All Round Team Performance See's 1s Bounce Back

On a overcast day at Stratfield Brake, it was no surprise when the Deddington Captain won the toss and decided to bowl, especially after KCCs poor showing last week away at Marcham!

With a change in the batting order, Captain Richard Walker dropped himself down, to allow Tom Bozman the chance to open alongside Andy Oliver. The new opening pair soon looked at home as they rotated the strike well, Oliver has found some early season form and struck some early boundaries through point and a couple of beautiful drives through the covers. Bozman at the other end, looked at home in his new role against the new ball,. Against medium pace swing bowling from Deddington bowlers R.Preston and O.Redford, Bozman played predominately straight, striking some well timed drives down the ground and pounced on anything over pitched as KCC got off to a good start. As KCC ticked along at 5 an over, Bozman offered a chance to Redford as he miscued a straight drive but luckily for him, Redford just couldn't hold on! After this, the KCC openers dominated the game as both passed their half centuries with the score moving past 100 in the 20th over. With the dominance of the batsmen, Deddington brought on their slow bowlers, it worked as S.Oldfield broke the opening partnership as Bozman skipped down the wicket but missed his attempted shot and was subsequently stumped. However with a superb opening stand of 170 between Oliver and Bozman, KCC were firmly on top in the 28th over. The returning Waseem Azad joined Oliver at the crease and didn't hold back as he struck two boundaries in his first two balls. Azad accelerated the score towards the 200 as he scored 23 from just 8 balls including a big six through midwicket before being caught on the boundary trying to accelerate further! With Oliver going nicely and looking assured as he moved towards three figures, Edd Willmot joined him in the middle. Oliver was more of the aggressor between the pair as Willmot was happy to feed the strike to the man who was in. Oliver moved in to the 90s with a perfect push through mid off and brought up his first century of the season in the 36th over as the score moved towards 250. Oliver continued to be the more aggressive batsman, as he struck more boundaries through mid on and mid wicket as KCC looked to set an target beyond Deddington. He was finally out, stumped off the bowling of Preston as he danced down the wicket in the final over. John Pratt joined Willmot as they took KCC to a formidable 283/3 from their 45 overs!

After another brilliant KCC Tea, Kidlington took to the field hoping for a bowling display to match their near perfect batting performance. Dan Farrant and Steve Litten opened and they got just the start they had hoped for with Farrant taking two wickets in the first over of Deddingtons innings and found himself on a hatrick, having taken one the previous week! Firstly he had G.Duncan caught at gully by Azad and then removed O.Redford as the batsman missed a straight one! Deddington were immediately under pressure and when Farrant took his third wicket, having H.White caught at 2nd slip by Edd Willmot, KCC were well and truly on top! Litten and Farrant were both replaced with Chris Graham and Usman coming on to bowl. Both bowled well to begin with, but a partnership between R.Munro and R.O'Donnell steadied the ship for Deddington as both batsmen played and waiting for any loose bowling! Graham made the breakthrough as he bowled O'Donnell with an inswinging delivery, before Usman took the wicket of Munro caught behind by Walker. KCC knew they could wrap the game up when Usman took another two quick wickets removing S.Welch caught by Andy Oliver, before bowling M.Oldfield with a perfect length delivery that clipped the top of offstump! With Deddington now in 80/7, the game was pretty much won, Walker brought Farrant on to try and wrap up the innings, but Usman took his 4th wicket when he had S.Oldfield caught at first slip by Andy Oliver before Farrant took his 4th wicket bowling N.Murphy reducing Deddington to 92/9. Usman then won the game with the final ball in the 28th over claiming all 30 points for KCC and his first 5 wicket haul for the club!

A brilliant all round team performance pushed KCC up to 3rd in a tightly contested Division 4. Next week sees the 1st XI in action away in the Telegraph Cup at Fringford CC!