Woodmansterne 14May06

Kings continued their impressive start to the season with a third victory on the road, this time with an emphatic victory over Woodmansterne. On a cool cloudy afternoon Kings were invited to bat first on a firm dry wicket which had a green tinge to encourage the bowlers. There was only one change from the previous week's team, all rounder Simon Pipe being replaced by opening batsman Dave Miller.

With experienced openers Miller and Perry at the crease Kings were hopefully of a solid start but they nearly lost a wicket in the first over from Patel when Miller flashed a drive past the out stretched hand of backward point which raced to the boundary. The next delivery was played a whole lot better as Miller produced a perfect cover drive for a second boundary. Miller was quick to cash in during the second over as Meadowcroft was punished for dropping short. In the third over Perry got off the mark with a single allowing Miller to again find the boundary off Patel. However when Meadowcroft again dragged a ball wide and short Perry's drive flashed off an outside edge and Benson some how stuck out a hand to snatch the ball when it seemed past him (20-1). Joel Miah now joined Miller in what was to prove to be a match winning partnership, and in the process also setting a new record for the 2nd wicket partnership. Miller continued in his boundary collection, racing to 29, all but one run coming in boundaries, whilst Miah got off the mark with a sweetly timed boundary of his own. The two batsmen played patiently waiting to punish the bad balls that inevitably came from Patel and Meadowcroft. By the 11th over both opening bowlers had been forced out of the attack with 61 on the board to be replaced by the slower pace of Benson and Hiscox.

This change applied a brake on the scoring and Miller was fortunate to survive when he pulled Hiscox to deep square leg where Gelard managed to juggle the ball three times before it fell to the floor. By the midway point in the innings Kings had taken their score to 101-1. The batsmen were still in control though and seemed to be pacing the innings pretty much to perfection as they took their partnership past 100, with Miller bringing up his half century. By the 25th over, the score had reached 119 and the batsmen then made a concerted effort to push up the rate, during the acceleration Miah passed his half century and also took the partnership past 150. After a series of dropped chances the home team finally struck when Miah got a thick edge for Hiscox to take the catch at slip (163-2). With overs now starting to run out Nick Tighe was promoted up the order and he pulled his first ball straight to deep square leg where Patel took the catch just inches within the boundary rope to make it two-in-two for Benson. Miller and Evans then really pushed on, Miller clearing the cover point boundary for six in the process, but when Miller went for one more big shot he could only sky to extra cover to be dismissed for a superb 91 off just 116 balls with 13 fours and 1 six (190-3). There was still time for Evans and the promoted Mackenzie to push on in the last two overs to take Kings past the 200 mark, Evans hitting powerfully through the leg side, before the end of the 40th over.

The Woodmansterne innings saw Kings make a good start with both Miah and Richard Sones finding the correct lines from the off. Miah was particularly impressive producing some good pace and beating both batsmen on several occasions. The early breakthrough Kings desired came when the nagging length of Sones beat the forward defensive shot of Beasant (4-1) and although Meadowcroft and Gordon pushed on it was not without risk and the bowlers, backed up by some good fielding maintained a good pressure. It was again Sones who struck the second blow when he bowled T. Meadowcroft (30-2). Miah was rested after a six over spell and was replaced by Tighe who had J. Meadowcroft in all sorts of problems with a spell in which the former Kings stalwart rolled back the years when bowling with significant pace and bounce. As Sones tired Gordon laid into some hefty leg side shots forcing Kings to re-think the field. With Sones being rested after eight overs it needed two overs to be fiddled to ensure the over allocations worked out, so Evans was given the two overs not used by Sones.

This brought immediate reward as Gordon, conscious of the deep leg side field was un-done by a ball outside off-stump from Evans and was caught behind by Smith (49-3). Evans could have had a second wicket when Meadowcroft slashed wildly and Sones at slip was unable to grasp the ball at shoulder height. Kings were still in control though and there was always a chance of a run out as Gelard and Meadowcroft took risks, and so there should have been one when Meadowcroft was sent back but Skipper Young's weak throw enabled the batsman to scamper back. However the turning point in the game came when Norman was introduced, the result of which brought a team 'hat trick'. First Norman bowled Gelard (66-4) and then next ball the new batsman C.Patel played a ball to short mid wicket, Meadowcroft called for a suicidal single and set off and Miller collected the ball and threw to Norman who broke the stumps at the bowlers end (66-5). The third wicket to fall in as many balls came when Patel tried to dig out a full ball from Norman and only managed to chop the ball onto his stumps (66-6). There then followed a period of consolidation between M.Patel and Hiscox, the latter looking the most competent batsman to date. However Tighe and Norman kept the pressure on and although Hiscox was quick to punish anything dropped short the run rate was way behind what was required. Tighe picked up a deserved wicket when he got through Patel's defence (85-7) and Norman took his third wicket when trapping Rodger leg before (90-8). Hiscox was still standing firm though and as Kings brought in attacking fields he was quick to hit out. With Tighe having finished his spell Kings brought back Miah and took the 9th wicket when J.Patel shouldered arms to a straight ball (104-9). Hiscox continued in the same vein as before, quick to attack anything slightly off line whilst resolute in defence and to a lesser extent last man Benson adopted the same attitude. It seemed the game would continue to drift to a tame ending with Kings left searching in vein for the last wicket but off the last ball of the inning Benson drove Miah for Evans to take a well judged catch at mid-off to finish the match in style.

For Kings the outstanding batting of Miller and Miah, with good late support from Evans stood out, but the game was effectively won by another superb performance in the field. Both bowlers and fielders made the batsmen work hard for everything. Whilst Woodmansterne were left to rue a series of dropped catches that may just have made a difference.