Ploughmans arrive at Croygas sports club, desperately in search of a win to stay in the hunt for the league title. The Plough are not off to the best of starts; as CRS informs skipper Sean McGurn that we may have to play the game without our star opening bowler…. As The Land Lady does not accept dogs on her field? Not a bad attempt by Croydon 2’s, trying to banish our star opening bowler so they don’t have to face him! I’d have probably done the same to avoid facing CRS with the new ball!

Lucky for us and very unluckily for Croydon 2’s, CRS finds Poppy a safe, temporary home for the day and the match can commence with 11 Ploughmans on the field for their fielding innings.

CRS begins in classic CRS style and completes the 1st over, going for 1 or less!

CRS has a new partner opening the bowling with him this weekend. None other than the divisions 3rd top wicket taker, Aman Jain.

There is plenty of excitement and anticipation in the Plough field as Aman takes his mark and prepares to run in with the new ball for the first time (for Plough 1’s). It’s a solid start from Aman, matching CRS and also going for 1 or less.

Aman thankfully finds the breakthrough in the 6th over, delivering a peach that sends G. Singh’s middle stump cartwheeling!

Incomes Croydon’s number 3, who gets off the mark with a 4. Aman didn’t take this one lightly, and delivers another peach next up and grabs his second wicket in the same over! Croydon are 22-2 and have no idea what has hit them.

Once Aman finishes his spell, you can sense the Croydon relief. 6 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets for only 20 runs. Aman made it look so easy, troubling each batsman with every ball he bowled. A shoutout to one of the best balls I’ve seen him bowl this season. It didn’t produce a wicket, but tickled the Batman’s nose from back of a length and angling into Angus’ gloves. A real snorter.

Croydon’s relief was short lived as Azharul Haque and James Barron come on first change. Both bowling tidy spells, 16 overs combined, picking up 4 wickets for the Plough and costing only 42 runs!

Azharul makes way for Nealon Francois, opting to bowl his demon off spin. Croydon’s A. Palav and G. Sheel both feel the heat, Palav falling to a Champion Boss yorker and Sheel from another challenging ball from the Boss that is caught smartly by Schmeichel Ainsley.

Sean calls on Benny Cobbett for the important job of finishing off Croydon’s innings. With Croydon 8 down with 9 overs still remaining, there’s a risk of Croydon putting on a partnership still, even with the tail at the crease. As the 1’s have experienced once or twice already this season.

Benny didn’t require a loosener. His first ball pitching on off stump and turning miles to bounce over leg stump. The ball runs off for 4 byes with Angus and Sean burmused at how Benny didn’t get a wicket with his first ball! Benny persisted with his following 10 deliveries, finishing off the Croydon’s innings with help from two very well taken catches from Angus behind the sticks and Ainsley taking a high catch from over his shoulder. He made this very difficult catch look like a walk in the park.

This report hasn’t done justice to how good this Ploughmans fielding & bowling performances was. Hands down the strongest performance I’ve been apart of for the Plough. With CRS going at less than 2 runs per over, as per usual, Aman stepping up to take the high pressure new ball role - a role he is so naturally gifted at, and the change bowlers each chipping in with 2 important wickets each. Butlin was electric in the covers and out in the deep for the whole innings, keeping the standards high for everyone else to follow and always vocal and with words of encouragement.

Sean and Tom Merilaht made some vital stops to save at least 2 boundaries each with one handed efforts. Sean had two, one handed diving efforts that he done well to even get a hand on. Another day, they stick for the clubs current 2026 leading fielding dismal taker!

So, with Croydon 2’s all out for 110 from 38.5 overs, Ploughmans 1’s have 111 to win from their allocated 45 overs.

James Barron and Tom Merilaht open the batting, putting on 65 runs for the opening stint, until Barron lobbed up another full toss to mid off! It was a strong start to the chase, with Tom Merilaht oozing class at one end, pushing and leaning on the ball that would effortlessly run to the boundary each time. It was very fun to watch, making a very tricky wicket look easy.

As Angus walked in at number 3, the innings felt reassured. Surely nothing can go wrong with the batting prowess of Angus Osborne and Tom Merilaht in the middle?

Unfortunately not long after, Tom is out stumped, chasing a wider delivery from the Croydon leg spinner. A very welcomed and well made 47 runs off 61 deliveries that has the score 72-2. Ploughmans require 39 more runs to win from 161 balls…

And in walks Super Sean McGurn. Nothing can go wrong now, surely? Sean fends off 4 balls from A.Palav, who is finding a bit of rhythm and landing the ball in good areas. He then drags one down leg side, which clips Sean’s thigh pad as he tries to glance the ball down to fine leg. All 11 of the Croydon players erupt, and to their delight, the umpire triggers Sean. I make that the second or third poor dismissal Sean has received already this season!

With 39 runs still to get, next up is Chris Butlin to join Angus at the crease. Chris has been priceless since joining the Ploughmans 1st team. Now averaging 49.00 at the time of writing this report, Chris has been a rock with the bat. Cool, calm and collected, no matter the situation he never looks phased. Same for Mr Ainslie who joins Chris after Angus gets a really unlucky pea roller that dismisses him for 8 runs.

Chris and Ainslie anchor the chase, seeing us home with two very mature innings, Chris finishing on 16 runs not out off 33 balls and Michael Ainslie with 6 runs off 11, not out.

To celebrate, we head over to Morden to watch the 2’s also bring home 20 points with a very well deserved win versus Raynes Park Former Pupils CC!

A massive result and statement win for both Ploughmans league teams this weekend, with a tough run of fixtures coming up, the momentum is certainly with us and we cannot wait for what the season has left in store!

Match report from James Barron