Kings
welcomed Long Ditton to Kempton on a warm afternoon for a match
played on a superb batting track. Team changes from the previous
week saw Miller, Evans, Pipe, Melligan and Bygrave come into the
side whilst Reedman, Mears, Perry and Dave Miah were absent. Having
won the toss Kings elected to bat first.
Kings
made a very positive start as openers Dave Miller and Joel Miah
got the 
innings
off to a flyer, posting 31 by the sixth over, both batsmen finding
the boundary with some crunching drives off both Horgan and Waters.
This tempo continued as the fifty was on the board by the tenth
over with both batsmen keeping pace with each other. In an attempt
to slow the 
scoring
rate the Long Ditton skipper turned to his slower bowlers in Bond
and Cracknell. However this did not seem to have the desired effect
as Cracknell's first over went for 11 and Bond's second for 10.
However the breakthrough Long Ditton desperately needed arrived
in Cracknell's second over when Miller played at a wide ball and
edged behind for 37 (84-1). However Miah and Evans safely saw
the score past three figures and there seemed little alarms for
either as Miah started to close in on his half 
century.
However when he attempted to chip Cracknell into the 'v' he went
a little wide with the shot and fell to a well judged catch by
the fielder at mid on, falling short of his half century by two
runs (103-2). This was about half way into the inning and Evans
and Pipe then attempted to push the score on to a 'par' score
(the previous day the team batting on the adjacent track had made
249, as a result 230 was seen as the minimum requirement). The
short legside boundary was certainly inviting and first Evans
and then Pipe scored maximums off Cracknell. However when Pipe
once again tried to find the 
boundary
his miss placed shot went straight to the mid wicket fielder (143-3).
The in form Paul Norman somewhat surprisingly fell quite soon
after bowled by Bradley (159-4) but Evans continued to play with
assured confidence and his second six of the match resulted in
the removal of Cracknell from the attack. Despite a slow start
Melligan then 
picked
up the tempo, getting of the mark with a six and following it
with a series of fierce boundaries before he was bowled by Boxall
for a fine 33 (213-5). In one last onslaught Evans completed his
fifty and Gordon Young launched into a series of explosive shots
in making 12 off just 7 balls. At the end of the 45th over the
innings was declared at 233-5.
With
a good batting track the target was certainly considered achievable
and to win the game Kings would have to bowl very well - or Long
Ditton play very badly. However the game plan from the visitors
seemed to indicate that they felt the target was beyond them as
both openers played cautiously against the some tight bowling
by Pipe and Miah. Pipe was getting some movement which challenged
the batsmen, whilst Miah's pace was always a threat. It was Miah
who made the first breakthrough when Oldham was bowled and not
too long after Ormerod fell to Pipe.
However
there followed a substantial stand between Hamilton and Price
which swung between resolute defence and spurts of onslaught.
One crunching boundary resulted in the match ball being lost and
Pipe then struggled to get the same movement with its replacement.
Sones bowled a tight spell which saw only 13 runs conceded in
five overs but there was little threat of a wicket and as a result
Kings turned to Norman and Young to try and affect a further breakthrough.
This eventually came when Price was caught by Miah off Young and
then Hamilton was needlessly called on a run by the new batsman
Boxall which resulted in Young and Norman combining to run out
Hamilton for 44. There was still time for Norman to bowl Bradley
but in the end the game eventually drifted to the tame draw that
it had long promised.
