A fine day and a whiter than white pavilion greeted the men on the Plough, as they gathered in leafy Gunnersbury Park to take on top of the table Sri Lankan Cavaliers. After admiring the new paint job and the oppo turning up on mass in good spirits, Coxy won the toss and decided with his solid looking batting lineup that we would bat. Batting for 50 overs and keeping the Cavaliers out in the hot afternoon sun was the order of the day.

Patrick and Fasil went out to open and looked solid against the impressive Prasad and Nalin. With Prasad bowling a good line and getting some good bounce, Fasil was first to fall bowled for 5. It then fell to your correspondent Parks to go out and spend some time in the middle. Prasad had other ideas however, and first ball leapt from off stump in front of a forward bat and pad before flicking the back leg onto the top of leg stump. A touch unlucky getting out for a golden but what can I say, it was a great ball!!! Lal Patel then came confidently striding out (without hat in the scorching sun, clearly intent on getting a tan) and proceeded to work the ball around the park. Gledhill then fell for a hard fought 9, again bowled by that man Prasad who was still bowling a fine spell.

Rich Buckley, who had been looking in fine form since returning from a knee injury, morrissed out to the middle to join Lal. This partnership was to prove the backbone of the innings with both watchful in defence and punishing the bad ball when it came. The outfield was fairly slow that day so not many runs came from boundaries, one hard-run four a particular highlight of the efforts of the pair. Morris was eventually bowled playing a tired looking shot and gave way to Paul ‘Russel’ Lane, looking to come in and score some quick runs. And quickly he did score, a couple of trademark swept 4’s to leg before he was run out in a slight mix up on 12. Rohit and Tom were next up making their debuts for the club, and both played some lovely shots before Rohit was caught deep and Tom bowled. Lal eventually fell short of a well deserved 50 playing round another straight one from Prasad. Peter Fenech and Coxy were also eventually bowled by the impressive Prasad who took 6 wickets, but it was a solid effort from all, batting 53 overs in all for 134. A defendable total on a pitch with more assistance to bowling.

After yet another fantastic tea, AC and Rohit opened the bowling, and it was obvious from the start that the Cavaliers were going to push for the total as quickly as possible. A dangerous ploy as Rohit soon had the no 2 Vish caught at mid off after deflecting a shot going straight for his head up in the air for the waiting Gledhill to pounce. The number 3 Harshaka was out not long after, caught sharply by Russel at mid on after trying to hammer AC into next week. This was AC’s only wicket but he had the batsmen under constant pressure with pace and bounce and deserved more. Rohit was in on the act again trapping the opener Nalin plumb lbw and The Cavaliers were wobbling slightly at around 20-3.

They then made a recovery with Nirosh and Gatan playing sensibly and in particular the dangerous Gatan punishing anything offline or short. He continued to play his shots as other wickets fell, with Rohit picking up two more bowling Nirosh for 10 and shortly after having Rosha caught by a good effort from Fas Hussain. With the oppo 5 down and PLoughmans tails up it was going to be a cracking finish, but first the captain had to fall lbw to that man Rohit for his first fivefer, a great effort on his league debut! Controversy surrounded the decision as the captain clearly felt hard done by, even requesting to change umpires for one of his own, but the decision had been made and he had to go. The long delay however, only succeeded in making Ploughmans more determined to get to victory.

And when you need a wicket or two, who should fly in but Captain Marvel himself, the vital wicket of the dangerous Gatan with a sharp caught and bowled was his, followed by Anuradha caught by Peter ‘Rabbit’ Fenech. Rabbit also relieved AC at the pavilion end and bowled a couple of tight overs, almost getting a wicket himself. To finish off the game the big hitting duo of Prasad and Nimesh were that man Coxy’s too, thanks to catches from Buckley and Tom Lockhart, who had kept very well all day. A fantastic effort from all, beating the top team in the league, and showing what can be done by batting for 50 overs, and then bowling and fielding like tigers! The spirit of the team was fantastic…..and meeting up with the victorious 1sts up the road was a great way to celebrate (apart from being presented with the dreaded tie)

Looking forward to the next victory!

LP