As in, Mynhurst Cricket Club is SO far away that Citymapper is telling me to leave the house at 8:30am to get there in time for 12 - this includes a TWENTY EIGHT MINUTE WALK from the nearest bus stop.

Benny to the rescue!!! Get used to hearing that name, it's going to be mentioned A LOT in this report. Thankfully, I now only have to leave at 9:30am to meet at the designated time of 10:30 in Tulse Hill for an hour(ish) drive with Cobbett, Cake and TMS.

Benny and I head to Tesco for a meal deal (my first for the year having been spoiled at the Griffin and DSG all year). Waiting in Benny’s new ride, among other things he talks about how he wants to bat more and needs to score some runs to push for batting 5/6 instead of 8/9.

When Cake finally arrives (only 30 mins late) we get going, the car is lively with test cricket chat (Benny and Cake only), I didn’t actually know who was playing until I asked - thought the saffers were playing somewhere in the world.

An hour later we reach a picturesque ground across the street from a mansion I initially thought was a hotel based on size and complete lack of personality, Benny calls it “cookie cutter mansion” I prefer soulless. A smattering of Plough are inspecting the pitch, a smattering of the oppo are setting up the field, I put my bag in the changing room, walk out for a pitch inspection, to see a 10 year old girl put her kit bag down.

Cake told us we were batting first as he got in the car earlier and inevitably, he wins the toss and elects to bat first. Questionable? Well it's dark, gloomy, humid and the pitch needs a mower desperately, oh and the track is on a significant slope, but the skipper has made up his mind. So I get padded once again with Plough legend Stephen Britto.

I like batting with Steve. A bit like Nieboer, he has the ability to calm me down at the crease. I navigate the first over and sit back to watch Steve work, and the 2nd or 3rd ball is put away with the ease and class of someone with a history of scoring a lot of runs, it's a drive over mid-off, the type of shot I would think to play after batting 20 overs.

Shortly though trouble strikes, Stephen, Cake, myself and Tunnacliffe (yes, THAT Tunna, you read this right) all in the pavilion with very little on the board (33-4). Aman Jain and Benny Cobbett and in and immediately Aman is in control, full face of the bat, Rahul Dravid stuff. Benny is looking good too, one of his first few balls is driven, a gorgeous on-drive, all the way along the ground, serious batters wet dream stuff.

You can see the boys are in control, while the scoreboard isn’t flying, we are steadily ticking away, and slowly the sombre silence turns into talks of “oh what's he on?” The Plough are starting to get chatty again.

Aman eventually holes out to mid-off off Sanjay or Jay Jay, or in Cake’s opinion, by far the best bowler in Surrey. He’s out for 44, we’re devastated for the boy, but at least that's 1 shot from a 50 so a jug is in order. Cobbett continues to bat wonderfully with mssrs Daley, Jamshaid, and Paul (no not Rohan, Ashish Paul scored a beautiful 12, the Plough tail wagged with an impressive 40ish between them.

Plough score an impressive 193 for 9 from the allotted 40 overs. Benny going back to the earlier point I made, contributing a controlled 67 RED, hopefully cementing himself as a regular middle order batsman, despite almost forcing me to give him LBW in the mid-40s trying to smash a ball to Kent from the 10 yr old girl - apparently the keeper thought it was too high.

I know this is long, but let's take a second to appreciate Ashish Paul. In his 211th game for the Plough puff pulled a short low ball to the fine leg boundary bringing up his 1000th run for Ploughmans CC. This man is an opening bowler, a great change bowler, a great swing bowler and a great whiskey drinker, but he is certainly not known for his batting. Think of all the times he's scored impactful runs for the Plough, when it was needed, when the tail needed to contribute. What a wonderful member of the Plough. I could go on and on but I’ll finish with a Thanks Puff!

As we consume a variety of meal deals, Graveney’s chairman pulls up and makes cups of tea for anyone interested looking for refreshment.

Back out on the field and the Ploughmans are raring to go. You can tell the difference immediately between the teams. While Graveney had some chat, they were largely quiet and content to 1-2-1 conversations. The Plough in contrast are ravenous as the handsome duo of Paul and Greeney take turns to run in.

From first slip this looks ridiculous, other than 1 miserly loose ball each, I’m watching both Puff and Damon swing the ball with ease, despite the slope for Damon. There is zip in the pitch and stand in keeper Cake makes it look effortless. I have to keep reminding myself to focus on the catch over the shapes and handsome bowlers.

Damon picks up his first and only wicket in his first over, puff bowls 6 through and picks up one wicket too. But the game is dead by the time we change bowlers. Greeney and Paul between them have bowled 11 overs, 4 maidens, 2 wickets for 22 runs. Oh and the blokes warming up to bowl next are Qammar and Tunna. There is NO let up in this team.

I say there is no let up in this team because none of the 7 bowlers used went for more than 12 runs apiece, there were 10 extras in total. Qammar bowled heat with little reward unfortunately, Tunna and Cobbett ran through their overs with Tunna finishing 5 overs 3 for 10 as our most successful bowler, Cobbett not to be outdone on what quickly became his day, finished with figures of 4 overs, 2mdns, 2 for 5. 4 overs with a missed hat-trick opportunity which was shut down by the one of the few full face of the bat we saw in their innings, 2 maidens, 2 wickets, giving away 5 runs, in which he got hit for a 4 on his last ball…

Huge kudos to our good friend agendas! Giordy came on and bowled beautifully, there was bounce, swing and a great level of control. This is the best I’ve seen Giordy bowl, apparently he’s been doing it all year. I hope he takes that attitude, form and control into the 2s game coming this week.

Damon took a dreamy catch at mid-on that had everyone rushing him to celebrate, he never looked like he would get there and suddenly stuck out his left hand around knee height, running backwards as if he’d given up on it and was looking to chase it to stop the 4.

Back to the match - the 10 year old girl (Aadhya Bali) comes out to bat for the oppo at number 7, the game is dead now, the Plough are clearly in control. So we bring the field in and in true sportsmanship, Tunna and Qammar are taken out of the attack, and Giordy (and later Daley) are told to reign it in so as not to hurt the kid.

Notable point here, Graveney’s number 4 bat, who was their 6th change bowler as well, stepped off the plane from Brooklyn earlier in the day we were told. He bowled well, but was so critical of himself (I was umpiring) that I thought it made sense that he’s removed himself from the game to New York. Perhaps I should look into this, although I’d prefer a beach…

His choice of hat was a widebrim tapered at the side with “fur”... this man turned a widebrim cricket hat into a cowboy hat, plus after bowling he refused to put his jumper back on, instead draping it over the shoulders (I tried to get a picture but couldn’t do it sly enough). Anyway, he batted at 4, with the young girls’ father 6 and proceeded to barbecue him, presumably not rating Puff’s arm. The man is FUMING, he takes his pads off and immediately comes back in to watch his daughter bat.

The Broolyner/Brooklynite(?) tells the Aadhya to “tell me to go back if there is no run” to the amusement of the plough while the father stares daggers at him from square leg. As we get closer to 6:30, we all have a long way to go home and the Plough are getting angsty. None more so than Tunna who has a drive to Esham (i think) - its far away.

Callum bowls his second ball off a few paces and it's short, Aadhya rightfully pulls the ball, its hit hard and sharp, but Tunna has places to be, he plucks the ball out of the air, it's definitely behind him by the time he takes it to end the game. It's a stunning catch, but he’s too busy trying to get off the field.

A quick note on Tunna, it feels as though he and Barron operate on another planet of cricket, they both routinely field, bowl and bat so well that we almost take it for granted. Tunna took 2 ridiculous catches that for most cricketers would be life time experiences, but we’re so used to it from him that we celebrated the wickets and moved on.

A number of us stay on the pitch to bowl a few more overs at Aadhya, when she absolutely smacks the ever living pants off of a ball from yours truly, we call it quits and head to a gorgeous pub picked for both its aesthetics, location and most importantly name. The Plough.

We head home after a few jugs, and back at Tulse Hill we meet up with Sienna and Maggie for a quick drink before I head home. A proper Plough day out. Well fought when it was needed, the bowling and fielding was outstanding. The batting was gritty. But most importantly, it was friendly when it needed to be. Well done all.

Match report from Umar Iqbal