Match Report

A long story short here, is that on Saturday, we were class. From minute one where we turned up in our outrageously good-looking new kit, we were class. An old ground revisited for some, King George’s Recreation Ground looked in decent nick, barring a few weird circles of long grass on the outfield.

In the south Morden sunshine, stand in skipper James Tisato won the toss. Some say there are no certainties in life, particularly when tossing a coin. However, with the coin landing the right way up it was always certain that Tisato would only make one choice. In what has become a weekly occurrence, the Plough lined up with “probably one of the best sides we can put together”, which meant the bowling at Tisato’s disposal was indeed very strong. He chose to back the bowlers and despite a good-looking pitch, a quick outfield and the sun beating down, the Plough excitedly took to the field.

Bolshaw, back from a few weeks off, and Gray, channelling his new Trevor Bayliss look opened up with the new ball. There was movement in the air from the off from both bowlers and with one of the better opening pairs we’ve faced in a while we were straight into a contest. Bolshaw toiled away against the left hander, taking some stick but managing to pull it back towards the end of the spell.  Gray got on top of the right hander, removing him caught behind by Chris Ovens for 4. Gray ended with a very tidy 1-25 off his 7.

In ever continuing fashion for the Plough, the change bowlers were anything but easier. Managing to keep up and if not increase the intensity, Tsonas and Paul ensured that there was no quarter given and that pressure was only ever going to build. Tsonas removed their opener in his first over (caught Ovens) and Ash ran rampant through the middle order. 4-28 for Ash in the end, in another of those spells which has those watching and fielding wondering just how he does it. Form is temporary but class is permanent. Ash is very much in the permanently class category.

We finished the innings with Stu and Spence keeping it tight, despite some lower order resistance from their number 6 and number 10. With a run out for Stu to add to his wicket, Commonwealth finished on 174-9. We used 6 seam bowlers who are all more than capable at being in the best bowling attack in the league, in my opinion. All are definitely very much capable of leading a Plough attack. 6 class bowlers, with another three not even used. Genuinely, who even does that. Great depth and a great performance backed up by those in the field.

Tea was mediocre at best. Let’s not even bother with that. Not worth the words.

Second innings. Britto and Campbell. 5 wides off the first ball, looks like we were laughing all the way to a ten-wicket win. Britto out next ball, LBW, meant that wouldn’t be the case. They say a ten-wicket win is the purest, but I say it means you miss out on watching Chris Ovens. Looking like James Vince but good, Ovens and Stu added another mammoth partnership to their collection and effectively just outclassed Commonwealth in every department. Shots all round the ground and running that put the opposition to shame meant that right from the off, despite their early wicket, Commonwealth were always under pressure.

After Ovens was dropped, the pressure mounted further and the two piled on the runs and a partnership of 108 ensued. Ovens had to go eventually (55 off 56 balls) and this brought Steve Tsonas to the middle. A 55 run partnership later and the game was all but done. Stu had his 50 and looked in glorious form and Steve was knocking the ball to quite frankly wherever he wanted. We lost Stu (70 off 69 balls) eventually and also Barras for 0, but the result was never in doubt. Game over 177-4 in 28.3 overs. Like I said, class from ball one. The Plough are on a roll here lads, lets just keep going and see what happens next.

Bolsh