The annual music festival at Glastonbury can't be too far away.....it’s early summer & the rain has most definitely arrived! According to all weather reports known to man, Saturday's game was always in jeopardy but as your faithful correspondent was playing his 100th game for the club, I like many of the team would have been happy to play just 10 minutes on the pitch given that we’d all travelled so far to the game. However, despite looking gloomy early on with plenty of heavy rain we actually managed to play a full and rather entertaining match.
 
Background:
 
- PCC 2nd XI have made a reasonable start to the season, only 2 defeats from 5, but positioned a little too close to the foot of the table for comfort.
 
- Rosslyn's start to the season could barely have been worse…4 defeats & a no result from their 5 games, albeit against rather difficult opposition.

The start time came and went with no sign of the opposition and they ended up arriving around 45 minutes late meaning that PCC automatically won the toss. Captain Cox, already in good nick with the new ball this season, made a bold yet confident decision to bowl first. The logic was simple - capitalise on Rosslyn's poor form with the bat and attempt to wrap up the game to a finish before the rain was able to intercede. The gameplan was set; the players knew their roles they each had to play and the game began...

After starting the game over an hour late, we managed to bowl about 10 overs before the first and subsequently last major burst of rain appeared. At this stage though it still looked rather bleak that we would even return to the game, let alone finish it.

"Think that bridge will be there and it'll be there. It's a beautiful bridge and it's gonna be there"
Oddball, Kelly Heroes

Luckily for PCC, we had enough positive thinking in the side to help ensure we never lost sight of the fact that the game would eventually continue and crucially this meant that we kept our game-heads on at all times. Having such a mindset is vitally important during rain breaks in the game since the brain can easily wander to other priorities outlined by comments such as going to the pub (Paul Lane) or having sex (Will Barras) for example! Anyway, the clouds started to shift and finally the sun made a welcome reappearance allowing the game to continue and this time to a conclusion.

Although Rosslyn's previous form with the bat had been pretty poor they knuckled down for a fight and tested our resolve in the field. The chances were few and far between so it was important that we took them when they came along. Enter Richie the Heat Buckley to snaffle a tough chance at 1st slip off the bowling of Robert Cox, followed by 2 separate “Jonty Rhodes-like” run-outs. Firstly, Fasil (who has led by example in the field at all times this season) & Rohit combined to run out Rosslyn’s danger man batting at number 3. This was quickly followed by Superman Cox who completed the run-out double by single-handedly running out their top scorer. Although the oppo batsman could have avoided losing their wickets with better calling, both run-outs exemplified the high level of fielding maintained by all Ploughmen throughout the game.
Rohit bowled yet another superb spell at Gunnersbury Park (home of his debut 5-wicket haul) and although his economy rate (less than 2.5 an over for a full 13 overs) was impeccable, Rohit unfortunately failed to take any wickets in the game. Rest assured though readers, Rohit bowls with such guile & intelligence that I doubt he will he play in many games this season without notching at least a few scalps on each occasion.
Yet again Captain Fantastic made another breakthrough, this time taking an athletic catch off his own bowling (I know what you’re all thinking – why the hell didn’t I pick Robert for my fantasy team??) and Soupy Campbell made a tough catch look easy of Tim’s bowling. Incidentally, Soupy also bowled consistently well yet again but had to curtail his spell due to tweaking an old back complaint.
It also must be noted that Marathon Man (Will Barras) bowled with a tremendous line/length in difficult conditions & whilst wearing what appeared, from 1st slip at least, like a pair of slip-on trainers!! A well-deserved wicket was just reward & Will should yet again prove to be an excellent all-rounder this season if he maintains such a consistent spell in every match.

Although Rosslyn had brought up their 100 for the loss of just 4 wickets it never really looked like they would get past a total of 150. However this was due to a fine spell of spin bowling late in the innings from Tim Pring which brought a few timely wickets as well as restricting their run-flow significantly. By adding the tricky art of spin to his repertoire, Tim has provided a much-needed extra dimension to our bowling attack which bodes extremely well for future games. Aided by that man Cox at the other end, the Rosslyn tail was patiently but quickly mopped up and a target of 137 was set for victory.

Tea was yummy, nay....super yummy…and there was much rejoicing. There was also no sign of further rain….and there was more rejoicing!

In keeping with Robert's tactical gameplan, he chose rather wisely to re-jig the batting order slightly to attempt to knock off the runs before bad light could enter into calculations, whilst still providing enough balance to ensure a defeat was out of the question. The plan worked well. Messrs Hussain & Patel formed an excellent partnership to quickly bring the score up to the early 40’s before they both departed within several balls of each other. Lal in particular confirming his impressive early season form with a rapid-fire 31. Unfortunately Steve Houchin was bowled by a decent delivery without adding to the total, bringing together Morris Buckley & Paul Lane at c. 44-3. Sensing an opportunity to take the game to the opposition, Paul & Rich played extremely well & slowly began to get our innings back on track. Around 40 valuable runs were added before Paul mistimed a hook shot (surprisingly not deemed a no-ball by the umpires) to depart having made 27. Rohit didn’t back up his bowling performance and was out LBW without troubling the scorers, leaving Will Barras to help Rich dispatch the ball to all corners as the target of 137 crept ever closer. Will yet again proved why he is such a valuable all-rounder hitting the bad balls with excellent timing for boundaries, meaning that I simply had to focus on keeping my wicket whilst scoring quick singles against fielders who by now (approaching 9pm) were flagging a touch. Unfortunately Will was bowled about 10 runs short of the total but Tim Pring came in & used all his experience to steer us home, whilst also working the strike to allow yours truly to score the winning runs – Tim, you are a gentleman, thank you.

On a personal note, this has to have been one of the most memorable games of my career and I feel very proud to have reached the grand milestone of 100 games for the club.

Most importantly though it was yet again an immense pleasure to be part of such a superb team. Winning seems more like a hugely gratifying by-product of hard work, excellent team spirit & dedication to the captain’s gameplan. As a result, we all seem to be enjoying our cricket at the moment & long may that continue.
 
"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."

RB