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Richmond Nomads V Kings CC 14 Sep 08 |
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After several weeks of frustrations due to bad weather and a lack of availability Kings finally got back into action with a hastily arranged game against Richmond Nomads. With only one match played in the whole of August, and with over a quarter of the team not having played since the middle of July, some of the Kings players were a little ring rusty - but the sight of blue skies and sunshine made it feel like the first day of the season. With
a greenish pitch that had been covered for several days, and given
no opportunity to dry out, it was no surprise that Kings, having
won the toss, elected to field first. With the home team electing
to play a time game Kings were able to give Joel Miah and Richard
Sones a lengthy bowl. The early action saw Nomads' opening batsmen
picking up a few runs off some streaky edges. Although there was
no pace in the pitch Miah was bowling well enough for Kings to
post three slips, and Kachhawe, who had been keen to slash at
anything wide of off stump, duly obliged by nicking one to 3rd
slip where Sones took a good catch moving to his right. A second
wicket was not long in coming either, with the ball just sticking
in the pitch Nomads skipper Nigel Swain could only prod the ball
straight to a well place Nick Tighe at short extra cover. The
dismissal was nearly repeated when new bat Dave Scarborough went
hard at the ball but this Tighe was unable to take a more difficult
chance at ankle height. Miah continued to remain a threat and
the Nomads batsmen were finding life very difficult to score off
him. Time and again the ball passed the outside edge of the bat.
It was only natural then that the batsmen should try to be more
aggressive against Sones and he was withdrawn from the attack
with figures of 1 for 42 from his 9 overs. Nick Tighe, bowling
some slow seam up replaced Sones, whilst after 12 overs that conceded
only 19 runs Miah was replaced by Paul Bygrave. Tighe got a vital
breakthrough when the very accomplished looking Morrison was somewhat
harshly adjudged leg before, and Hood followed not long after
when he played across the line to be bowled by Bygrave. Scarborough
remained a threat and despite long periods when both bowlers tied
him down, he did find an ideal foil in Elliott, who hit a breezy
14 before he was trapped lbw by Bygrave. Kings got their sixth
wicket when Patel fell in similar fashion, Tighe claiming his
second wicket, but with the tea interval approaching Scarborough
and the hard hitting Snape decide to up the ante. In a brave move
Mears and Melligan were brought in to bowl the last two overs
of the innings and this looked to have backfired when Scarborough
lifted Mears over square leg for six, and then off the last ball
of Melligan's over a wild throw by Tighe saw the batsmen able
to run five from the resultant over throws. Given
the 'time' rules the game was being played under Kings worked
on needing to reach their target off approx 38 overs - just over
4 runs an over. However, some tight bowling and a pitch, which
although drier, was still proving to be a little problematic,
made the task less than easy. The first 6 overs yielded just 18
runs - Miller scoring just 3 runs off the first 24 balls he faced
- and by the tenth over Kings were scoring at less than 3 an over.
Some hesitant calling did not help matters and Miller also survived
a couple of chances. However, with the experience of close of
400 games and over 12000 run between them Perry and Miller started
to change the tide. They started to take a more positive approach
as the opening bowlers started to tire, and by the start of the
last 20 overs were well placed with 105 needed. After the drinks
break both batsmen took the attack to the bowlers, Miller drove
the horribly out of rhythm Snape through the covers to, somewhat
surprisingly, bring up his half century ahead of Perry. But an
onslaught against the off spin of Patel, with Perry taking 17
off his over, including a superb straight six, took the opener
to yet another Kings half century. Miller was not to be outdone
and he despatch the leg spin of Kachhawe over square leg for six
and in what seemed a short few overs the game had been turned
on its head. A belated introduction of seam bowling did little
to slow down the scoring, although Miller was dropped off a difficult
chance at point, but nothing was going to take the gloss off the
victory march as Kings triumphed with 8 overs to spare. RICHMOND
NOMADS J.
MIAH 12-6-19-1 KINGS J.
HOOD 8-3-18-0
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