The prelude to the day’s play was the uncompromisingly clear message sent by the Captain in relegating Bumpy to the role of scorer.

He had made a 50 the week before, has bowled well all season, and isn’t all that shabby in the field. His mistake? Leading the team to a third consecutive defeat. Failure wouldn’t be tolerated this week. That much was clear.

Gussie and Boris opened the batting and looked pretty comfortable against bowlers struggling to find both line and length. The pitch was mostly true, and at 55-0 off 10, a good score looked a real possibility.

With the score on 78 Gussie was replaced by Penthouse, who came to the crease dragging something called a Gray-Nicholls “Gigabow.” This bat was so massive, the skipper was simply unable to lift it more than a few inches and therefore had no option but to block most balls.

Boris had been looking solid before he succumbed to a straight one, falling an agonising two short of his first half-century for the Pilgrims.

And so the mighty Kommander strode to the crease. At first, Warfield didn’t look too concerned. He played a few forward defensives... clipped a sharp two... a few more forward defensives...

...and then Kommander unleashed his very own version of “shock & awe” on the unsuspecting chaps from Warfield.

His next 55 or so balls yielded more than 100 runs. Decent balls, just up of a length on middle and off, were summarily dispatched over mid-on’s head for six. Anything short of a length was gobbled up and spat out somewhere near the square leg boundary. Occasionally, mis-hits only rolled over the line for four, but more often the ball thundered past the nearest fielder, making him think twice about even trying to stop it. A couple of the lustier blows even found the road.

At the other end Penthouse had grafted a workmanlike 17 off 34 balls but admitted that the new bat would “take some getting used to.” Egon had replaced him, and, much to his credit in light of the now notorious 21 of 128 balls, managed to bash 17 off 28 balls – a fitting foil to the dominance of Kommander at the other end.

The Pilgrims finished with 257 for three off their 40 overs. A very defensible total indeed.

Juggs opened the bowling with some real pace, producing bounce, movement and a lot of nervily missed shots from openers who looked at times like they would prefer to be anywhere but at the crease. Yet it was Clarence’s a display of controlled fast medium that took the first wicket, splitting middle and off with a peach of a ball. Juggs got his reward when he almost completely removed the other opener’s off stump and Warfield were 10 for two and struggling.

Clarence’s replacement by Sven offered them little hope when he took a wicket with his first ball, banged in just short of a length but catching the pitch and moving into the batsmen’s off stump with venom. The Swedish Pastry Chef picked up another wicket with some quality bowling – a testament to what a two-year break from the game can do for your performance.

Hansie, Bishop and even Egon also contributed some tidy stuff with the ball, forcing regular wickets from the reeling Warfield. The only bright spell for Warfield was Whippet’s first over. Bowled at half pace for some reason (possibly a strawberry overdose at tea) it was smacked away for five, the highest of any Pilgrim over on the day. But even Whippet upped his game and starting pinging them in for a couple of well deserved wickets.

With Penthouse once again pulling the strings, there seemed to be a touch of magic in the air: fielders moved just a ball before would miraculously take easy catches in their new position; Moggie only let one ball go through for byes; and just a couple of catches were dropped.

All in all, a sterling performance in the field reduced Warfield to 76 all out, and the Pilgrims took the match by the huge margin of 181 runs. We may not see a more dominating performance all season, but the explosives from Kommander and incredibly tight fielding display has to give the side a lot of confidence for the 20twenty tournament next week.

Man of the Match: Kommander