the club in the 1970s. He was captain of the Second XI and a superb swing bowler. He was also a regular speaker with Alan Thorogood at cricket dinners of the past.

I have few but fond memories of Leighton. He was the first person I ever kept wicket to, playing away at Great Yeldham many years ago. I won't forget it as I took three wickets keeping and I remember two I caught in front of the bat. His bowling wasn't that quick then.

We will make sure we raise a glass to Betty and Leighton this weekend.

Well the weather threatened another washout weekend, but thankfully most games were played. The Ladies suffered defeat at Friars Street at the hands of Harwich and Mistley, a shame after their good win over Colchester. But there are still enough games left for the ladies to get into the play-offs.

On Saturday Jon Kent moved up a gear at home to Wivenhoe. The start was delayed for 30 minutes to help things dry out. Wivenhoe batted first and scored 156-6, Kent doing what Billy Moulton-Day did the previous week, taking six wickets.

He bowled superbly and has been another revelation this season, both on and off the pitch. His batting is also looking effortless, and he set about the Wivenhoe bowling, scoring 90 not out.

The first team were done and dusted by 6.30pm. Al Younger hit a nice 20 not out – good to see Al back – and Simmo and Woody, I have been told, bowled extremely well.

After four back-to-back wins we face a mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash at Mildenhall on Saturday. I think we will be a tough test at Wamil Way. If we can win on Saturday then there will be only one game in it at the top of the table.

Steve Witham is doing a great job. The team look in good spirits, are very together, and playing well as a unit. Availability looks consistent, which is always a big help.

If you follow the second team you come to expect the unexpected. After a tie with Stowmarket the previous week, this week we managed to lose to Dunmow by one run. Dunmow, second in the table having lost just one game, were favourites before the match.

But we showed there is very little difference between teams in division four – the real difference is finishing games off. Dunmow were all out for 135.

Ruthless Talbots in for the kill? Lockwood, Robins, Thomas and Coone all bowled well, and there was a superb fielding display, but we couldn't set up the win and were all out for 134.

If we had scored three more runs in the last two weeks we would be third from top instead of third from bottom. It's that tight.