Many people would claim that tour isn't really about cricket at all, but is actually just an excuse to get together with mates to talk nonsense and consume moderate amounts of alcohol. If so, then Exhibit A for the prosecution would be the Cotswolds leg of the 2024 FAS Kazaam, with rain giving us two cricket-free days during which channel our inner Withnail. There was at least sport to watch: the second week of Wimbledon; Jimmy Anderson's final Test at Lord's; and the Euro 2024 semi-finals, highlighted by England's 2-1 victory over the Netherlands to make it to the final. This took place on a slightly surreal final day of tour: once we were informed that the Blockley ground was too wet for play, the traditional evening BBQ was moved forward to 3pm, with Pete Watkins listed as due to play a mammoth five-hour set to bridge the gap to the football. In the end he played on and off for about seven hours, starting before the food and finishing up at about 11pm following irresistible chants of "One more song! One more song!" Pete would have been a strong contender for character of the tour but for the fact that the awards had been deferred to the Kent leg due to the lack of cricket (although three games were considered sufficient back in the flood year of 2007).

In the three fixtures that did go ahead FAS had a pretty good time of it: on the Sunday we defeated Bibury in a final-over thriller; and on the Monday we had the best of a draw at Temple Grafton and had all-but completed a good comeback win against Fladbury before being washed out. With all the games pushed to shorter formats due to the weather we managed a total of just 193 overs of cricket, fully a hundred fewer than we managed even during last year's rain-fest. Unsurprisingly, noteworthy individual efforts were restricted to single performances, the first of which was by Harry Houlder, who marked his 100th FAS game in some style, making a match-winning 67* (his highest score on tour) against Bibury, during which he also joined the exclusive FAS 1000-run club (taking exactly five times as many matches as the record-holder, James Wyatt, had needed). Jim Streeter almost matched Harry with a stylish 60 against Temple Grafton, although he was rather upstaged later in the same game by Hal Dare, who bludgeoned his first half-century for FAS (and in any form of senior cricket). The two stand-out bowling efforts, which took place simultaneously but ten miles apart, were a study in contrasts: staying at TG, Ben Kittow got us to within one wicket of victory during a 12-over marathon (the longest for the club since before Covid) on his way to figures of 5/50, his first ever five-for; while, under grey skies at Fladbury, Jamie Dare's opening spell of 5 overs, 5 maidens, 2/0, was the most economical in club history, and a study in discipline as the ball whizzed past the outside edge again and again. Astonishingly, Jamie's wasn't the only opening spell of 2/0 on tour, as Daniel Mortlock started off the Bibury game in the same way, taking his hundredth FAS wicket in the process. That wicket was, rather embarrassingly, from a leg-stump half-volley which should have been hit to the boundary - and, indeed, the ball was half-way there before being intercepted by James Wyatt's oustretched hand. Aside from taking the best catch of the tour, he was also the only outfielder who managed more than one - and only one wicket-keeper matched him, Dave Kittow taking two good catches at TG.

With such little current cricket to over-analyse, we found ourselves looking to the past, highlighted by a delightful rummage through the archival box of photos on the final night of tour. There was also some more metaphorical rummaging through the records section of the web-site, which for most of us revealed a bunch of matches and players nobody could actually remember taking place. The one exception to this was James "Rain Man" Houlder, who simply had to enter his "mind palace" to recall entire tours in sequence: "Okay, what about 2005?" "Sunday, must have been Naunton, duck; then 99 at Temple Grafton; Tuesday was Blockley, I think 74 or 75 not out; . . .". It was as impressive as it was terrifying.

Another knock-on effect of the lack of cricket was that we spent a lot more time at Mill Dene, meaning more labours for Cliff and the Tina-led staff team, so even more thanks than usual are due to them - which took the physical form of a wine glass rack that was presented during the low-key presentation on the Tuesday evening.

The Kent leg of the 2024 Kazaam will take place on September 14 and 15, with two fixtures scheduled.