With a weekend off from the league, and one opponent already cancelled, the ever-amazing Leon Parks had us a new fixture sorted by Wednesday.

A rare trip North of the river would await the 1st XI, to take on Elite CC.

Skipper Duray Pretorius, who’d requested a tough fixture, emphasised during the week that nothing changes in terms of attitude and intensity. We play to win.

The boys showed up to North Acton Playing Fields on time and raring to go. The outfield grass looked long and thick enough to sustain generations of grazing livestock. This, combined with a dry but chalky pitch, foreshadowed an attritional outing ahead for the Plough.

Playing his cards face up, skipper Pretorious requested the oppo ‘just let us bat first for a better match’. After the coin came down the down the wrong way, his request was politely declined, as the Elitist chose to bat first (Tosses are weird now that Dooz can’t cheerlead them, no matter what result).

CRS & Waqas were entrusted with the new ball. After giving him the choice of end, CRS was promptly alpha’d by a Waqas, who insisted he couldn’t bowl from the far end. Fair play.

We expected the pitch to play quite up and down, and turned out it was more down than up. But that didn’t stop CRS getting one to jump to claim the first wicket, thanks to a great Jo Hockings diving forward catch at short cover.

Some not all that elite batting followed, as the 2nd and 3rd wicket fell quickly. Their number 4 bowled first ball, as the non-striker screamed at him “what are you doing with that shot”. Hard to disagree. Plough definitely on the ascendancy at this stage.

A hat-trick ball for CRS found the edge, only to fall agonisingly short of 1st slip… by which I mean it was WELL short, but still felt agonising.

A 4th fell to CRS, with a very good looking into the sun catch from Waqas.

But the Elite then dug in for a (comparatively) good 5th wicket partnership, despite pressure from Puff at first change. This is, until the skipper broke through with his ‘I want a cheeky look before drinks’ over.

Next man to have a look at a hat-trick ball was AJharul Haque, thanks to a sensational catch from wicketkeeper Harold Edmonds, diving for the outside edge against Aza’s mamouth in-swing. His hat-trick ball stuck pad, bringing a decent appeal, though sliding down leg.

Another wicket for the skip came soon, to get us into the proper tail.

To be honest, after one look at their 10 & 11 I was confident I’d be more a likely to score a date with Margot Robbie, than either of these two were to survive more than a coupe Azharul inswingers. And so it proved to be true. The innings closed, with Elite CC all out for 47, in 23 overs.

A great effort from the Plough in the field. Some light back slapping and congratulations was shortly followed by the realisation that we now had to bat on this surface, and with an outfield slower than Pujara batting in molasses, any total could still prove tough to chase.

As the Plough supporters continued to file in, and the park’s resident drum band entered their second straight hour, the openers strode out keen to get underway, forgoing a proper tea break.

I’m the absence of perennial run-hoarder Super Seanderpaul McGurn, Jo Hockings was afforded an opportunity up top, opening with the experience Steve Britto.

The two lads had their heads screwed on and played well, absorbing pressure from the swinging ball and a dicey pitch, while putting away the ball when the bowlers erred (for 1 or 2).

One of the funnier moment saw Hockings BELT a lofted cover drive, for 2. Then telling Britto we should have looked for 3. Britto responding with, “I thought it was going for 4”, to the utter astonishment of all who had watched any part of the game to that point.

With the Plough looking good at 22/0 off the first 6, it looked as though the openers may cruise home. But in what would prove to be somewhat of a master stoke, Elite would turn to spin from both ends from the 7th over. Britto shortly falling to a very sharp catch at square leg.

And the trail by spin, on the subcontinental style dust bowl, would continue to prove challenging, with the Plough losing wickets at regular intervals from hereon in.

After being quite keen to tease umpire CRS’s counting to 6 abilities last week, Umpire Steve Britto’s missed over call would see Greg Willis bowled from the 7th legal ball of the over. After having previously dropped a catch on the boundary, right in front of his family, Greg’s day has all the makings for an intriguing future email essay to The Grade Cricketer… How good is cricket?

CRS, for the 2nd time in his Plough career, failed to hit the winning runs as he swung and missed at a wide. Perhaps a fitting finish to the chase. Jo Hockings top scoring with 11, as the Plough limped home with 4 wickets to spare. Also running out convincing 3-1 winners on boundary count, for those who follow that sort of thing.

Job done, though. We came to win and be tested. And we won, while being tested.

The Plough were suddenly left with a free afternoon and an array of fine summer beer gardens and the Hanwell Hootie on offer. Britto generously offered a lift to Hockings & CRS, before hilariously taking off an hour later with both our bags and Hockings’ house key.

Puff, delighting in the disbelief that he’d managed to finally score a fixture so close to his house, settled in for a well earned long evening with Morley & the skipper, having outlasted the other contenders.

Summer is here!! ?☀️

Match report from Chris Roden-Smith