A summers day, 2 teams locked in competition, only one could be victor.  Amongst all the tension and bated breaths came the 3 words and with them the relief of the crowd was realised, rapturious applause ensued and the most famous of victories in this teams, or any teams for that matter, by only two runs was had.  The words “Jones, Bowden, England!” might be on your lips but they don’t compare to “Parks, Patel, Ploughmans!”

Ok so I exaggerate but the game none the less was one of twists, turns and excitement.

Arriving on a hot summers day at Vale Farm Sports ground Ploughmans were met by a fine looking pitch with a well kept wicket and what looked to be a good, though dry, outfield.  The sun already high would reach 33oC and so it was a surprise to us when after losing the toss we were put into bat on what could only be described as energy sapping conditions.

Chris Feeney and Leon Parks opened against some tight opening bowling with the first 6 overs going for just 8 runs.  Ploughmans were in for the long haul spurred on by the previous days victories it was clear this opening pair did not want to succumb easily.

They did well to see off the new ball but a good delivery did for Parks and Ploughmans were 7-1.  In previous weeks this could have led to a middle order collapse especially given the breathless conditions but Rich Buckley strode out to the middle with purpose, met by Chris this pair set about the bowlers with nurdling shots to third man and good solid defence. 

After settling in Chris started to open the shoulders bringing up the 50 partnership, however with the score at 80-1 Chris was undone to become J Patel’s second victim caught just 2 shy of 50.

With Alex Hargreaves in and the second string bowlers on a rapid 16 was scored before a top edge did for him, a mistimed hook on a delivery that bounced but with no turn from the young bowler known as Harbhajan by his team mates.

During all of this Rich was playing a mature innings acting as a mainstay for the more aggressive batting from the other end.  This was to continue with Steve Britto in, the score 119-3 and ploughmans looking to score quickly and post a formidable score.

Rich was eventually undone, A Patel having him caught a patient innings of 35 ended. Sha Hussain was the next man in. 

It was at this stage that Britto decided to have his fun.  4’s and 6’s were scored all around the wicket off what seemed to be any length of delivery.  In a partnership worth 63 Britto contributed 56. 

Sha was eventually run out on the penultimate ball of the innings allowing John ‘Terry’; O’Hara to successfully see out the last ball, Ploughmans finishing on 211-5 (though some debate over the scoring suggesting that the score could have been 215-5, possibly a Chris Feeney 50 was missed?)

At this stage a crowd had appeared on the boundary, obviously aware that something special was about to happen… in fact they were there as a birthday surprise for Crazylegs and any excuse for drinking beer on a summers day.  All the same the game was heading for a gripping finish.

Ploughmans went on to the field with purpose, with the temperatures soaring the job was far from easy.
John Barron and Crazylegs opened the bowling.  Both opened well, with John getting an early breakthrough trapping Elder lbw for 5 and soon following it up with another as Avery played an uppish drive into the ever ready hands of John ‘Terry’ O’Hara.  Like his name sake their was no mistaking and a solid catch was taken. With wickets falling at one end John bowled his full allocation grabbing the prize wicket of S Patel for 38 in his final over to finish with 8-0-37-3.

Crazylegs first 4 over spell ended with an expensive over as Old Manorians looked to maintain the run rate despite wickets falling.  The pavilion end duties were taken over by N’Dave McNee.

With John bowling tightly from the other end and then replaced by the ever dangerous spin of Leon, N’Dave was given the opportunity to attack the batsman.

His opening overs were met by two batsman wanting to score but Chas soon settled into his rhythm bowling a full length forcing the batsmen to play giving them little short on what was a slow pitch.  It was the length deliveries that did it for Old Manorians.  With the fuller ball being the stock delivery those placed on a length were the ones to cause the problems with Deegan and Mohammed being induced into shots only to see their off stumps ripped firmly from the ground.  A great 8 over spell left N’Dave with final figures of 8-1-33-2.  Despite scoring comfortably at 5 runs an over the wickets were falling regularly and the men of the plough’s tails were up, supported well by a crowd of inebriated students.

Leon keen to get in on the action bowled 2 overs of perfect length spin, with the new batsmen attacking it was merely a matter of time.  Leons first over was tight on off stump eventually inducing a loose shot, the bails departed as did Pandya.  His second over was given little respect by M Patel the new batsman in, obviously a fan of the slower ball, but after a couple of shots Patel made one advance too many and with quick glove work from Chris Feeney Ploughmans had their man.

At this stage it looked all but a formality for ploughmans, with Old Manorians 7 down with little over 120 runs on the board.

Deveraux was the next man in to partner their number six J Patel.  Ploughmans tails were up only to see this partnership grow in both confidence and runs.  Soon Old Manorians were 169-7 only 33 runs from victory.  At this stage Crazylegs was back in to the attack to bowl out his final 4 overs.  A solid couple of overs were followed by a great third first dismissing Deveraux second ball, as a shorter pitched ball was launched to long on only to find Sha running in from the boundary to take a solid catch.  A Patel was the next man in but he would have to wait for the next over to face his first ball.  J Patel at the crease the next two balls were fuller and well defended.  The fifth ball pitched short but with no real pace.  An error from J Patel attempting the a flick to leg was enough to see him dismissed as his bat swiped at nothing but air the ball hitting him just below the knee-roll in front of middle, a definite slice of luck for Ploughmans.  ‘Harbhajan’ Sawhney saw out the last ball to give Crazylegs a two wicket maiden and to leave Old Manorians 169-9.
Crazylegs last over saw two lbw appeals and a couple of edges from Harbhajan only to see them find gaps in the field leaving Crazylegs with closing figures of 8-2-34-2.

It was up to Britto and Rich Buckley to wrap up the game with around 6 overs left and 25 runs needed.  Great attritional play from the number 11 and a fantastic 27 from A Patel saw Manorians enter the 40th over needing 5 runs to win.  With that reduced to 3 runs and with 4 balls remaining some men of the Plough were starting to think their efforts may have been in vain (myself!) only to see Britto get his man, Harbhajan being the unlucky victim after a credible last wicket partnership.  The ball played just outside off-stump finding the edge with Leon taking a simple catch at gully to give Ploughmans a superb 2 run victory!

JW