Kings
visited the picturesque ground of Shere at the foot of the North
Downs on 
a
beautiful summers afternoon. Kings were without Dave Miller, their
centurion of the previous week and scorer of a half century on
his three previous games at Shere, and also Gordon Young. However
they were able to welcome back opener Dave Perry and all rounder
Nick Tighe, whilst Paul Norman replaced Richard Mackezie.
Having won the toss Shere elected to field first on a pitch that
had dried well following the deluge of rain that had fallen on
the previous Friday. Kings made a positive start with both Perry
and Joel Miah getting off the mark quickly. Perry 
made
good use of the hill and the angle of attack of Bissett to run
the ball down to third man whilst Miah was strong on the drive
off the same bowler. Some good running between the wickets helped
to keep the scoreboard moving along whenever Shere did start to
pressure the batsmen. However the batsmen still had to be watchful
as the pitch was showing signs of some uneven bounce.
This
unevenness proved to be the undoing of Perry, as a wide ball from
Bissett got bigger than expected and Perry already trying to run
the ball once again to 
third
man could only fend it to Witter in the gulley (50-1). Soon after
Shere got their second breakthrough when Miah slightly stopped
on his shot and pushed Barnard straight to Bissett at mid off
(57-2). Bissett was then removed from the attack and replaced
with the left arm spin of Smethurst. Evans and Barnes had to work
hard as the spinner 
immediately
brought about more control, whilst Barnard continued a lengthy
spell still threatening to bring the ball back down the slope.
Evans was being troubled by the uneven bounce Barnard was finding
but when the bowler over pitched Evans was quick to despatch some
beautifully timed cover drives into the fence in front of the
pavilion.
Barnes,
who was taking virtually all the strike off Smethurst just seemed
to be getting going when he cut hard backward of point only for
Witter to take an 
outstanding
one handed catch (86-3). Barnard was then replaced by more left
arm bowling from Witter and Shere then enjoyed their best spell
of the match as both slow bowlers exerted some good pressure.
Kings were in danger of not posting a defendable score when the
run rate rapidly dropped. However the batsmen then upped the scoring
with Pipe attacking Smethurst with a fine pull and a straight
drive to the boundary. Pipe then took the attack to Witter and
this encouraged Evans to join in, scoring well on the leg side.
Pipe was in full flow now and one booming on drive just failed
to make it all the way over the boundary, but when he tried to
repeat the
shot he was caught by Rudman (133-4). Tighe and Evans continued
to push the score on as the tea interval approached, however when
Evans tried to pull a wide pull from outside off stump he was
stumped for a fine innings of 40 (142-5). Wright then finished
the innings off with a typical cameo attacking innings which helped
the final score to 163-5.
Shere got off to a tight start as Tighe served up a find maiden
in which he beat the bat of Maguire twice. However the batsmen
found it easier against the slower pace of Sones, finding his
full length easy to drive down the ground. Tighe tested the batsmen
again with his second over and once Sones pulled back his length
Kings gained more control. In a superb over from Tighe Frost was
given a torrid time with balls that severely tested the bastman's
technique. However against all odd its was Maguire that departed
first. Once again Tighe was right in the slot and Maguire could
only fend the ball to the gulley where Sones grabbed the ball
at the second attempt. The new batsman, Rudman, attempting to
play everything to leg soon fell to Sones, who trapped him lbw
with a ball that kept low.
Miah
and Pipe took over the attack and Miah struck in his first over
when he bowled a perfect delivery to have Smethurst caught behind.
However Frost then went on the attack, taking 14 runs off Pipe's
second over, to push the score rapidly on. Yet Miah, swung the
game back in Kings favour when having had the upper hand over
Bissett he then knocked out the off stump. The next wicket came
from a superb piece of fielding. When Barnard pushed the ball
to cover there seemed little danger, but Frost was a little late
setting off and he was beaten by Pipe's superb throw which hit
middle stump. The bowlers were shuffled again as Barnes replaced
Pipe and Norman was brought on in place of Miah.
With
the sun now setting right behind the bowlers arm Norman floated
up a delivery and Barnard was beaten in the flight and Smith seemed
to have completed an easy stumping only for the umpire to overrule
the appeal. However two balls later Norman bowled the same delivery
and Witter was comprehensively bowled. Barnes was unlucky not
to claim Barnard as the batsman just cleared the mid wicket fielder
with a chipped shot, and Norman should have had Cross when Young
dropped a chance at mid off. However in the next over Barnes served
up a short delivery and Cross pulled the ball straight to Evans
at square leg.
With
7 wickets down Kings were still hopeful of victory and they brought
back Miah and Tighe. Barnard then went on an amazing assault of
the bowling in trying to smash everything out of the ground. He
did manage to lift a full toss from Miah to the mid wicket boundary
for six, but when he tried to repeat the shot he could only find
Evans at mid wicket. Kings last chance of a wicket was when Frost
drove at Tighe but Evans at silly mid off could only get his fingers
to the ball. Tighe then served up three perfect deliveries to
Buss, but each time the batsman managed to evade the ball and
Shere managed to secure the draw.
