1st XI Bow Out At First Hurdle

On a wet soggy wicket, both the umpires and Hanborough captain were unsure of the safety of bowlers run ups and the game was delayed by 45 minutes to allow the ground to continue to dry reducing the game to 35 overs per side.

After winning the toss, KCC captain Richard Walker didn't hesitate inserting Hanborough in to bat. Kidlington started well with Dan Farrant bowling from the Pavilion End and Mohammed Imran from the Brake End. Farrant made the first breakthrough taking the wicket of danger man Matt Gorman with a brilliant catch by Waseem Azad at point! With Hanborough on 18/1 after 9 overs the game was pretty even and Imran was replaced by Steve Litten after a 4 over spell. Litten was making his first appearance of the season and it told in his first couple of overs with a few wayward deliveries. Litten soon found his rhythm though and bowled a beauty that nipped back and knocked off stump flying sending Marc Buckingham back to the pavilion. Farrant then took his second wicket in a good spell of swing bowling when he had Glen Willet caught behind by the Jimmy Ewers who was playing his first game of the season. Farrant was unlucky not to pick up a third when Ewers just couldn't hold on to a diving catch behind. With Farrant bowled out, Will Wilkin, who was another making his first appearance of the season came on at the Pavillion End. Wilkin started off well but with too many release balls allowing the batsmen to score relatively easily, although he took the wicket of Matt Nielsen after some big shots, having him caught by Richard Walker at mid off. Litten was now replaced by Waseem Azad who bowled well but also bowled the odd bad ball which released any pressure that had built up. Azad took his first wicket when he had Aston Leach caught in the deep by Chris East. Azad then took his 2nd with a superb caught and bowled leaving Will Potter walking back to the pavillion. With Hanborough on 110/5 with only 6 overs left the game was in the balance but 2 dropped catches changed the game as Hanborough skipper Rob Lovick was dropped twice off the bowling of Wilkin first by East with a diving attempt in the deep and then by Imran which was a lot easier at mid wicket. He added 34 valuable runs for Hanborough before he was eventually caught by Imran at mid wicket off the bowling of Wilkin. Litten then ran out Danny Simpson from point as Hanborough closed on 158/8. Probably a par score on the wicket although at one point KCC would have felt they could have reduced them to around 140.

Andy Oliver (picture) opened the batting against his former team with Waseem Azad although things didn't start well as Jonny Ayris had Azad LBW in the first ball of the second over. Oliver was looking assured in the middle and was joined by Chris East who didn't last long after edging a swinging delivery by Will Potter to the Richard Brown at second slip. Will Wilkin came in at 4. It was easy to tell Wilkin was short of time in the middle as he was bogged down by the bowling of Ayris and Potter. After 4 over went by without Wilkin troubling the scoreboard he was caught at mid wicket by Rob Lovick. Andy Oliver was still batting nicely punishing any bad bowling and continued to tick the score along. He was no joined by Jimmy Ewers who was another short of match practice. Ewers played straight and solid but struggled against the slow bowlers Martin Oliver and Richard Brown who slowed the game right down. He was eventually caught behind after gloving one to the keeper. Edd Willmot joined Oliver at the crease and the two former Hanborough men knew that KCC were falling behind the run rate. Oliver began to play more freely and was advancing down the wicket to the slow bowlers hit some well struck boundaries down the ground. Willmot scored a couple of boundaries including one 6 on to the rugby pitches before trying for another but being stumped by Aston Leach from Browns' bowling. Craig Woods came to the crease as he and Oliver moved the score along nicely, they ran well as the boundaries were hard to come by. Oliver passed his 50 with a brilliant 4 through mid on and added 15 more valuable runs for KCC before being 'run out' whilst backing up by Martin Oliver. The umpire gave Oliver out but Rob Lovick called him back after the unsporting act. Although Oliver didn't trouble the scorers as he was out 2 balls later caught in the deep by Matt Nielsen after playing a brilliant innings for 65. Skipper Rich Walker joined Woods at the wicket but with KCC now need 10 an over with only 4 overs remaining, Woods was ran out trying for a tight 2. Dan Farrant joined Walker and both tried to push the score along but needing 29 from 2 overs it was always going to be a struggle. They managed to get 12 from the penultimate over but 17 from the last over was always going to be a big ask with Will Potter returning to bowl from the Brake end, although when Farrant smashed a big 6 over mid on another boundary would have put some doubt in Hanboroughs minds although it never came and KCC finished just 4 runs short in what was a difficult run chase although one KCC thought they were capable of getting.