This was rather to the relief of a few of the plough players, many of whom had still been out for the thunderstorm that morning and gone to bed after fairly hefty nightcaps safe in the knowledge they would not have to play. However, the DSGs bespoke microclimate managed to stave off all but the mildest downpours and a full day of cricket ensued.

The opposition lost the toss and rather generously decided to bowl first, so Grant and JT headed out to the square. Far from the soggy, spongey, bounceless wicket we were expecting, they oppo openers got a decent amount of bounce and speed through. Fortunately, the same was true of the outfield as both bats got off the mark with a boundary.

This would be the theme of the innings as Grant and JT racked up the runs without ever really looking like they were under any pressure at all. There weren't any chances or lifelines to speak of and, within the blink of an eye, Grant had accumulated his second successive fifty.

JT followed suit pretty soon after and the onlooking lower order sat back, gleaming at the very tangible prospect of double jugs and not having to bat. I think a brief apology is in order from the match report writer: having very little inclination towards batting I feel like I'm under doing the skill and elegance of the batting in display and certainly skimping on the technical details of openers' knocks. Oh well, it looked bloody good to me from the boundary rope.

Having notched up a commendable 78, Grant's innings came to an end with a ball to cow-ish corner which, to his credit, the oppo did impressively well to catch. I think it came as more of a shock to the Plough spectators that it stuck, than it would have been if it hadn't.

JT soon followed suit with an equally enjoyable 60 runs. After crashing a flur over midwicket for his fifty, skipper Leon sagely looked on and noted, he's going to go for it now. He was not wrong and JT smashed the same ball in the same place for the same boundary seconds later.
At this point, Mead and Parks were on the square and with 160-odd runs in the bank, had themselves a literal field day. Boundaries abound, the runs piled on and the pair seemed to be alien to any sort of pressure. Replicating he opening pair, both bats got off the mark with fours.

A particular highlight was Leon creaming a ball cow-wards for six, to which the bowler remarked, "if the boundaries were bigger that would have been caught." Not on to be outdone, Meady followed up with an almost identical shot but a good 5m further past the boundary. If the boundary had been much bigger he would've been caught. Fortunately, they were not.

The pair ended not out on a very tidy 45 for Mead and 26 for Parks. I think that probably classes as jug avoidance because Mead should've have had hit a six on his last ball (as someone who has never got an aerial ball over a fielder in his life I feel sufficiently qualified to comment). The Plough returned to the pavillion in time for a hearty tea and to watch England's middle order collapse in the test.

With a very nice 232 from 35 to defend, Vicki and Yates opened the bowling. Vicki, high off his 50 wickets and 30 for the season the previous day, showed no signs of stopping. His ruthless efficiency and late swing got him a three-fer in almost no time at all. It's been a pleasure to play alongside Vick for the last couple of seasons and to close out my last match with him playing the way he did was the cherry on top. I'm sure you'll all agree we hope to see him back in Plough colours in the not-too-distant future.

On the other end, Yates struggled a tad with a particular tricky bat who seemed to like him. Nevertheless he dug down and took his leg stump the ball after a six - a very satisfying finish to the spell.

With the two seamers spent, in came the lethal spin attack, some of whom had not bowled in a match for a good decade, though not our first pair of Elmo and Tailor. Both bowled at their par, by which I mean excellently and Elmo soon made another breakthrough. Not to detract from his wicket at all - he bowled excellently and deserved many more, including a dolly dropped by yours truly, but I imagine the umpire had a few stern words from the captain.

Even the fielding team were dumbstruck as the finger went up and the captain retired to the pavillion with good grace, from a very forward Gumpert-esque position up the wicket. The oppo captain could perhaps use a bit of Max's coaching at how to hold ones posture on the front foot halfway up a wicket so as to emphasise the hopelessness of an appeal. Equally, the oppo ump could take a leaf out of Vicki's book when it comes to giving lbw's.

Then on came out opening bats, who proceeded to do an equally stellar job with the ball. JT came on to take a sterling first wicket for the Plough and followed it up with a second. The man was a machine and topped the day off with a lovely catch at slip off Yates' second spell.
Equally, Grant bamboozled the bats openly declaring he was going to bowl a mix of leggy, laid down at the merchants for the last decade at ample temperature, and seam. This caused much amusement for the oppo until he began to bowl and pretty pronto got a very tidy stumping from skip Leon's handy glovework behind the wicket.

There was a rather amusing exchange from one of the plucky oppo bats who, to be fair to him, did a wonderful job of holding down the fort with a forward defensive, while his partner got a fifty. He was exhilarated at the idea of scoring three boundaries an over and let everyone know that, while simultaneously struggling to quite clear the square.

With light fading, there was only one thing to do: bring on Vicki to clean up. He immediately got his four-fer with yet another late moving Aza-esque delivery and missed his five by a literally bails width. I'm still not convinced the ball didn't go right through middle and off. Nevertheless, the Plough wrapped up a comprehensive victory in high spirits as they soaked up the last of the summer sun and larger beers.

It was not the toughest match many of us have played, but the opposition were a delight to play. They revealed after they like to bowl first to get everyone a game and kept smiling and cheery throughout - the epitome of a Sunday side and I mean that in the most plausible sense. Leon captained wonderfully as always, ensuring all 21 players got a decent day out.

Match report from Dave Yates