(here's the Midge... er... Mitch... er... Match Report from last night)

Last night's season opener on Primrose hill saw the Ticklers off to a good start with a 22-10 destruction of the Dubstars. The Ticklers were out in full force, fielding a full 12-player lineup. The Dubstars on the other hand were rather depleted, enlisting the help of an enthusiastic passer-by to make up the numbers.

The game began amid somewhat overcast conditions, and the Ticklers defence began in good form, with a fly-ball to Captain America at short-stop and a strikeout for your guest correspondent providing the first two outs, before a minor Dubstars rally drove one run across home-plate before the final out could be administered. The bottom half of the first inning, in complete contrast, saw the Ticklers methodically exposing the gaping holes in the Dubstars defence, the runners casually circulating the bases. Before you could so much as utter "What was the name of that American bloke with the tight trousers...?" the Ticklers had put 7 runs in the scorebook and the inning closed with the Ticklers in a healthy lead.

This set the precedent for the rest of the game - no fireworks, just good ol' fashioned defense from the Ticklers in the top half-innings, followed by a relentless succession of gap-finding hits in the bottom half-innings. Rachel (despite her protestations at having balls thrown at her!) was dependable with the glove, forcing out numerous Dubstars at second base. Becky was solid at first as usual, and Gabor proved the star of the outfield, battling with the evil Primrose hill turf to ensure that when the ball did manage to find its way through the infield, the hitter was restricted to just a single.

On offense, the Ticklers (helped by some rather wayward pitching) were solid if unspectacular, with no big-shot home-runs, but still scoring 22 runs in only four innings. As a certain American with tight trousers would have said, we were "killing 'em with pin-pricks". It remains to be seen whether this will be enough against a less porous defense, but for this game at least, it was enough for a very convincing win.

In the fading light and the ever-increasing number of midges swarming around the diamond, the game only lasted four-and-a-half innings, Captain Julie deciding to forfeit the Ticklers' half of the fifth inning in favour of an earlier arrival in the new post-game pub, the Princess of Wales - a very sensible decision if you ask me. Bewilderingly, however, your guest correspondent is dismayed to report that the Ticklers were not the last team out of the pub, that honour falling to the Buttheads. Let's hope normal service is resumed next week when the laid-on post-game nibbles commences...