Ottershaw 27Aug06

Kings travelled to play new opponents Ottershaw and Hamm Moor on a sunny but blustery afternoon. With their side badly hit with lack of availability Kings brought in Dave Blissett for his first game of the season and gave debuts to Jaemie Gale and Mike Ensor. The home side won the toss and elected to field first and make use of a green and slow pitch.

For the first time in several weeks Kings were able to field both their experienced openers in Dave Miller and the in form Dave Perry and they made a good start taking 7 runs off OHMCC skipper Steve Clarke's first over. The batsmen seemed to be settling nicely as further runs came off the, up till then tight, Hawkes. However in the sixth over Perry attempted to pull Clarke but got a top edge which resulted in Pashley taking a comfortable catch at mid wicket (23-1). This brought in debutant Gale who got off the mark with a boundary through third man. Meanwhile Miller was playing with confidence and laid into some trade mark cover drives off both bowlers. However timing the ball on the slow pitch was still difficult and Kings swung between free scoring and playing out maidens against some good bowling. Scoring became more difficult when OHMCC's leading wicket taker Hunt was introduced, the slow left arm spinner conceding just 3 runs in his first 5 overs.

However the two batsmen realising the scoring opportunities against Hunt were going to be restricted looked to score when ever possible against Cooper. The two then started to up the rate with a concerted effort to score of Hunt, the bowlers 6th over going for 10 runs. Gale then reached his fifty and 100 was posted in the 29th over. Miller was looking well set and playing with confidence to what looked likely to be his fifty. However when he cut Cooper to cover point Bowden took an easy catch to dismiss the opener for 44 (122-2) and just one short of the hundred partnership. Blissett then came in to join Gale and they continued to try and push the rate up. Gale was fortunate to survive when Barrett dropped him at long off but the fielder made no mistake when Blissett picked him out in the same position (151-3). The introduction of spin from both ends welcomed Simon Pipe to the crease and this enabled him and Gale to push the score on significantly as the time for the declaration neared. Gale then launched Hunt for six runs over mid wicket as he started to close in on a maiden century. After some typical explosive shots from Pipe he was undone by Giddings (186-4) and then without any addition to the score Gale was caught behind to end a superb innings of 93, the declaration came immediately upon the fall of the wicket.

The OHMCC innings got off to a bad start when Bransden went wandering after facing Sones and keeper Smith completed an easy stumping (5-1). There then followed a period of consolidation between the stout defender Bowden and the more fluent Barrett. However Bowden's painful resistance should have been ended when Pipe induced an edge but Miller spilled the chance at first slip. Barrett started to dominate the partnership and took the score to fifty with some fine drives off Pipe. However things changed dramatically when Gordon Young was introduced to the attack. First he ended the stay of Bowden, as the batsman chopped into his own stumps (52-2), then soon after Osbourne could only sky a ball up to Dave Wright at point (74-3). Kings then suffered a setback when Ensor had to leave the field with a bad groin strain leaving them with 10 in the field. Gale then replaced Pipe, whose spell of 12 overs had seen him go wicketless, and spin from both ends brought a dramatic slowing of the scoring rate and an increase in the rate of the wickets falling.

Barrett looked lucky to have survived a close stumping appeal off Gale before Young struck again. Hunt was smartly stumped by Smith (92-4) and then Barrett's innings of 63 was ended when he was bowled by Young (95-5). Pashley was next to fall to give Young his fifth wicket, caught at slip by Rob Young (101-6). Cooper lasted just one ball to become Young's 6th wicket (101-7) and a smart catch by Gale at leg gulley to dismiss OHMCC skipper Clarke gave Young his 7th (106-8). With four overs left Kings reintroduced Pipe to the attack and this brought immediate dividends when Hawks was bowled (107-9). However despite the best efforts of Young and Pipe they could not break through the resolute defence of Cooper and Giddings and the game ended as a draw.

For Kings the highlights were the return to form of Dave Miller and the impressive debut by Gale, but both were overshadowed by an outstanding bowling spell from Gordon Young who took 7-27, a personal best for Kings and the second best bowling figures in the Club's history