Blagdon Hill 02Jul06

Kings final match of tour saw them travel to the foot of the Blackdown Hills to play Somerset side Blagdon Hill. On a sweltering hot and humid afternoon Kings won the toss and elected to bat first in a 40 over match, on what was to be a record breaking afternoon.

It was the home side who struck first with the fourth ball of the of the first over when Dunstan got a ball to climb on Dave Miller and the batsman tried to force a ball that was too close to him and the wicket keeper took a fine one handed catch. (2-1). There then followed a period of consolidation from Perry and Miah as the home side's bowlers tried to push for a second wicket. Miah took 12 balls to get off the mark and Perry was restricted to the occasional single as only 7 runs was posted by the end of the 5th over. However the shackles were broken when Perry despatched Dunstan for six and from then on the batsmen started to take the upper hand as the bowlers started to toil in the hot sun.

By the 10th over the score had reached a more respectable 38-1. Following Perry's second maximum, in the 12th over, this time off Hanham, both the opening bowlers were removed from the attack. This released the pressure even further and Rob Bowler (son of Somerset Player Peter Bowler) went for 27 runs from just three overs as Perry and Miah drove and pulled with ease on a good pitch. Perry at one stage hitting Bowler for three consecutive boundaries to take him past fifty. With the heat continuing to take its toll on both fielders and bowlers (not to mention the batsmen) the 100 was reached by the end of the 20th over and the home team continued to ring the changes in their bowling attack. However none looked likely to breakthrough against some superb batting by both players, particularly Perry who continued to time every shot with perfection. With the field now pushed back more defensively the batsmen had to work hard with some good running between the wickets. Both players brought their landmarks up within balls of each other, with Perry going to his hundred with a single and Miah his fifty with a sweetly timed boundary. Having already set a new record for the second wicket partnership the batsmen pushed on and Perry's 17th boundary took him past the previous highest score by a Kings player of 122 - Perry regaining the record that he had held for so many years. In the process they also took their partnership past the 200 run mark.

However both were to perish soon after as Perry was bowled by Banton for a quite superb 124 (17x4, 2x6 off 117 balls) (204-2) and then Miah was caught at long off for an excellent 67 (204-3) off the bowling of the returning Dunstan. Dunstan struck again soon after as Melligan, who had sat waiting to bat for 36 overs fell in similar fashion to Miah (204-4). With the overs ticking down Kings already had a sizable score but a superb cameo innings from Simon Pipe saw a further 49 runs add in the remaining 3 overs and 2 balls. With some excellently timed shots Pipe peppered the legside boundary on both sides with an array of sixes and fours to score 39 off just 17 balls before being caught. It was left to Nick Tighe and Gordon Young to take the total to 255-5 by the close of the innings.

With a big target to chase Blagdon Hill needed a good opening stand but Kings made the perfect start as Pipe and Miah found the groove reeling off a series of maidens. Then Pipe found the edge of Dyer's bat and Miller took a comfortable catch in the gulley and when Miah bowled Hannay its was clear the chase was not going to be easy. Kings continued to keep the pressure on the home side as they struggled to keep anywhere near the required run rate. After a tight spell from Joel Miah he was replaced by Nick Tighe who was hunting for his 300th career wicket. He soon picked up Trump who miss timed a drive to mid off where Melligan took the catch and then Tighe accounted for Hancock. The 300th wicket should have come when Martin top edged but the ball ballooned up between keeper and first slip. However the game was effectively over now and when Bowler was run out by a direct hit by sub fielder Evans the game was just drifting to the end of the overs. As Kings rung the changes with their bowlers there was some lusty hitting from Dunston but it was to little avail and Blagdon lost another wicket when Mears accounted for Barton. By the end of the 40th over the home side had reached 144-6 giving Kings victory by 111 runs.

Above all else, the game will be remembered for the magnificent record breaking innings from Dave Perry who provided a master class of batting - his 7th Kings century and the best of the lot whilst the 2nd wicket partnership record was smashed as Perry and Miah racked up 204.