I was also lucky enough to get a spot in Max Gumpert’s car for a quick ride towards Putney, excellent start to what turned out to be an excellent day for the Plough.
We arrived, and all of us were in different places. It seems Putney Cricket Club is less of a club and more a number of fields separated by a number of other fields. The field we were playing on was limited facility-wise but was pretty idyllic—hidden behind trees and posh houses just far away enough from the square to have the pinch hitters licking their lips.
Ploughmen began arriving, and in typical Ploughman style greeted one another with great enthusiasm. Chatting, joking away, and discussing the weekend before, it was clear that our team spirit was significantly stronger than theirs. They all sat beneath the pitch’s clubhouse (a gazebo), not saying a word to each other. It was a sign of things to come.
Duray lost the toss during our warm-up, which prompted him to lead some sort of yoga session pre-match, met with polarising reactions of groans and eagerness. With sweat on our foreheads and the chickens adequately shooed, we headed out to field.
CRS and Ritik opened the bowling, with CRS as tight as ever, making it nearly impossible for the batters to get him off the square. In a rare moment, he bowled his first bad ball of the decade, and their opener wasted no time in smashing it straight to Dom Scott at gully—sharp catch.
Ritik soon joined the action, making the ball talk with some hooping inswingers. Duray pulled off a diving catch at second slip early on too. Congrats to Ritik on his first 1s wicket—many more to come, I’m sure.
Their captain and number 4 batter was the next to fall, out for a duck. He looked flustered from the moment he stepped in and ended up hitting a full toss straight to Leo at mid-on. Three down for not very many runs—things were looking great for the Plough.
They then had a couple of players batting staunchly, blocking most shots, not scoring many runs but frustrating our opening pair a little bit. One in particular, Hutchinson, Duray took a liking to, borderline flirting with him for about 20 minutes. "You look great, Hutchinson," "Please stay out here, Hutchinson," etc. At the same time, Duray had unleashed Azhar, as it was obvious the ball was starting to really talk. After what Azhar would describe as a loose first over by his exacting standards, he announced in the second over that he had found his rhythm now. And boy, did he find his rhythm.
The first to fall victim was their number 3, who inside-edged one—another great take, this time by Suri. Quick word on Suri, who was faultless behind the stumps. After the game, Barron thanked him for saving some of his deliveries, which he described as "absolute fodder," from going for boundaries. He also umpired for our whole innings—proper good effort.
Anyway, much to Duray’s dismay, Hutchinson lost his patience with CRS' one-liners from square leg and handed another catch to Suri off Azhar.
Then came out the next man, who had "Rooney" on his back. He was keen to get going, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone hold the bat so high up the handle. He got a couple away, and some of his shots were greeted with Clive Tyldesley impressions—"ROONEYYYY." It would’ve been rude not to, really. But inevitably, he was out soon too, bowled by a strong contender for ball of the season by Azhar—an inswinger that clipped the bail from middle and leg. Putney were 6 down and in a spot of bother with plenty of overs still to go.
We were buoyant, and I heard a call in the huddle about keeping foots on throats. However, it was seriously hot at this point. The bowlers and fielders, except Barron, were waning somewhat in the glorious Putney heat. Skip thought it would be a good time to give the seamers a break and brought himself on for some quick, tight overs. The ball was offering some swing, but not a lot of lateral movement. And as the great Shane Warne once said, "If it seams, it spins." It wasn’t seaming, and it most certainly wasn’t spinning.
Their number 8 came in and started batting like Lara. We were shocked—why was he coming in so far down the order? He was solid in defence, put away any loose ones, and looked completely unperturbed. Others batted around him and got runs here and there, but he was doing most of the heavy lifting. During this period, the fielding got tough. I jumped over one on the boundary, Dom Scott took one in the nuts, I even saw Barron of all people misfield at one point.
It was hot, we were bothered, but we Ploughed® through. One wicket apiece for Dom Scott and James Barron left them with about 148 on their total with 44 overs gone. A phenomenal death bowling over from JB meant that they finished with 151 from their 45 overs.
We were herded into a shack across the road for our tea, which was good to be fair, had it not been for the intense heat inside the building with no windows.
Despite the heat, it’s not tea without tea, is it? My brew, served up by skip, was an excellent one and left me well-fuelled for the chase.
It was rightly mentioned by skip pre-chase that we were not to do anything silly, as we almost bottled a 150 chase a couple of weeks earlier. No hoiks to cow corner were allowed. Kind of reminded me of that time Sachin scored that hundred by telling himself he wasn’t allowed to hit cover drives. Except the pub team version of that is not allowing ourselves to swipe across the line straight to a fielder…anyway.
With the wise words of Plough veterans in our heads, Izzy and I walked out to the crease. Their number 8 batter, who finished 50 not out in the end, was marking his run-up. I thought to myself, "Oh, he must be a ringer, I’m in trouble here." But my worries were eased when Iz smoked his first ball through extra cover with a sumptuous drive. And he didn’t stop there—carving anything remotely short through the gully region, Iz rushed to 20 and put the Putney bowlers on the back foot straight away.
We raced to 50 in less than 10 overs before Iz fell to an excellent low catch behind the stumps.
Out strode Canelo—Mr. Consistent, Mr. "I average 70 in the league," Mr. "I’ll sooner take my Plough jumper off in 28-degree heat than let you get me out." And boy, did he live up to the title(s).
Solidly in behind the first over, having a look, Canelo was timing his forward defence so well it was flying to mid-on. But these defensive shots wouldn’t last—soon he was climbing into everything and putting the bowlers under serious pressure.
Canelo only made one mistake all innings—he hit one to cow corner. Luckily, it was dropped on the boundary. Duray still lost it a bit, shouting to bat properly from the side. Canelo learned his lesson, though, and kept it very low risk from then on.
We made it to around 110 before I decided I’d had enough and ran myself out for no explainable reason.
Max came in and looked ominous as ever, walking the bowlers with his sock flapping around—it’s a scary sight. Maxi batted sensibly and helped us chase down the total with just under 20 overs to spare. A clinical performance from us where everyone contributed.
Post-game, we chatted to the accommodating oppo, who invited us for some drinks at the clubhouse. A few then went for pizza and met some of the 2s for celebratory drinks. I was finally able to meet this bloke "Nicko" who I’ve heard so much about. I was very excited, but actually, we ended up arguing about basically everything cricket for an hour or two. Good to meet you, though, Nicko—I’m sure once I get added to this test cricket subgroup, we can continue on with our disagreements.
Anyway, great day out for the Plough—loved every minute as always. Plough On!