KCC 3rds finally win!!!

Magnificent bowling and devastating hitting from Dogar gets Kidlington a valuable win. By Oscar Hewitt

On an overcast day the 3rds set out on yet another away trip, this time to the familiar territory of Deddington. We knew a strong performance was required after last weeks annihilation by chippy. When we arrived there were light showers, so there was always the question, should we bowl or bat? Well luckily that difficult choice was taken away as skipper Hewitt would lose the toss, so KCC were in the field. It would be the same opening pair as always Ran and Oscar. Ran, as always, started off with impeccable line and length that would prevent the Deddington batsman from scoring. Oscar at the other end was surprisingly consistent as well, so the Deddington run rate was looking fairly low. Oscar came off which introduced young under 13 Sam Fransham. He was disciplined with ball and gave the Deddington batsmen nothing to hit. After some more controlled bowling it was clear that the Deddington batsman where just trying to survive rather than go on the attack. Things soon changed as one of the more elderly Deddington players fell over whilst trying to make a run. He seemed hurt so he decided to retire injured. However this would prove to be the catalyst for Deddington's collapse as Ran would claim the wickets of the next two batsman in quick succession. So at drinks Deddington were 45-2.We had control of the game, but we still had a lot of work to do. A change of bowling took place, P Hewitt at Sam Fransham's end and S Kimber at Rans end. P Hewitt took his first wicket of the season by forcing the Deddington batsman to pop one straight up to Raz Dogar. Sam Kimber also managed to claim some wickets as he forced a top edge that was superbly caught by M Fransham, and enticing the batsman to hit yet another shot straight into the palms of Raz Dogar, for his second catch of the day. Sam was unlucky not claim more wickets as Ran and Oscar both put good chances down. At this point Deddington were out of steam and they were struggling to score runs, until their retired opening batsman Webb returned to the crease. Furthermore, the opening Batsman Oldfield was still 50 not out, meaning Deddington still had a fighting chance. However this chance disappeared as O Hewitt came back on to bowl an in swinging ball that trapped Oldfield LBW. Oscar couldn't find his second wicket as the ball just missed the stumps on several occasions. Meanwhile Sam Kimber cleaned bowled Holmes to claim his 3rd wicket, that he most certainly deserved. Sam Fransham bowled an excellent line an length, picked up his first maiden and was incredibly unlucky not to pick up his first wicket.This brought a close to Deddingtons' lacklustre innings where they finished on 123-8. It was our game to lose.

Deddingtons high quality tea was good as always. And after waiting what seemed like ages for Deddington to enter the field, we commenced with the chase to obtain our first win of the season. No surprise when Raz started middling it high into the sky. It seemed odd however that Deddington would continue to bowl a slow loopy bowler to him. To be frank there isn't much to say about our batting performance, it was just Raz smashing Deddington out the ground left right and centre. There was no field you could set to him really. At the other end Skipper P Hewitt was playing the anchor role just in case Raz got caught out. This never happened though, and he continued the slaughterous batting until we knew that we were on the brink of our first win. As Raz neared a century it was revealed we needed four to win. so a six would win the game and give Raz a century, Raz hit a four and it was over.Raz was left 99 not out, he probably deserved 100 and was unlucky not to get it. Anyway we had a win and that was the most important thing. Well played to everyone. A great first win and hopefully better things to come for KCC 3rds.