Big Win As 1st XI Move On

With the sun shining and on a baking hot day, it was expected that when Uffington skipper Martin Key won the toss, he asked KCC captain Richard Walker to bowl first. Dan Farrant and Steve Litten began well on what was a decent batting track albeit slightly green. Anything over pitched was punished though as Uffington moved onto 40 in the 10th over. Farrant was replaced by Michael Tippett and Muhammed Imran came in for Litten, both began well as they began to tie down Uffington. Tippett made the breakthrough as bowled dangerman Painter with one that hit the top of middle stump! T.Fillery came to the middle and played his shots early hitting 14 from an Imran over before Imran produced two balls that helped swing the game back into Kidlingtons favour! First he removed Fillery with a swinging yorker that hit the base of leg stump before removing the incoming batsman C.Buckle with a near identical ball that hit the base of middle stump one ball later! Captain Martin Key came to the middle and produced a captains innings as he steadied the ship for Uffington although he got a huge stroke of luck when he was dropped by Farrant in the covers off a Tippett delivery! Edd Willmot replaced Imran but Tippett continued to bowl in what was a superb controlled spell of swing bowling as he and Willmot bowled well in the middle overs! Willmot took his first wicket when he removed opener J.Wallbridge as he got one past the batsmans defences. F.Hunt joined Key in the middle as both were by far Uffingtons most aggressive batsmen as the slowly began to increase the scoring rate until Willmot took two quick wickets, first Hunt caught by S.Rodway at mid on before having R.Pemberton caught at long on again by Rodway! He took his 4th wicket when D.Davis chipped one up to Andy Oliver at short mid wicket! Dan Farrant had now replaced the brilliant Tippett and was rueing his dropped catch of Key as the batsman latched onto anything over pitched from Farrant as he pushed Uffington past 150 but Farrant took the wicket of A.Shorten with a good yorker. Key was taking the game to KCC and particularly Farrant and with the help of some sloppy fielding at times got Uffington to a good score of 186/8 in their 45 overs!

After tea, the clouds began to cover and KCC got their run chase underway. Andy Oliver and Simon Smith got the chase underway with Oliver starting brightly smashing the ball to the cover boundary regularly before receiving what looked like another harsh lbw decision as both batsman and keeper thought the ball was sliding down leg! Edd Willmot joined Smith in the middle but when Smith went bowled and Craig Woods was caught down the leg side by the keeper, KCC needed a partnership as captain Walker joined Willmot. A partnership is exactly what they got with the pair adding nearly 100 runs as the got the score past 150. Walker looked a man possessed as he dispatched the countless times to the boundary with Willmot feeding him the strike week whilst still finding the boundary on regular occasions. Walker was really taking the attack to the Uffington bowlers as he struck 3 big maximums, one over extra cover and two straight down the ground before he was finally caught with Kidlington needing 24 runs to win from 6 overs. John Pratt joined Willmot but was soon out after chipping one up to mid on and it was left to Sam Rodway to play a sensible innings and support Willmot who had batted superbly for his half century and batted for 34 overs to see Kidlington over the line and continue their quest for the Division 4 title as they secured a superb 5 wicket victory with 8 balls remaining!