Following
the late cancellation by two opponents (Barns Green & Northwick
Park) Kings scheduled home game was hastily rearranged with an
away trip to Hampshire village side East Meon. Despite some heavy
rain showers the game went ahead on what was a damp pitch. Kings
were hampered by the loss of leading batsman Dave Miller on the
morning of the game meaning Kings had only ten players for the
match.
Batting first Kings openers of Dave Perry and Paul Norman had
to contend with
the demons in the pitch that saw one end shooting along the ground,
whilst at the other end the ball leapt off a length. The opening
overs saw some watchful play as the batsmen tried to contend with
the pitch conditions and some accurate swing bowling from James.
Perry got off the mark with a pull to mid-wicket but he could
do little when James swung one away and Perry could only edge
to Dowlen in the gully (12-1).
This
brought Gordon Young to the crease and once he had adjusted to
the 'ups 
and
downs' of the pitch he launched into two crashing shots off Marks,
one through extra cover and the other through cover point. Meanwhile
Norman was battling away and after a prolonged spell on nought
he finally got off the mark. Then in the 15th over with the score
on 37 Kings suffered a double blow, first Young was bowled off
stump by an away swinger from James (37-2), and in the next over
Norman lost sight of a full toss from Marks and was bowled (37-3).
With two new batsmen at the crease Kings had to start again, and
Dave Miah and Simon Pipe had to battle hard to come to terms with
the pitch that although no longer staying low continued to pop
from the other end.
With
some well taken singles the scoreboard started to move along again,
and 
Pipe
played some good aggressive shots and soon started to take the
attack to the change bowlers. With boundaries to the mid-wicket
and square boundaries Kings seemed to be starting to get the upper
hand. However when Miah was caught the stand of 37 came to and
end. Pipe launched into a fine six back over the bowlers head
but this then signaled the start of a dramatic slump. Firstly
Pipe, in attempting another pulled boundary, could only sky a
catch off Blackman then Mears pulled 
straight
to backward square, and skipper Rob Young was caught behind chasing
a wide delivery to see Kings slip from 83-4 to 86-7. There then
followed a superb cameo innings from young Middlesex Colt, Joel
Miah, who with confidence and skill dispatched a superb lofted
six over mid on and this was followed by a flat six over mid wicket.
A further 23 runs were added before Smith succumbed but the innings
came to a rapid end when Sones was caught behind. Kings had battled
there way to 111.
Kings made the perfect start to the second innings when following
a maiden from Pipe, Sones bowled Crowley without a run on the
board. However Kings suffered a set back when Sones tore a muscle
and had to come out of the attack after just 3 overs. At the other
end Pipe continued his tight start with six maidens on the spin.
Meanwhile the left handed James had taken to advancing down the
wicket to attack the bowling but Mears, who had replaced Sones,
speared a full length delivery that James could only play all
around and lost his middle stump (14-2).
However
Kings bad luck continued when Mears aggravated a side strain and
he also had to come out of the attack. However Kings managed to
keep the pressure on with a tight spell from Joel Miah and the
continued pressure from Pipe. With the demons gone from the pitch
Dowlen tried to break the shackles, whilst Dampney seemed content
to play with a dead bat. An intriguing battle then ensued between
Dowlen and Gordon Young that saw the batsman scoring a series
of boundaries but with Young threatening to claim his wicket at
any time. A vital 68 runs were added before Young claimed the
wicket of Dowlen for a good 42 (82-4).
Overs
and time was running down for the home side and the run rate started
to climb above four runs an over. Dampney finally started to hit
out having been at the crease for over an hour and a half for
his seven runs. A vital further 14 runs were added before Dampney,
in trying to hit out again was superbly caught one handed by Rob
Young at deep mid-on (96-4). With 16 runs still needed from four
overs Kings sensed a real chance to salvage a draw from the game
but Marks came in and scored a rapid 8 runs off Young in adding
12 for the fifth wicket (108-5). Unfortunately the winning runs
came soon after when the batsmen ran 3 byes to take them to their
target and a 5 wicket win.
