Pyestock 10Jul05

Kings hosted old rivals Pyestock at Kempton on a sweltering afternoon. It was the 16th time the sides had met and once again Kings were to prove victorious, winning the clash for the 10th time compared to Pyestock's single victory.

Pyestock came with a strengthened side and with promises of great things from Richard Eyon and Dave Osgood, however they were without the ever optimistic Mike Ensor who suffered a horrid injury recently when top edging a ball into his face, however 'Monty' was there to provide his usual acid comments! For Kings Vice Captain Steve Smith returned behind the stumps following injury and they also welcomed back Nick Tighe and Paul Bygrave, but were without their prolific opening batsmen Dave Miller and Dave Perry. Despite the roasting sun and high temperatures Kings decided to ask Pyestock to bat first on a good batting track.

Pyestock's innings got underway with Paul Heath and Colin Butler opening the batting against Kings Joel Miah and Simon Pipe. The early overs saw the batsmen playing watchfully against some tight bowling. The first ten overs brought just 33 runs as Kings kept the pressure on, however the overs often followed a pattern of five dot balls followed by a boundary. Both bowlers were unfortunate not to induce an edge from Butler who played and missed on several occasions. Meanwhile Heath played the more assured innings despite being hampered by an elbow injury. This pattern continued as Tighe took over from Miah following the obligatory end of the latter's spell. However the batsmen were still able to play with comfort on a pitch offering no assistance to the bowlers.

With the seamers having no success Kings turned to their slow bowlers, Gordon Young and Paul Norman. With less pace on the ball they both brought a better level of control. Young, in his first bowl for several weeks, should have claimed the first wicket when Butler drove straight back at him, and despite several grasps at the ball the bowler failed to hold on to the return chance. Heath passed fifty, the second against Kings this season as he and Butler completed the 100 run partnership. However Norman finally got the breakthrough when Smith took a fine catch behind the stumps to dismiss Butler (116-1). Kings had the opportunities to claim Heath as well as he drove high down to long-on but twice Tighe just failed to take the catch.

However Young finally got his man when he bowled Heath for 78 (134-2), Kings then struck again when the dangerous Neil Butler was stumped by Smith as Norman claimed his second wicket (139-3). Some powerful hitting from Dan Heath and Osgood soon had the score pushing on again as the time ticked down towards tea. Norman Then claimed his third wicket when Heath drove powerfully down to long off where skipper Rob Young took a good catch (172-4), and in the next over Gordon Young bowled Osgood (173-5). Miah then re-entered the attack for the last over which saw a rash of wickets, as firstly Miah bowled Eyon (175-6) and then Grigg drove loosely to Wright at mid-off (176-7) and then off the last ball Furlong was run out by some quick thinking by Smith (178-8). Norman returning figures of 3-50, Miah 2-23 and Young 2-43.

Although Pyestock had made their highest ever total against Kings the home side were confident of chasing the total down as the target was below par score on the good Kempton batting track. Without any of their first choice openers Kings turned to Paul Norman and Joel Miah to start the run chase. With the experienced and dangerous Neil Butler leading off the bowling Kings batsmen had to take a measured approach to the response. However in the fifth over first blood fell to Pyestock as Butler cut a ball back to bowl Norman (10-1). Evans joined Miah and it was the latter that upped the tempo of the innings when he took nine off Eyon's next over. More runs came off Butler and a further 11 off the suffering Eyon.

The score had reached 34 by the eighth over and Eyon had been hit out of the attack as Miah started to look more dangerous. Short replaced Eyon in an attempt to slow the scoring rate whilst the untiring Butler continued at the other end. Miah was looking in excellent touch and so it was a surprise when Butler struck again when he again cut a ball back to bowl Kings promising youngster for a fine 38 (51-2). This then brought Evans and Gordon Young together, the same partnership that had successfully won the game at Pyestock earlier in the season, and these two were to frustrate Pyestock again. After finding his feet Young was quick to punish Short and in effect hit him out of the attack. Both batsmen played with control in matching the asking rate of 5-an-over with some fine running and some super boundaries.

Kings were helped in their cause when Osgood 's over enthusiastic attempt to run out Young gifted four over throws. It was Osgood who joined the attack next and despite a bustling pace he was wayward with balls down the leg side which saw him concede wides and byes as his pace was a little too much for keeper Grigg. Osgood was unfortunate when he found the edge of Evans' bat but the result was just four runs between keeper and slip. Butler had a couple of lbw shouts against Young turned downed but in general Kings were in total control and measured their chase with professionalism. Butler continued to remain a threat as he continued to bowl un-changed. The pressure was on Pyestock now and they seemed to be no real leader on the field after Paul Heath was forced off by his injury, endless field changes were made by committee and the first ten overs of the last twenty took an incredible 50 minutes to bowl. Chris Heath took over from the ineffective Osgood, whose last over went for 15 runs, but the young left armer also came in for some punishment conceding 10 off his first over.

Evans and Young were pacing each other perfectly and it was a race to who would reach fifty first. As it was Evans reached the figure first and was soon followed by Young. However having reached his landmark, Young, in attempting an extravagant drive was bowled by Heath. Between them the two batsmen had added a superb 118 for the third wicket and taken Kings within sight of victory (169-3). Pipe scored a rapid 8 off Heath to leave Evans to score the winning two runs off the first ball of Butler's 18th over. Kings comfortably won by 7 wickets, the same margin as they had at Pyestock. Evans made an excellent 63 not out, his second fifty of the season, to continue his fine run of form, whilst Gordon Young and Joel Miah also played well in Kings innings. For Pyestock it was one of their best performances against Kings, but were again left wondering when that elusive victory over Kings will finally come again.