Kings
travelled to the Sussex village of Barns Green on yet another
sunny Sunday. Kings had been rocked in the 24 hours before the
game having lost both leading run scorers Dave Miller and Dave
Perry from the selected side. This led Kings skipper Rob Young
wary of batting first. However with the game terms agreed as a
40 over a side game Young did decide to bat first, a decision
that was to prove extremely fruitful.
In the absence of both normal openers Young promoted all rounder
Nick Tighe to open the batting along side young Joel Miah. The
opening overs saw both bowlers struggle with their width and the
three overs brought four wides. Three more wides came in Bacon's
second over but when he over adjusted Tighe was quick to punish
anything short with width and took 10 runs off the over to go
with the wides. This then proved to set the trend for the next
half hour or so. As the bowlers tried to bowl quicker they lost
more control and on a good true pitch Tighe and Miah laid into
some punishing shots as first Bacon 0-32 off four overs and Gregory
0-30 off three were hit out of the attack.
Such
was Kings dominance that the fifty came up in the 8th over and
three figures were posted by the 14th over. Tighe was quick to
despatch anything with width through the covers and strong on
the pull with anything short. 
Meanwhile
Miah played a more controlled innings, punching straight drives
and some exquisite on drives through mid wicket. The bowlers seemed
not to learn from the expensive early overs and continued to drop
short with width and with the field still up Kings were racing
toward a big score. Tighe brought up his first fifty of the season
with his 10th boundary - scored off just 36 balls. At last the
Barns Green captain took some pace off the ball introducing Barrett
and the left arm Bailey into the attack. This put the brakes on
for a short time before Tighe also started to get the measure
of these two as well. However the breakthrough Barns Green desired
came when Tighe went back to cut Barrett but he could only top
edge to Bacon at backward point (137-1 - 19th over).
Tighe
had been dismissed for a superb attacking 80 scored off just 60
balls containing 16 fours - a quite outstanding innings of attacking
cricket. Not surprisingly the scoring rate dropped considerably
now as a Evans came in to try and find his feet. Miah now started
to take the lead and played some superb 
shots
off Bailey down the ground. However when Evans drove on the up
off Bailey he could only find Courquin in the covers (160-2 -
26th over). However the base had been laid for a big score and
this was the ideal platform for Pipe to play his natural game.
He wasted no time in lifting Barrett over the square leg boundary
and joined Miah in some good running between the wickets. Miah
then brought up his second fifty with his eight boundary as Kings
took the score past the 200 mark.
However
when Pipe went for a big shot, again off Barrett he was confidently
caught on the line boundary by Bailey (204-3 - 33rd over). This
brought father 
and
son together and the two traded shot for shot as Miah junior continued
to play with great skill and composure whilst Miah senior rolled
back the years with some exocet style cover drives. These two
saw the score past the 250 mark in the 37th over and with still
three overs left there still seemed time for him to make his maiden
century, his cause being helped no end by a superbly struck six
over mid wicket off Barrett, a shot 
that
took Kings to their highest ever score. However when he tried
to score to the same area he could only find Williams at deep
mid wicket and fell for an excellent innings of 91 (261-4 - 39th
over). Three balls later his father joined him after he also lost
his wicket in the pursuit of runs for the team (261-5). There
was still time for Mackenzie to depart (271-6) before the innings
closed on a record 273.
The target for Barnes Green was formidable but with the pitch
still playing well, a fast outfield and no recognised slow bowler
in the side Kings knew they had to make a good start to the innings.
Kings were helped no end by the offer of a new ball which was
gladly accepted! Nick Tighe bowled a testing first over to the
two left handed batsmen, especially once he switched around the
wicket, at the other end Simon Pipe hit a good length from the
start and was getting good movement with the new ball. The first
breakthrough came in Pipe's second over, bowling D Gregory and
then trapping Courquin lbw with a swinging full length ball. Pipe
struck twice again in his next over when he took two in two, bowling
Barrett and Williams with full swinging balls. Meanwhile Tighe
continued to test the technique of J Gregory with some fine quick
deliveries.
With
Barns Green now teetering at 6-4 - Pipe having figures of 4 wickets
for 1 run - Kings Skipper Rob Young released the pressure a little
by introducing Dave Miah (for his first bowl since 2/7/00) and
bringing on Richard Sones the other end. However J.Gregory fell
for the trick and gave Miah his first wicket for five years when
he chipped to Joel Miah at mid off. S. Ott and T.Williams then
started to put some runs on the board with some good shots off
Sones and punishing some wayward bowling from Richard Mackenzie,
who had replaced Miah.
However
S.Ott then gave Sones a return catch and then Sones found himself
on a hat-trick when he had T.Ott caught by Mears and then bowled
Grantham. With T.Williams and Bailey now at the crease they started
to push the score on to try and gain some respectability. However
when Kings brought Mears and Pipe into the attack the innings
was soon over. Mears, in his first over, trapped the hard working
Williams lbw for 43, although the batsmen thought the ball had
pitched outside leg stump. Then Pipe took just three balls to
wrap the game up when he bowled a full toss which Bailey missed
(although he had been looking for a no ball call) to give the
Kings bowler the outstanding figures of 5 wickets for 2 runs off
just 3 overs and 3 balls. Barns Green were dismissed for 133,
Kings winning by 140 runs.
It had been a superb game, with some fantastic batting from Joel
Miah, who had fallen just short of what would have been a superb
century, whilst Tighe's excellent aggressive innings had set the
foundations for a record score. With the ball Pipe and Tighe had
shown how to bowl with pace on a good track - Pipe's 5 wickets
being a just reward for some outstanding swing bowling. All credit
to a young Barns Green side who never stopped battling throughout
the game but could just not compete with a Kings side that played
superbly.
