Caterham 08Aug04

On a sunny, sweltering afternoon Kings gained a creditable draw with a superb all round performance against a strong Caterham side fielding a majority of 1st XI players. Despite the home side's impressive final score, mostly amassed through a final overs onslaught, Kings were on target to pass their total until the fall of some late wickets saw them opting for the draw that their performance deserved.

Having won the toss Kings elected to field first, despite being faced with a good batting track and with the condition of tea following a first innings declaration.

The opening overs saw Kings in total control, Nick Tighe turning in a lively spell that saw him move the ball both ways and regularly beating the bat. The Caterham openers played Tighe's partner, Richard Sones, watchfully and despite being hampered by the injury that has plagued him most of the season, he produced a spell that saw less runs scored off him than the number of overs bowled. Tighe should have made the early breakthrough when Chapman edged a ball that left him, but with the ball on the rise and still moving away Steve Smith was unable to hold on to the chance. As is so often the case, the next ball went to the boundary. However Tighe's reward was not long in coming as he got a delivery to cut back to comprehensively bowl Chapman through the gate between bat and pad.

The wait for the second wicket was a short one. The new batsman, Patel, having turned the ball behind square off Sones, took one run and turned at the non strikers end and then started backing up in readiness for any potential second run. What Patel had not seen, as the action had been behind his back, was that Tighe had gathered the ball quickly and although his throw had been wide of the keeper Sones had collected the ball on his follow through. Alert to Patel being a good yard out of his ground Sones swiftly back handed the ball on to the stumps to run out the bemused and embarrassed batsman.

There then followed a period of play where Kings restricted Lilley and House to singles and the occasional flashed edges to third man of the impressive Tighe. Sones finished his eight over spell with just six runs off his bowling, but still searching for the wicket that would take him to his 200th career wicket. With Tighe finishing a ten over stint Pipe took over to join Mears, who had replaced Sones. Mears, bowling for the first time since a short spell at East Meon on June 20th, struggled for a good length early in his spell and House was quick to pull anything short. With this in mind the legside field was suitably strengthened much to the displeasure of House who, having already voiced his disapproval at a couple of full tosses, now seemed to want to dictate where the fielders should be placed.

Pipe, however, had hit the groove from the off, and Lilley seemed ill at ease playing the bowler's seaming deliveries. One attempt to break the shackles saw Lilley slash hard outside the off stump and Norman in the gully made a superb diving effort but just failed to hang onto the catch. Having escaped this chance Lilley's luck ran out not long after, as he turned Pipe to the vacant mid wicket area but Young ran round from mid on to take the catch. With the scoring rate well below their expectations House and Reavell now tried to up the pace but with Mears' 'style' getting under the skin of House and with some good fielding Kings remained in control. With Pipe's nagging line causing problems for the batsman and with Mears becoming more effective once he switched his line of attack to over the wicket Kings had done really well to keep the score to 123-3 after two and half hours of batting.

It was then that Skipper Rob Young made the brave decision to open the game up to try and 'but' a declaration, and with it more batting time for his side. Paul Norman and Dave Perry were brought into the attack and Norman should have had House caught at short mid wicket by Sones, whilst the same batsman skied Perry only for the ball to fall between to converging fielders. Four overs on the score had moved along sufficiently enough for Kings to bring Tighe back into the attack. This heralded a call from the home Captain that there would be two more overs before the declaration. Tight struck immediately to dismiss house, caught behind by Smith but Congdon attacked from the off with two well struck boundaries. With the two overs up the batsman and fielders started to leave the field, only for the home Skipper Pollard to send them back for yet another over. Congdon perished first ball of the additional six, leg before when trying to reverse sweep Norman. This brought Pollard to the crease to smash the ball around the park in a frantic finish to the innings, he escaped twice in the process, Mears 'catching' him behind the boundary line and dropped by Young running round from long off in front of the boundary. With 192 on the board the innings was declared three hours after it started.

Given just an hour and 20 overs to chase the target the task in front of Kings was a formidable one, but with attacking fields there were plenty of gaps that enabled Norman and Perry to a make a positive start. Norman got a flyer with some impressive shots before he picked the wrong line to Pollard (19-1). After this set back it was Perry who took the lead as he continued his recent rich vein of form with some superbly timed shots and another boundary seemed on the cards when he powerfully straight drove Patel. However the slight spinner stuck out a hand and managed to cling on to an outstanding return catch (35-2).

It was the first time the Kings opener had been dismissed in four innings and he had looked in good enough form to have continued this run. However it was the next partnership that set the platform for a potential victory. Evans and Pipe were now together and on a true pitch both batsman were able to play their natural back foot game. With a series of cuts and pulls they moved the score along with apparent ease. Pipe, showing a confidence and timing that had been missing for the last season and a half, dominated the bowling, once driving a glorious straight six. Not that Evans was a slouch, boundaries dominating his score of 25. After Pipe had hit three boundaries off five balls of a Chapman over disaster struck. Off the last ball of the over Evans, having clipped the ball to mid-wicket, called loudly for a run, his partner called equally loudly in the negative but by now Evans was halfway down the track, but despite a frantic dive to make his ground it was fruitless (101-3).

A superbly timed off drive by Miah signaled good intentions but a top edged dolly to the keeper left the Kings stalwart regretting not getting the opportunity to make use of the good pitch (113-4). However the chase was still on as Pipe found the perfect foil in Tighe. With balls pushed perfectly into gaps in the field the two dashed between the wickets whilst anything slightly loose was punished. With 28 runs added in quick time (Tighe's 15 coming off just 12 balls) Kings had a real chance, so when Tighe miss timed a drive to cover it was a real set back (141-5). Yet there was still a chance while Pipe was still there, joined now by the uncompromising Wright, Pipe reached fifty for the first time since July 21st 2002 vs Melrose. Some hefty blows from Wright helped to keep the pressure on the home side, however when Pipe's superb innings came to an end, bowled by Baker for 56, Kings brave attempt had realistically came to an end (155-6).

Wright continued in his dogged way before he fell, like Miah, to Congdon's slower ball (162-7). With an asking rate of close to ten an over off the last three overs Smith and Mears ensured Kings took just reward for their hard and determined efforts.

The star had undoubtedly been Simon Pipe, whose innings had lasted 82 balls with 7 fours and 1 six, but the whole team deserved the plaudits for a committed performance against a very strong side.