On a week where stand-in skippers were called into action and dusted off the blazers, Gilmour was endeavouring not to follow in Joe Root’s footsteps by overseeing defeat on home soil. He got off to a flier by winning the toss on what was set to be a warmer-than-average afternoon at the park and, without hesitation, sent his men into bat.

Ewan Williams and David Platt were the two tasked with navigating the new ball, and they did so with controlled aggression against Barnack’s openers. Williams would be the first to go with the score at 69-1 (Noiiiiiiiiiceeeee), on a tick under a run-a-ball 38. Next to the crease would be Oscar Jackson, who was well prepared after his aquarobics session in the lead-up to this fixture. He and Platt steadied the ship nicely and added a further 47 runs together before Platt departed for 40 after missing a self-confessed straight one.

Shuffling out to bat next was Peter Ruffell, who acclimatised to the conditions before upping the ante and notching up his first 50 in senior cricket. Congratulations, Peter: another gleaming example that a trip to Mama’s results in runs the following day. Jackson and Ruffell put on 91 for the 3rd wicket before Jackson departed 1 short of a half-century — well done that man; a very mature innings for a number 3, and one that Mr Bethell may want to take note of. Ruffell, Potter and Biggs all maintained the controlled aggression and made sure Burghley posted a defendable total of 238 for Barnack to go about.

Cam ‘Fillet O’ Fish and Gilmour would be the men to take the new ball, and the two set about their task of restricting Barnack’s notoriously destructive openers, Ghani and Sadiq. Gilmour found his June length early, and Fish had it swinging and zipping around everywhere until Ghani was gifted a full toss with a short leg-side boundary; he could only manage to find the safe mitts of Ruffell at mid-on. OJ Plank would have Sadiq BBQ’d for 11, and Burghley had the visitors 28-2. Plank and Ruffell would take over the bowling duties, both applying the pressure assertively with controlled plans, and Ruffell would reap the rewards by taking 4 wickets in his 5-over spell for a mere 9 runs — welcome back to the bowling crease, Ruffers.

This brought Asim Butt to the crease, a man who never goes down without a fight, and this trend continued as he got stuck straight into his work, manipulating Burghley’s spinners all around the park and putting Barnack in the box seat at the second drinks break (161-6). 78 runs required from the last 15 overs; any punter would have had their house on the visitors at this stage — especially as Burghley went down to 10 men, and no, not for any infringement imposed by the umpire, but one imposed upon a J. Biggs, who had got his 6’s and 7’s mixed up and was whisked off to dinner. But cometh the hour, cometh the man: OJ Plank would return to the top end and deliver a killer blow to Barnack’s chase, trapping Butt in front of all 3, and so he departed for 70. 47 runs required, 3 wickets in hand, OJ Plank would go on to pick up a further two wickets, finishing with deserved figures of 3-30-8 — well bowled that man! Sam Potter would put the nail in the coffin with the assistance of a David Platt snaffle at long-on to bring this episode of the Barnack thriller to a close.

Thanks to Orchard for sponsoring this match.