Hawley12Sep04

On a cool windy afternoon Kings welcomed Hawley to their first visit to Spelthorne. With the weather forecasted to deteriorate throughout the afternoon, and heavy rain predicted for the evening Kings, having won the toss, decided to bowl first in an attempt to win rather than be beaten by the weather. This meant starting the game with just nine players as Richard Evans and Gordon Young were running late.

The opening overs saw Tighe and Sones having to get to grips with a gusting wind that not only threw the bowlers off balance but also had a clear affect on the direction the ball was going. In his opening over Tighe was unlucky to concede a boundary when Scott picked up four off the bat handle. Yet these were to be the only runs the opening bat was to score as in the third over Scott was undone by a snorter from Tighe that took the glove before being caught by Sones at gully. Delaney, playing comfortably off the front foot, then played a couple of fine shots off Sones to get the scoreboard moving. However when Hawley Skipper Helliwell pushed at Sones and Wright made a good catch at slip Kings were firmly in command.

There then followed a quiet spell in the match as Delaney and Daggett struggled to score against some tight yet unthreatening Kings bowling. Other than the occasional attacking shot from Delaney the game stagnated over the next ten overs, only Daggett's unease at the amount of bounce that Tighe was extracting from the pitch providing much excitement. Kings then made a double change bringing Joel Miah and Simon Pipe into the attack. This brought the desired breakthrough as Pipe, in his second over, finally dislodged the stubborn Delaney by inducing an edge to Sones at second slip.

Pipe could so easily have had Mitchell as well, as Pipe beat the outside edge five times in six balls. However despite Miah keeping it tight at one end, Pipe proved inconsistent and bowled a series of legside balls that Daggett and Mitchell put away. Daggett should have gone when he drove at Pipe but Tighe dropped a relatively easy chance at cover. He finally departed when Gordon Young was introduced, a miss timed cut providing Sones with the chance for his third catch of the game. Mitchell fell soon after driving Pipe on the up to be caught by Perry at mid-off.

Kings should have run threw the rest of the batting, but through some undisciplined bowling and fielding Wilkinson and Miles soon had the score racing along, if somewhat belatedly. With the score now passing the three figure mark Hawley looked to be passing a score that seemed some distance off when they had been 46-4. Before the interval Pipe did claim his 3rd wicket, bowling Miles for a breezy 25 and the innings closed on 131-6.

Kings reply was led by Dave Perry and Gordon Young, they made a cautious start before moving the score along with some fine running. With total trust in each other's calling they were running near impossible singles, even taking them when hit to fielders, and most audaciously one without a call, just a simple indiscernible nod of the head. This put the fielding side on the backfoot and they defensive field was brought in which enable both batsmen to play with freedom to the boundaries.

Both were quick to punish anything with width, and both were at ease hitting balls that would have justifiably been called wide had they not stretched to punch them through cover point. In a similar way to which they had a winning hundred stand against Old Leagonians, the two mixed good attacking shots with a mixture of superbly taken singles. When the boundary could not be found then quick running would bring three runs. The opening bowler was seen off by the 10th over (47-0) and by the 15th (81-0) and the start of the last 20 overs four different bowlers had seen action. The sky was appreciable darker now and the wind strengthened in readiness for the rain that was surely not too long in coming.

Perry brought up his 3rd half century of the season with a sweetly timed boundary and it seemed nothing would stop Young from joining him. However having just driven Delaney immaculately down the ground, through the fence and on to the road, the Kings all rounder then missed with an expansive drive and was bowled for a stylish 40 (97-1). Richard Evans got off the mark with four to third man and followed it with some well taken runs, but there was only one headline maker now, as Perry, in the gloom, despatched two boundaries off Mitchell, and then calmly stuck the winning run to take Kings to a nine wicket win, with 12 overs to spare. Perry finished up with his highest score of the season, 67 not out, which included 10 boundaries.