It was clear, though, that batting would be difficult, especially given the lushness of the outfield which suggested fours would
be difficult. Returning skipper Grant was stuck in traffic, so Lewis deputised at the toss, and promptly
lost it. The opposition skipper didn’t have to think too long before inviting us to bat.

Spence nobly stepped up as a last-minute replacement.

Iskander and Andrew opened cagily. It wasn’t just difficult for the batters, the opening bowler was
having difficulty with his front foot slipping most balls. After Iskander fell trying to up the scoring
rate, Cake came in and was similarly circumspect, except for one over where he hit two big sixes.
There was a comedy non-run-out where Cake called for a quick single. Andrew slipped when setting
off and would have been run out by several metres if the man standing over the stumps hadn’t
dropped the ball.

After both Cake and Andrew were out in quick succession, the backbone of the innings came from
Max W’s highest score for the club, with 45. Plough put on 165/7 off 40, which seemed about par at
the time.

When the oppo came to bat, the sun had come out, which made batting considerably easier. The
dents in the pitch from the ball pitching in the first innings didn’t seem to affect things much. Lewis
and Spence opened the bowling. Lewis bowled a tight spell, and made up for a generous ‘not out’
call on a caught behind by ripping out off stump next over. Spence was bowling in borrowed boots
which probably didn’t help his control.

The innings turned with the introduction of Chris RS, who took hit middle stump with his first ball,
and then bowled 25 consecutive dot balls (including a further wicket). He was supported by Niraj,
who got the ball to grip nicely, and finished with 2-33 from his 8. Niraj also is apparently a ninja
bowler, so umpires are unable to count the number of balls he bowls. There was one 5 and one 4
ball over in his spell.

Chris returned the absurd figures of 6-4-2-3.

After strangling the middle part of the innings, it all came down to whether anyone could stay with
the number 7 Sayer, who was starting to hit out. Dave Yates picked up his first wicket for the club in
his first match, and Spence came back with a much tighter second spell. Iskander took a wicket and
would have wrapped up the innings if Spence hadn’t ‘lost the ball in the sun’. Of course, Spence then
took the final wicket in his next over, to finish off a 48 run victory.

The afternoon concluded in the opposition club house for the customary ‘rewards’ (or fines) of
shots.

Match report produced by Andrew Cosgrove