The Mavericks opened the 2008 season on the road, with a trip to Croydon to play the Pilots, resuming rivalries for the 8th time in 10 years, having missed out last season whilst the Mavericks were in Division One. Both sides went into the game with little if no outdoors pre-season training due to the British weather, so it was always going to be bit of a shock having to field ground balls on anything other than a gymnasium floor!

In 2008, Div Two, for the first time, is a wooden bat league, but with the Mavericks coming down from Div One, and that league having been a wooden bat league last year, they certainly held an advantage as far as that was concerned. Straight away this showed, as they were out of the gates with a 2 run first inning and a 5 run second inning. Michael Burdett came round to score the Mavericks first run of the year on a Rob Wheeler single, and an errant throw from the outfield. He then followed it up in the second with a bases clearing double after some Croydon errors had loaded them up after retiring the first two batters, before Rob Wheeler drove in his third RBI of the day, with another shot down the line.

Meanwhile the Mavericks defence was showing no signs of off-season rust, as they restricted the Pilots to just a couple of runs in the first, and none at all in the second. Jazz Brown at second Dave Jones at third were fielding everything that came their way, and with the Hazelby-Armstead battery back in tandem, the Pilots were struggling to get base runners.

A 7-2 lead was cut to 3, as the Pilots rallied for a couple of runs in the third, although a 1-2-3 4th from the Mavericks top order, gave a chance for Croydon to come back into the game, which they duly grasped with both hands. The turning point, was an injury to Guildford starting pitcher, Owen Hazelby, who strained a calf muscle, and although able to complete the 4th inning, it was obvious it was preventing him from pushing off the pitching rubber. Whether or not this had a knock on the confidence of the defence, we will never know, but it coincided with better defense from the Pilots, whilst the Maverick defence started to ship water.

That said, there was nothing the defence could do about a towering home run from Mike Ford, and by the time the inning came to a close, a 7-4 lead, had turned into a 11-7 deficit. With no legitimate pitcher on the bench (Marty and his car were still back in Farnborough trying to fix a leak!!), Guildford turned to Mike Burdett, although lacking Owen's velocity, and more importantly, the movement on any pitches, the last couple of innings turned into a run fest for the Pilots.

Although the Mavericks did tack 3 runs onto their score in the 7th, the game was already over. However, Jason Burns on his debut for the Mavericks got his first base hit, and Phill Nathan also made his Mavericks bow. Contrast this to Nick Jolly, who returned for an 118th season with the Mavericks, and kept alive his streak of at least one hit in every season he has played in.

Next week sees the final season opener at Christ's College, as the likelihood is that the Mavericks will be looking for a new ground in 2009, following the school's decision to re-develop the land.

Roundshaw Playing Fields, Sunday April 20th 2008
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Guildford	2	5	0	0	0	0	3	10	13	*
Croydon	2	0	2	7	6	14		31	33	*

Croydon								Guildford
Batter	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO		Batter	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
Steve Linn p	6	5	5	0	0	0		Nick Jolly 1b	5	1	1	1	0	0
Paul Stevens 2b	6	5	5	4	0	0		Owen Hazelby p	4	2	2	0	0	1
Mike Ford 1st	6	4	3	3	1	1		Michael Burdett ss	4	3	3	3	0	0
Steve Stafford c	6	4	5	3	0	0		Rob Wheeler lf	4	2	3	3	0	0
Brett Woods 3rd	6	2	4	2	0	0		Rik Travers rf	4	0	0	0	0	1
Tim Ssali SS	6	4	4	5	0	0		Jazz Brown 2b	4	0	0	0	1	0
Chris Eakins lf	3	1	1	0	0	1		Dave Jones 3b	4	1	2	0	1	0
Oscar Armelles rf	6	2	4	1	1	0		Jason Burns cf	4	0	1	1	0	2
Chris Routeledge cf	2	1	0	0	1	1		Heather Armstead c	3	1	1	0	1	0
Frank Kucharski rf	3	2	0	1	1	1		Phill Nathan rf	1	0	0	0	1	0
Mark George lf	4	2	2	0	0	2
Totals	54	32	33	19	4	6		Totals	37	10	13	8	4	4
Batting								Batting
2B: Linn. Stevens(2), Stafford, Woods, Ssali								2B: Burdett(2), Wheeler,
3B: Stafford, Woods, Ssali								3B:Wheeler
HR: Ford, Ssali								HR:
SAC:								SAC:
LOB: 5								LOB: 6
Baserunning								Baserunning