Match Report
The Plough arrived at the DSG on the 1st September with the knowledge that a win here would see us crowned division 2 champions. We thought we had blown the opportunity to be in charge of our own destiny a few weeks earlier against Croydon, only for today’s opponents Ewell to upset them in a close match. So the lads were understandably chomping at the bit to get going.
Skipper Doozer won the toss and sent Ewell in. We had rolled them for 50 odd earlier in the season but we weren’t expecting to have it quite as easy this time round. Bolsh and Puff opened, showing great control of the new ball. A couple of catches in the cordon to Tis and Duray and one by keeper Barraz had Ewell reeling at 15-3. A pair of LBW’s for Puff and all of a sudden we were in familiar territory with the opposition 40-5. Their number 5 and 7 decided the defensive approach wasn’t going to work and started swinging at everything. A few chances went down and the total rocketed to 127 before Paul Hynes or someone who lives with Paul Hynes took the key catch at slip of their number 5 who was out for a well made 65. The tail didn’t wag much with Bolsh taking an excellent caught and bowled, Ewell all out for 152.
So job half done at tea – a lively wicket had died down and it looked like our game to lose. Britto and I (Ovens) opened the innings. A slower ball first up had Britto trapped LBW and Stu came in at 3. We both hit a couple of boundaries to get going while still keeping out the few good deliveries from the openers. As we started to edge towards 50/1 and the change bowlers came on the Ewell heads dropped somewhat. Stu and I began pushing the ones into twos and pressure the field, the run rate was never an issue and we reached 100/1 a few overs before drinks. Stu survived a caught behind appeal and I was dropped by a very decent effort from their top bowler Mr Goodall. We made sure we saw it through to the end and we hit the total in 24.4 overs, Stu 51 not out, Ovens 79 not out.
The celebrations that started in the afternoon kicked on to the early hours of Sunday. It was certainly a night we won’t remember with a team we won’t forget! A fantastic effort by everyone on the field and on the side lines for the Plough this season – an all round club effort is what got us over the line. Great work all round and bring on next season in Div 1!
Chris Ovens
