The first few moments after turning up at the park were spent trying to identify what was the pitch and what was the field. One thing was very clear — this was going to be a challenging wicket to bat on. This was a grudge match with Covenant CC, who beat us handily this time last year, and the Plough was determined to get our comeuppance.

After being sent in to bat, Meady and Ean fought very hard on a very up-and-down pitch, seeing out the opening bowlers. The first change bowler, however, was swinging the ball into the left-hander, and very soon both Ean and Bharat were sent back to the pavilion. Out came Lonnen, who demonstrated a masterclass on how to play on a wicket where you can’t trust the bounce or the sideways movement. Meady fell shortly after, getting out to a ball that didn’t get up at all. The next five wickets fell in a flurry, with Lonnen quickly running out of partners and the scorecard at 82-8. In walked Giordy, who at this point was going through Elmo’s leftover Glasto beers while umpiring and leaving the evidence behind the stumps.

Clearly, the beers had that Glasto good luck, because what eventuated was the most mature and steady innings Giordy’s played for Plough! He stayed in with Lonnen for about 15 or so overs, letting Lonnen do his thing at the other end. At this point, Lonnen was batting superbly, carving a ball to the metaphorical fence to bring up his 6000th run for the Plough. Lonnen eventually fell two short of what looked like a certain 50, with Chad the madlad falling a few balls later.

Scoring 117, we knew we had to bowl and field well, but given the nature of the pitch and the momentum coming from the back end of our batting innings, we always knew we had a strong chance of bringing this one home.

Giordy started proceedings with Puff at the other end. The openers started off looking like it was a different pitch. Both were seeing the ball pretty well, and we thought the game might be running away from us. Before long, however, Puff pulled another trick out of his magic hat and trapped the aggressive opener LBW, with Giordy return-serving with another wicket from the other end. Puff continued his exceptional spell of bowling, taking what looked like five wickets in the space of five balls (with only two actual wickets eventuating), but putting Ploughmans in a great position. One was a superb pouch by Harry Bray.

Elmslie came into the foray, looking fresh with his Glasto glow, and bowled into the rough (read: the entire wicket) to prize out two wickets as well. The batters were connecting with the ball throughout this period, but Theo’s electric fielding down the ground saved us 20–30 runs, which in the context of the low-scoring match was crucial.

Not to be kept out of the game for too long, and itching to bend his injured back, Lonnen then came into the fray and took two important wickets to help close out the game. Finally, Ash threw the ball to Chad, who bowled superbly. He extracted a lot of movement and kept it very tight in the first over, before sealing the game with a brilliant caught and bowled in his second.

There were definitely a few standout performances in this game, but in true Plough spirit, there were contributions all throughout the team in what was a memorable game.

Match report from Bharat Ramesh