For the second week running!

This week it was Westcott II’s turn to be sent in to bat by toss winning marvel, Tony Launchbury. I wouldn’t fancy opening the batting and having to take to the field with the 16mph winds on an overcast day with Josh Behal’s zippers flying towards you on a wicket prepared by whoever it is that does it these days and the Kiddy boys hunting in the field like a pack of wolves. Westcott’s top order clearly didn’t either, and Kidlington opening bowlers Behal and Jack Launchbury both claimed early wickets with economical bowling and some fantastic work in the field including Nick Jeacock taking a sublime catch at slip, as bat number 3 edged it fairly high up in the air behind, but Jeaks, without taking a step, stuck up a hand as far as he could and the ball stuck like glue and Kidlington had Westcott on the ropes. Fantastic opening spells from Josh and Jack left Westcott on 40 for 4 and Kidlington were certainly on top. A good batting performance from number 4, Romain, alongside equally admirable efforts from number 3 Arukgoda and number 6 Young gave Westcott a foothold but they were dealt with before they did too much damage, number 7 Stiles proved a bit more destructive including a 40 partnership with J Hawes, but once the shackles of the “6 on, 6 off” rules came off for the 14 year old Behal, he saw them off with some quite remarkable pace bowling as he shattered off stump in two, for his fourth wicket. He even bowled D Hawes middle stump, unfortunately it was off a free hit so he was denied a five-for but his figures were, once again, extremely impressive, and if he keeps up the practice and doesn’t go down the same path as his older brother and get too muscular to bowl pace, he will be bowling 75mph for the first team in a few years. Tony mercilessly bowled number 10 and 11 out back to back in the 38th over and Westcott finished on a score of 154, which, given they were 40 for 4 at one point, is decent leaving them with a defendable total on a good day. But today they were playing Kidlington.

Jake Townsend opened with Razwan Dogar and the latter did his usual stuff, hitting home runs, mixed in with some decent straight batting, and when he was bowled for 42, leaving us a platform of 67, the situation was looking very similar to the week before as Raz had done his job leaving the rest of the batsmen a straightforward job if they batted sensibly. Josh Behal, having bowled incredibly, then as number 4, batted well, once again, and even hit a cut for 6, as he ran two, and then the Westcott fielder’s throw went past the keeper and all the way to the boundary for 4 and for 6 to the batsman. I can’t think of the last time I’ve seen that happen ; ) (The first team also tied their game today, so it looks like England’s “inspiration of the next generation” has already kicked in. Nick Jeacock and Josh Swadling also contribute nicely with the bat and Kidlington needed 50 off 20 overs to win. Despite a slow few overs after drinks which included a couple of maidens from Burket and Hawes, Simon Townsend started to go through the gears in his first game for two years. As Josh Swadling was smashing their captain into cow corner, he was, unfortunately, caught and replaced by Jonah Clarke. With the situation looking similar to last week with Clarke and Townsend (this time Simon not Jake) at the crease needing only a handful of runs to win, Clarke mentioned to Townsend that we need to think about scoring at some point “Don’t worry, I’m watching it” was the reply, as he cracked the very next ball for 4, and at that point the momentum was clearly with Kidlington. Clarke then followed suit in the next over with a cover drive for another four, and from there the two batsmen ran the necessary singles to take Kidlington over the line.

Credit to Westcott for digging deep and accruing a decent total from a treacherous position, and taking Kidlington to the 42nd over before they finally got the runs, but in the end it was Kidlington who took the points today with their second successful run chase of the team in 2nd in as many weeks, it’s proving to be a competitive season for the Kidlington 2nd XI.

An incorrect posting on the website means I do not have the correct score for Jonah but will be updated!
Report Written by Jonah Clarke.