The day started slowly. The rain had fallen day & night and the odds of getting a game were low. Nonetheless, the plough aren't that team, we don't complain, we don't try to call the game off. We will always show up with spirits high & game faces on.

The early arrivals took a mooch over to the astro strip. Crikey. We knew we were in for an interesting day.

The strip appeared to have been laid directly over a hormonal teenager's face, it was lumpy, undulating, unappealing, and much like a hormonal teenager, it turned out to be unpredictable, unreliable & sometimes spiteful.

The game's start was delayed due to the rain, so we sat in the changing rooms waiting. Well most of us did. Ten of us spent an hour asking "where has Rahul got to?" after he initially said he was 5 minutes away.

Whilst we sat warm & dry, Rahul completed 20,000 steps aimlessly wandering through Avery park whilst texting the team saying "your **** pin location keeps moving!!!" he materlaised 5 minutes before play began, It's fair to say he wasn't in the best of moods.

The Plough lost the toss & were sent out to bowl in the worst conditions any of us have played in for a long time.

Consistent rain & 40mph cross winds made things very tricky, but despite that Viki & Viberg opened well. After a handful of overs the Plough were 25/5, we thought it was going to be a quick day. Boy were we wrong.

We quickly realised that the oppo had pushed a few red herrings up the order & that their strongest batters were yet to come and their middle order quickly put on runs. Batsmen 6, 7 & 8 scored 60, 30 & 40 respectively ending on 160 all out. The middle order wickets were taken by Rahul & Jay Patel.

I think all of us will agree that the innings got away from us a little bit, some sloppy fielding, a couple of drops & an accumulation of extras quickly put on about 60 runs more than they deserved.

The Plough went in to bat & we had a couple of decent swings of the willow. Skipper AJ Prasad put on some quick runs including a stinking six over cow corner that he was very proud of. Ean showed his class, holding down an end & playing the shot of the innings (sorry AJ) which was a beautiful cut shot for four.

Jay Patel gave us a glimmer of hope scoring a solid 30 odd but ultimately the Plough were all out for 120.

Whilst not our strongest performance, we still managed to put on a game when many others would have cancelled. Highlight of the day was perhaps heading to the nearest pub to watch the football after the game, where we all thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.

Plough On.

(Also huge shoutout to Azza who traversed London to come join us with no promise of a game. A true Ploughman & a great bloke)

Match report from Oscar Sawyer