Pyestock 29May05

Kings travelled to Pyestock for the 15th meeting between the sides. Neither side had enjoyed the best of starts to the new season and the home team were without the experienced and dangerous Neil Butler, whilst Kings were without the injured Dave Miah whilst also missing the experienced Dave Miller and Simon Pipe, neither of whom were available for this game. Kings were fortunate that Paul Norman had recovered from injury whilst Gordon Young was able to come in at the last moment to strengthen the side.

Kings having won the toss put Pyestock in to bat. The proceedings got underway with the usual battle between the opening bowler Nick Tighe and the swashbuckling 'Monty' Ensor. However Tighe was on top in the first over restricting Ensor to a single. However this gave the opening bat the chance to throw his bat at young Joel Miah. The result was two aerial shots that just cleared the fielders but did run away to the boundary. The battle between Tighe and Ensor resumed with Tighe twice comprehensively beating the batsman but when Tighe dropped slightly short Ensor was quick to pull to the vacant mid wicket boundary. Paul Heath then had to leave the field ill being replaced by Colin Butler. Soon after Miah gained his revenge when Ensor went for one hard slash too many and was caught by Tighe at deepish backward point (22-1).

Kings continued to threaten - Miah seeing two chances put down off his bowling, once in the gulley and a difficult chance at slip. However Pyestock continued to push the score on reaching 40 before Sones turned the game around. With his second ball he bowled the dangerous Butler (40-2) and then two balls later he claimed Grigg in the same fashion (40-3) Grigg not for the first time failing to score against Kings. This brought the now recovered Heath back to the crease to join his son Dan. Both were quick to punish anything off line from Sones but having looked very comfortable Dan Heath then perished the same way as his peers as Sones claimed his third wicket. (69-4). Kings then introduced their slow bowling combination of Young and Norman. This slowed the scoring rate considerably - Norman conceding just 1 run in his first three overs. What scoring there was came from from Heath as Padwick seemed content to play an anchor role.

Heath did loft Young for a straight six, but on the whole the bowlers were in control. Padwick's long vigil (4 runs in 38 minutes) came to an end when he edged Young behind and keeper Smith took a smart catch (112-5). Heath passed his fifty and then hit his second six when he drove Norman straight down the ground. With time running down Kings brought Mears into the attack and brought back Miah. In Miah's comeback over Heath pulled behind square where Mears took a sharp catch (143-6) and then next ball Barber was bowled first ball (143-7). Furlong just survived the hat-trick ball before in the final over Mears had Chris Heath caught by Tighe at square leg (147-8). The innings closed with Pyestock having set Kings a target of 154 to win.

Pyestock opened with the Heath brothers against Perry and the 14-year old Miah. From the off Chris Heath hit the zone conceding just 7 runs in his first five overs. However Miah was able to get the scoreboard moving with three crisp boundaries off Dan Heath. At one stage the match ball was temporary mislaid in the boundary bushes, during which time Pyestock tried to introduce a near new match ball which moved considerably more than the original. With the correct ball now back in play Kings started to push the score on with both Miah and Perry looking comfortable and striking some fine boundaries. In the 14th over Pyestock made a bowling change which brought immediate dividends.

Having just superbly driven Ensor to the boundary Perry was then deceived by a slower ball and his attempted pull saw the ball loop back to the bowler (55-1). However Miah was showing great maturity beyond his years and great talent in looking assured against all the bowlers. He was joined by Evans who after settling in started to look to keep the scoring rate up.

Chris Heath, in a lengthy spell, had a claim for a catch behind against Miah but the batsman had clearly missed the ball by some distance. Miah seemed to be closing in on his maiden fifty when having just superbly on driven Ensor he went for a repeat shot but only managed to pick out Holmes at mid-on (82-2)
This brought in Norman, who had a 7 minute window before having to leave for Heathrow and a flight to Dubai - clearly with his mind elsewhere - he played down the wrong line to give Chris Heath a deserved wicket in his 12th over. With 14 overs left, Kings needed 72 to win, and Evans and Gordon Young set about their task professionally, if not without some luck.

Evans being dropped by keeper Grigg, whilst the keeper also missed a stumping chance to remove Young. Heath had another shout for a caught behind turned down, Young's bat striking the ground rather than the ball, despite Grigg's protests that he had gathered the ball cleanly at the second grasp. Then in Heath's 15th over the ball found the edge twice, on both occasions the ball flashed between keeper and slips and to the boundary. Heath was replaced by his brother and Ensor came back in place for Short. The game was effectively won when Ensor's comeback over went for nine runs, and the winning runs were scored with 3 overs to spare. Evans had made an unbeaten 34 whilst Young 29 undefeated.

The defeat made it five on the trot for Pyestock in 2005 and continued the long run of games since their last victory over Kings, but this one of the closest games for a few years, yet Kings professional approach to their batting ensured the victory. For Kings, young Joel Miah shone with both bat and ball.