Unfortunately for the hosts, though, it was visitors Yalding who did most of the damage in this npower Village Cup sixth round tie on Sunday.

With the ball flying way beyond the boundary, at one stage it was even deemed necessary to evacuate the playground, situated some 30 yards beyond the rope.

That the order to 'abandon swings' was issued by Iden's opening bowler Robin Mayes - a man whose last nod towards health and safety regulations was when he reluctantly binned a three-month-old salami on the basis that it was knocking on the fridge door - was an irony that certainly did not go unnoticed.

With a place in the last 16 of this national knockout competition up for grabs, Iden lost an important toss and Yalding wisely chose to bat on a pitch that was true, well-paced and oozing runs.

To that background, Iden started well. An early wicket for Mayes was followed by three for Stuart Playford, whose figures of 9-0-31-3 were the pick of the bunch.

He was backed up well by Mark Kitching (9-3-38-1) and, after 21 overs, Yalding were 100-5. But far from being down and out, twin brothers Adnan and Usman Pervaiz set about counter-attacking.

They put on 150 for the sixth wicket, allowing Yalding to post a formidable-looking 266-7 in their 40 overs. Formidable, but on that wicket certainly not un-gettable.

Iden's start, however, was not helped by the loss of the White brothers for single-figure scores, but even so, they managed to keep up with the required rate.

That being said, wickets fell all-too regularly and, while Phil Shanks (23), Chris Curd (17) and Tom Rawstorne (42) all got starts, none managed to stay in long enough to exert any lasting pressure.

In the end, Iden were bowled out for 169 with ten overs remaining. The end of a dream for Iden. But, hey, that's cricket.