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Shepperton CC V Kings CC 16-Sep-07 |
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Kings returned from their visit to Shepperton with an emphatic win under their belt thanks to a superb century from Dave Perry and an excellent performance in the field. Over the years Kings had only won once on their previous six visits to the Manor ground and that was the famous occasion when the home side were dismissed for just 55 in 2000. Since then Shepperton have always been on top winning the other five fixtures, Kings having been dismissed 3 times for less than 100, and their best ever score at the Manor being 121. However this time things proved to be very different, the first difference being that having won the toss in this 40 over game Kings elected to bat first, the only occasion they have done so on their 7 visits. Kings were impressive from the start as Dave Perry and Joel Miah set about the bowling. Perry took 12 off the second over bowled by Hamish with a series of crashing off drives. Nine runs then followed in the third over from Nayar. This was how it continued as well, with Perry with punishing drives both on and off sides and Miah pulling and cutting with equal aplomb. Hamish's fifth over went for a further 12 runs and by the end of the 10th over Kings had posted a highly impressive 83 on the board. With both his bowlers unable to assert any control the Shepperton skipper Smyth switched to keeping wicket to free up the service of the experienced Inwood (who somewhat surprisingly had started behind the stumps). Perry duly marched on to his fifty (off 37 balls) However, the introduction of Gale into the attack brought the breakthrough that the home side desperately needed. A fuller length delivery trapping Miah on the crease as the batsman's bat got caught on his foot (109-1 15.1 overs). The fall of Miah brought in Richard Evans for his last inning for Kings before his move to a new life in the USA. Although the scoring rate dropped a little Perry was still in rich form and spared Fraser no mercy as he was introduced to the attack. However in the 21st over Perry played the ball out to mid wicket and Evans called for a single, having been sent back by Perry, Evans had to quickly regain his ground. Yet the throw was poor and went through for an over throw and Perry then called the single, Evans responded but for some reason ambled through for what he thought was a easy run, only to be run out by an accurate throw from mid off (137-2). The next partnership of Perry and Pipe followed a similar vein, with Perry doing the majority of scoring as Pipe played a supporting role. Perry moved from 91 to 99 with two exquisite boundaries a moved to three figures with an easy single. With so much time left in the innings it seemed little could stop Perry from breaking his own club record highest score, yet when he again tried to find the boundary with another booming drive he was well caught at long on for exactly 100, scored off just 95 balls. (165-3 - 28.1 overs). Up to now Inwood had made little impression but he bowled Simon Pipe in the 32nd over for a stuttering 18 (183-4) During most of this time Shepperton had operated with 10 men, after a fielder suffered a bad back. Shepperton then asked permission to introduce their South African overseas player Dieterley as a 12th - but also asked, somewhat against the spirit, if he could bowl. This had an impact on the innings as in his first over he dismissed Owen Mears, who had had a played his part in a partnership of 41 in just 4 overs with Gordon Young (224-5). Mackenzie became Dieterley's second victim (241-6) before Young, who had played superbly, twice despatching Inwood for sixes to the long on boundary, for his 41 off 22 balls also fell to Dieterley. In the push to score quickly in the dying overs Kings succumbed rather tamely - the last four wickets falling for 10 runs in the space of 3 overs - and failed to use their full 40 overs. However a final score of 251 was excellent, and had certainly set a challenge for their opponents. Shepperton made a solid start to their innings, if what at a drastically slower rate than Kings had. Some excellent bowling from Miah and Sones restricted the scoring to a few singles in the early overs and although Pither did try and take the bowlers on it was not without risk. Although an early breakthrough was not forthcoming, Kings were more than happy to keep a lid on the scoring, as the bowlers, backed up by some fine fielding, kept the Shepperton from attaining the required rate. Gordon Young replaced Joel Miah, and Sones put down a hard caught and bowled chance as Kings still asserted pressure on the batsmen. Both batsmen had to force the game, and despite some lusty drives down the ground by Pither, Kings field placing was cutting off the avenues to score. The breakthrough came when Pepal played around a straight delivery from Young, and soon after Jordan was caught behind by Perry to give Nick Tighe a wicket. Tighe struck again soon after as Gale drove hard but only to Sones at short extra cover. With the required over rate up around 9.00 the home team applied some sledging to their own batsmen, this got to Pither, and not long after he was stumped by Perry as the batsmen tried to heave Young out of the ground. From there on, the innings fell away. Nayar fell without scoring, bowled by Tighe and when the infamous "12th man" Dieterley's off stump was uprooted by Tighe, off only the third ball he faced Kings were well and truly in the box seat. Nutter's scratchy innings was finished when he was leg before to Pipe just before Tighe took his fifth wicket when dismissing Hamish. Pipe picked up his second wicket when Gordon Young caught Fraser and it was left to Richard Evans, in his last game, to take the final wicket, when Gordon Young once again took a catch to dismiss Shepperton skipper Smyth. Shepperton's total of 149 meant Kings were victorious by an impressive 102 runs. For Kings it had been a near perfect performance, the batting of centurion Dave Perry, with his 8th Kings century, and aggressive hitting of Gordon Young had helped Kings post an impressive total. While all the bowlers performed well, but Gordon Young's spell, and Nick Tighe, rolling back the years with his 8th 5 wicket haul, stood out. In the field Kings were at their best, applying pressure throughout ensuring Shepperton never got close to their target. Afterwards the team marked Richard Evan's last game with a celebratory curry.
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