It was match in which we had earlier in the season expected to do well, when it came around. But when it did, fate dealt a cruel blow.

A series of incredible coincidence happened to all our potential title winners in various grades, namely the Men's A, B, C and E in recent weeks. Cruising along comfortably and leading in nearly all the grades, a spate of injuries, illness, travel plans, school examinations, national duty, etc tripped up our league warriors. The results were first-time losses for all 4 grades and last evening, the 'A'nnihilators were humbled for a second consecutive time. After being snared by Police's Indonesian-led ambush a fortnight ago, a make-shift UCSC 'A team conceded 1-3 to Padang Squashers, Singapore Cricket Club's '3rd' premier men's team. Missing Marcus to national duty, Darren to school examinations, Simon and Francis to injuries, it was left to Phil Mockridge as the single remaining 'A'-grader to lead the charge at No.2, supported by 'B'ombers, Michael Tan and Lee leong Chye at Nos. 3 and 4 respectively. The No. 1 slot was mutually agreed by both teams to be surrendered to Padang Squashers.

Entering the evening's match-up with Police (PSA) in a lofty position at the top of the A-grade table with 21 points and PSA at 6th with just 9 points, the 'A'nnihilators were still wary of the law-enforcers because of the recent additions to their squad in the form of two of Indonesia's national players. Surprisingly, the two were registered as A2s at #3 and #4 and below PSA's James Hill. While James is a good player and a decent A2, the two Indonesians were clearly better and one suspects, should both be A1s with the #4 having beaten Marcus at Kallang by 3-1 in a recent friendly match.

This was the match of the season (so far) for the UCSC 'A'nnihilators .....

The hustling was all done by UCSC as the team caused maximal damage to the title hopes of one of the pre-season favorites, SCC2.

Before the match, UCSC was placed second in the 'A' table with a mere 2-point advantage over the evening's opponents. The 'A'nnihilators had a simple game plan - W I N !