I had a look at the team and thought, this is a great team, I can do something with that. The first lesson was, the team announced on a Tuesday is not necessarily the team that turns out on Sunday. I spent all week planning my strategy. I had two concerns: we were very strong batting, so I was worried about giving a go to everyone who wanted a bat; and we didn’t have much margin for error in the bowling. This second concern was increased the day before the match when I had a text from Benny saying he had done his back and didn’t think he was going to be able to bowl.

I met Damon on the train over. He was the perfect companion for an interminable train ride to the furthest reaches of West London, and not least because if I hadn’t met him I would have got off at the wrong Byfleet station. We walked through a residential area and finally found the ground. As we walked up the drive, I noticed several large opium poppies growing. I thought it might be worth bearing that in mind for later.

On the map, the ground looked to be sandwiched between the M25 and a Halfords, but it turned out to be a lot prettier than that would imply, with a row of magnificent old oaks along one side. The other thing it had was a bunch of Colts playing on it. I had been told that this was a possibility, but that they were usually done in time for a 1:30 start, and sometimes earlier than that. As the innings ended, and we started to make moves towards the changing room to get ready, we noticed that none of the parents sitting on the outfield were showing any signs of moving. It became clear that another innings was in store, and we were unlikely to be on any time before 2 pm.

The game finally got started, reduced to 35 overs. I won my first toss as captain and made the easy decision to bat. I sent in Smith and Lonsdale, to go back to his roots as a Plough opener. Smith was solid and watchful, Lonsdale was all shapes. He hit some beautiful shots, but was unlucky that a lot of them went to fielders. He looked on for a big score, but was then bowled trying to pull a ball that was a bit too full for the shot. Cobbett came in, hit a couple of fours, then was bowled by a lowie. Raees hit a four and was caught.

That brought me in. My usual approach in the middle overs is to try and hustle runs, but maybe this time there was a bit too much hustle. I ran Smith out just as it looked like he was starting to get going. Then I called for a run, and Francois sent me back, correctly as it turned out – I was undone by an unexpectedly clean pick up and a direct hit.

Just before that, Francois had hit his second ball for a huge six over long on. This is what this innings needs, I thought. A few overs of this, and we are right back on track. Unfortunately, the bowlers had brought the pace right off, and everyone struggled to get the ball away. McGurn came in. Having McGurn at 7 seemed like a real luxury. He hit a couple of fours and then skewed an edge. The slip fielder managed to hang on to a sharp chance above his head. The reaction of the other fielders made it seem like this was even better than it looked – apparently he hardly ever takes catches (although he took another one later). This precipitated a series of bizarre and unfortunate dismissals. Francois hit a straight drive which the bowler managed to get a fingertip to on its way to the stumps, leaving Gordon-Walker stranded.

Harvey was bowled first ball. Greeney hit a meaty drive which the bowler flung himself full length to his right and took a one-handed catch at ankle height. When Francois was caught, leaving Kerr on 0*, we were bowled out for 129 in 29.2 overs. That seemed a few runs light, but at least everyone had had a chance to bat.

After an excellent tea, we set out to defend the total. One thing I hadn’t thought about during the week suddenly became obvious. Benny couldn’t bowl because of his back. Last time I spoke to Nealon, he was struggling with a hip injury. Oli opened the batting because he had a problem with his hamstring. Damon had told me he thought he had got heat stroke bowling the day before. Sean was hobbling. I was worried I would be the captain that broke a significant fraction of key Plough.

It obviously didn’t bother me too much, because I kept Greeney on for six straight overs. He started as Greeney always does – keeping it tight, looking like he would take a wicket three balls every over. The low total made the bowling changes easier. It was clear that there wasn’t any point holding him back for later in the innings, and I had to keep him on as long as possible. He got one of the openers with the plumbest LBW I’ve seen for a while. I gave him six, to keep one over up my sleeve in case the gun South African, who had won the game last time we played, came in later.

At the other end, Harvey, playing his first full game for the club, similarly bowled tightly with some threatening balls, and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket.

Trying to mix things up, I brought on Kerr. His loop caused the batters problems, and one of them came charging down the track. It was one of those stumpings where the batter didn’t even try to get back into his ground. While he had been predominantly hitting to leg, the new bat hit a couple on the off. I thought I should move someone over to the off side… me… I should move me to the off side. The next ball, he absolutely leathered the ball straight at me, but I couldn’t quite hang on. Two balls later, the other bat hit an identical shot but with considerably less venom and I took that one.

At the other end I replaced Greeney with Francois, and if anything he bowled even better. He consistently missed the stumps or the outside edge by millimetres. Any edges he did collect flew safe. I kept him on for his full seven, just because he deserved a wicket and I wanted to give him every opportunity. After six overs of pace, he switched to spin and immediately got an edge. Unfortunately, by that time the slip cordon was three injured men who couldn’t move, and the chance went down.

Raees came on for a couple of overs, but couldn’t get the breakthrough. With 6 needed to win, Smith came on and instantly caused problems, with several top edges before one ended up in Francois’s buckets at square leg. He even got to get a second over, but couldn’t build on that initial success.

We lost by 5 wickets with 8.5 overs to spare. We just didn’t have enough runs on the board. I decided I was lucky to have this team for my first game as captain, they were a delight to skipper. I couldn’t fault the effort from the bowlers or the fielding performance. It had cleared up into a beautiful sunny evening. As we had some relaxed beers with the oppo, who were a decent bunch, I thought I probably wouldn’t need that opium after all.

Match report from Andrew Cosgrove