The Pilgrims were greeted at Stoke d’Abernon by deep grey skies, a real threat of rain, and the conspicuous absence of Iain Cockburn.

Despite only having ten men Penthouse managed to cajole the team into fielding. By about 1.15 the field was set, Omelette and Farmer were warming up, and the batsmen made their way to the middle. (Cockburn’s arrival: T+2 hours.)

Our bowling looked good from the start – both batsmen were lucky to stay alive and seemed to be edging almost everything, but the short boundary and missing fielder meant that the runs were flowing. Stoke reached 50 for no loss after nine overs.

Grit

In previous years a Tabard side might have buckled under such an opening salvo. But not this year. The inner confidence and mental fortitude so important at the highest levels of any sport came to bear, and the Pilgrims gritted their collective teeth and upped their level.

Tickle broke the opening partnership with a clever outswinger, but it was Omelette who proved the real catalyst. His direct hit, running out their number three in what initially looked like an easy run, seemed to lift the whole side. From then on hardly a ball was misfielded, and not a catch was dropped. In fact the stumps were being thrown down so frequently that the batsmen began to positively expect it. Suddenly it seemed as though we had 12 Jonty Rhodeses in the field, instead of the ten mere mortals actually there.

Gussie and David Haines then presided over a reasonably tight spell of bowling and managed to get a few wickets between them. Moggie was on fine form behind the stumps and held all three catches that came his way.

Skittled

This left the Stoke tail under pressure to wag, but the damage had already been done and instead they looked shaky. The openers came back on and we skittled them out for 169. At tea expectations were high – just over four an over seemed unlikely to present much of a problem, much less a challenge.

The Stoke openers presented an unlikely pairing of age and youth; a decent medium pacer hardly over five feet tall was complemented by a wily old off spinner. Hainsey’s dismissal for four looked a little too friendly as he gloved a stock ball straight into the keeper’s mitts. Iain, despite refusing to move his feet, struck a few sweet boundaries before being bowled after making one swing too many. Never one to hang around, he left the ground moments later (total attendance time: two hours, including half an hour for tea).

The middle order looked accomplished, but struggled to get the ball away frequently enough. Kommander in particular seemed to be holding back his natural attacking game, while Penthouse was visibly frustrated. The result was forced shots and cheap wickets for the fielding side. By the time Flymo had executed his trademark swipe, and his innings with it, it was down to the brothers Price to get us back on track.

Invigorated

Despite the fact that the run rate had crept up to six an over Tickle, seemingly invigorated by the BBQ being warmed up on the boundary, produced one of his best innings of the season and cracked it round the ground for an unbeaten 55. Farmer had been looking solid too, punishing the now loose bowling from Stoke with thunderous strokes, until the Pilgrims were given a dose of their own medicine – he was run out with yet another direct hit.

It didn’t matter though, in the end Gussie and Tickle guided the team home with overs and wickets to spare. Another comfortable win and back on the victory trail.