Hindsight is 20/ 20 vision. Unfortunately, in several instances on Saturday, we as a team and as individuals made decisions that would prove to be less than ideal, contributing to a loss in Burgess Park.

With heavy cloud descending just as we were due to start play, as a team, we had a discussion about bat vs bowl first. An interesting conundrum. If I remember the split correctly it was 7 in favour of bowling and 3 batting (one was late and missed the discussion). The variable in the mix was the deck, which looked like concrete and visually at least, full of runs. The outfield too was a dark brow suggesting that 1. It required a good soaking and 2. It would be lightning fast. With the troops sounded out, captain CRS won the toss, decided to look up not down and stuck Burgess Park in. As a team we have not always been the most secure in recent times at chasing but we were sure we would get the ball to swing big at the start.

CRS opened up with Matt Spencer. Chris has been unbelievable for the 1s this year and had the ball on a peice of string. On Saturday everyone was in total shock when his first over conceeded boundaries. Maybe it was the scrabbling around with the covers that got in his head, maybe it was the captaincy adding to his opening bowling responsibilities (Hindsight speaking, but for me, next time leave the covers to us skip so you can prep to do your thing).

The first over also reminded us that captain fantastic was not in the team due to a broken pinky. The first ball of the game flew straight threw the gully region for 4. Someone shouted out, 'Didnt think we'd miss him this early'. (Was our gully man just a little too close in on that occasion).

Following this dramatic start CRS remarked his run for his second over and bowled simply gloriously. The ball hooped as predicted and he was practically unplayable. Spencer at the other end bowled heat and between the two of them 3 early wickets went down.

Dom Scott came on at one end and looked languid and in control as per usual. The only problem was the Burgess Park batsman were now in hit mode and through a few snicks and a few lusty blows, it transpired not to be his day. Azharul at the other end looked a little out of sorts on the day, but by this time the opener for Burgess Park was really in to his stride and continued on his streaky/destructive way to 80 odd.

By drinks Burgess park were in the driving seat and it took a slightly surprising combination of James Barron and Max Gumpert to pull Plough back in to the game. They both focused on trying to build pressure and when they succeeded the batsmen did the rest in giving their wickets away. Barron also took an unbelievable one hander off Max just to show he was really playing well.

With the middle order gone the openers returned and managed to collect the remaining Burgess Park wickets for a sizable, but not unbeatable 232. With hindsight, as a team we were probably 10% unders in the field. A few too many loose balls and some rare mistakes in our ground fielding probably cost us 30 odd runs.

The batting didnt start fantastically with Umar, Gus and Canelo quickly back in the sheds. The pitch as it turned out was not made of concrete, more a sort of crumbly asbestos you always read the local council is trying to remove from school buildings. By this time batting at one end had become rather tricky with balls routinely keeping low and occasionally exploding past your nose.

However, Dom Scott and Max Gumpert combined to dig in and put on a reasonable partnership of 60 to steady the ship. Unfortunately, Dom having played beautifully then decided he was Chris Gale and got out swiping to cow. Max similarly nibbled at one on 4/5th stump line he definitely could have left in hindsight.

With them gone, Barron paired with Max McCreery (the better Max) for another 50 partnership, playing some entertaining shots along the way. Again I wonder whether with hindsight JB will reflect that he pushed the accelerator slightly to hard when he unfortunately spooned a ball to the ring to end the partnership. But at 147 for 6 we still had batsmen and time.

As it transpired McCreery was the only one to go on. He made a fantastic 50 and batted all the way to the end, but the rest of his colleagues just kept finding ways of getting out. We ended on 196.

As with the bowling we had our chances to win the game with the bat. Unfortunately on the day 3 bats were out when set in the 30s and we had two partnerships worth 50 or more. Next time we will have to work to push on in those moments to chase down a 230 score.

Post game we had a very pleasant evening drinking beers and shooting the breeze, with a few of us looking back in hindsight wondering what might have been...

Till next time.

Plough on.

Max G