Pyestock 04Jun06

Kings travelled to Pyestock in what should have been a close fought contest between two old rivals turned into a heated farce, and eventual victory for Kings. On a warm and later humid afternoon Kings went into the match with a team reduced to the bare bones, - missing Miller, Evans, Pipe, Tighe, Bygrave, Melligan and Wright - and as a result were able to give a debut to James 'Pies' Reedman. There was no sign of what was to follow when Paul Heath, Pyestock Skipper, won the toss and asked Kings to bat first.

On a slow and soft pitch it was not going to be easy to score runs and openers Dave Perry and Joel Miah had to play watchfully in the opening overs from the ever dangerous Neil Butler and Richard Eynon. However the shackles were loosened when Butler's fourth over went for nine and his spell came to an end after just five overs following a superb straight six from Perry. Butler was replaced by Osgood, but although his lively pace brought a new challenge for the batsman a lack of accuracy gave the batsman enough opportunities to score, and the same lack of consistency also affected Smith when he took over from Eynon. However it was Smith who got the breakthrough for Pyestock if in a somewhat fortunate manner. Having timed a perfect cover drive off Smith, Miah then shaped to pull a leg side ball behind square but was through the shot too soon and the ball hit the back of the bat and ricocheted onto the leg stump (49-1). With father replacing son (Miah for Miah) there was a good opportunity for the Kings stalwart President to spend some valuable time in the middle and he got going with a sweet punch through covers, however when he repeated the shot a few overs later a mix up in the calling led to both batsmen being pretty much stranded and Miah sacrificed his wicket in a vein attempt to get to the other end (61-2). This brought in Reedman to join Perry and with it the best partnership of the innings as Perry really started to time the ball with some exquisite cuts and drives, Smith in particular taking some punishment. However Reedman also played a vital supporting role with some fine boundaries of his own. These two seemed to be building a good platform for a closing overs assault and Perry deservedly reached his fifty, his first of the season and 42nd of his Kings career. However the game, and the whole atmosphere, was about to be change as left arm bowler Chris Heath was introduced to the attack. First Perry, batting well outside leg stump was unluckily bowled off his pads (122-3) and then the promoted Mackenzie perished in looking for quick runs (124-4). Reedman then attempted to hit out but struggled to time the ball from Heath and having flirted with the fielders was finally well caught by Osgood diving forward at mid on (127-5). Kings were in danger of failing to post a reasonable total now and some big hitting was needed to get Kings anywhere near their initial target score. Fortunately Gordon Young, in his first game since the previous August, delivered a telling blow. He drove two magnificent sixes off Heath and then the moment that was to create controversy happened. Heath bowled a ball down the legside which umpire Dave Perry called wide, much to the displeasure of Skipper Heath and his son. After voicing their opinion the ball was thrown back to the bowler who proceeded to kick it back to the slips before returning to his mark to bend down and do his boot laces up. Skipper Heath then questioned why the next ball was not called wide when it also went down the legside, this time though it was clear it had clipped the batsman pads. In the penultimate over Young again hit a maximum with a towering six off Eynon which cleared the trees at the aerodrome end of the ground. Kings then lost Norman to give Eynon a deserved wicket (159-6). There was time enough for eight more runs to be scored, for the loss of Mears, in the last over as Kings took their total to 167-7 at the tea interval. Gordon Young finishing unbeaten having made 32 off just 18 balls. However the controversy did not end there as Skipper Heath continued to voice his outrage at both Kings President and Skipper as the teams left for the pavilion.

The Pyestock innings got off to a solid start with Mike Ensor and Colin Butler playing solidly against Joel Miah and Richard Sones. The opening overs continued in quiet fashion with Sones nagging away with his line and length whilst Miah struggled to get much response from the dead wicket. However once he found his feet Ensor started to open up and played some typical flamboyant aerial shots, however against Sones he was struggling to penetrate the off side field where Mears was excellent with some superb fielding. However the batmen started to dominate as Ensor struck a sweet six over Miah's head and the Kings were forced to introduce the slower pace of both Norman and Young by the 12th over.

Kings should have their first breakthrough when Butler drove hard to give Young a return catch but the bowler was unable to cling on to the chance. The first wicket finally fell when Ensor pushed Norman into the covers and called for a very tight single, Miah gathered and threw in one movement and Butler was some way short of his ground when Smith broke the stumps (44-1). Two runs later Ensor perished when he once again went aerial, this time off Norman and Perry took a well judged and comfortable catch at long off (46-2). Kings seemed to have got a third wicket when Osgood appeared to have been stumped by some distance but the umpire ruled "not out", however two balls later Young had his man when Osgood played an extravagant pull across the line and was bowled (49-3). Words were then said between bowler and batsmen and at the end of the over with the umpire and bad feeling seemed to be taking the game over again until some calming words came from Kings senior players. However they was still a twist to the game. With father and son (D.Heath and P.Heath) now at the crease Pyestock had the two batsmen with the ability to take the game from Kings but it seemed only Dan Heath was intent on this as he played some lusty blows, whilst his father seemed content to block out.

Kings kept plugging away, their slow bowlers keeping it tight without threatening to run through the batting. Young did gain his second wicket when Heath holed out to Miah at long on, a dismissal that resulted in cross words between the batsmen. The same pattern continued between Neil Butler and Heath, with one batsman intent on scoring the other content to block. With ten overs of the last twenty left Kings turned to Joel Miah and Owen Mears to try and get another breakthrough. Mears struggled with his line and conceded too many wides for comfort - the game still being within reach of the home side - whilst Heath now adopted a strange approach of walking halfway down the pitch to pad or kick the ball away, making no attempt at all to play the ball. Then Miah finally beat the defences of Butler (99-5) and then followed a complete switch of tactic from Heath who started to play correctly before Miah produced a superb delivery to cart wheel his off stump(131-6). Mears had now got into his rhythm and produced a peach of a ball to account for Smith (135-7). With overs running out the odds were now on a draw, however when Miah bowled Furlong with the first ball of the last over it left five balls to attack last man Norrie Short (R.Eynon had been due to bat but had left the ground early). After two balls that Short did not have to play at Miah switch to round the wicket and comprehensively bowled the Pyestock veteran to win the game with three balls to spare.

There was little doubt amongst the Kings players they had got away with a win where a defeat had seemed far more likely. Pyestock had always been up with the required scoring rate and it seemed that a different approach may have rewarded the home side with the victory they had long desired. For Kings the positives were the return to form of Dave Perry and the all round performance of Gordon Young, whilst the 'death' bowling of Miah proved vital in securing the victory. Overall though, the game between two clubs that have a long history was over shadowed by reaction to the calling of a wide.