KCC Beat Strong Stoney Side In Season Opener

Stonesfield won the toss and decided to bat on a dry wicket. Dan Farrant and Sam Britton opened the bowling and both began well bowling good lines and making it difficult for the Stoney batsmen. Youngster Britton made the first breakthrough removing Hibberd with a ball that moved away, caught the edge and was caught with a brilliant diving catch from Waseem Azad! Farrant then removed Harte with a swinging delivery that hit off stump and Stoney found themselves ion 12/2. With regular bowling changes, Azad and Sam Rodway came on to bowl and carried on with bowling some good lines, as Rodway took the wicket of Stoney captain Tim Wyatt as he top edged behind to John Pratt. Former KCC man Tom Gubbins came to the crease and began playing some shots and looked accomplished at the crease. Christian Blakcford and Ran De Silva came on to bowl and again carried on from where the previous bowlers left off bowling well. Gubbins was moving the scoreboard along with Iain Hume as Stoney edged out of trouble. Ran De Silva then took a big wicket in removing Hume with a brilliant yorker as the score moved past 70/4. De Silva then took his second wicket having Sean Holley caught at mid off by Richard Walker. Farrant came back on to bowl and took two wickets in his first over removing Gubbins as he was bowled off of his pads, before having Hatton caught at slip by Rodway. With Stoney struggling on 95/7 but with regular 1st teamers George Redknapp and Andy Crawford batting, they were always in with a chance of scoring quick runs. Britton and Rodway came back to bowl and done brilliantly against the class batsmen. Roadway removed Crawford as the score edged past 100 with a good yorker. Christian Blackfors came on to bowl the last over and took a wicket with the last ball of the innings having Redknapp caught at deep mid off by Richard Walker. Stoney finished on an average 132/9 leaving KCC in with a chance of chasing the target!

After another brilliant tea by Stonesfield, Richard Walker and Waseem Azad set about chasing to down the required runs and added 60 for the opening partnership. Azad being the aggressor, he dispatched any lose bowling to the boundary with his trademark flicks and quick wrists allowing him to cut the ball late on the low wicket! Walker ably supported him playing some beautifully timed drives down the ground. As Stonesfield brought on 1st teamer Iain Hume, he removed Azad with a quick swinging delivery. This brought Graham Eagle to the crease. With not much preseason practice, Graham had time to bat and took the opportunity to see out some overs. As Eagle and Walker edged the score past 80, Walker was bowled by another quick Hume yorker. John Pratt came to the crease and looked intent on finishing the game as quickly as possible! He dispatched and short bowling to the boundary and hit some wonderfully timed sweep shots to the rope. With only 12 runs needed to win, Eagle was out caught in the slips as former KCC man Tom Gubbins took his sole wicket! Sam Rodway made his way to the middle and struck two boundaries to win the game for KCC in what was a brilliant game for the club and will hopefully act as a a catalyst for the coming season!

A big thank you and well done to Under 11s Jacob Oliver and Ned Pratt who took turns fielding at fine leg due to KCC only having 10 players due to late pull outs. Both lads fielded brilliantly giving 100% and didn't let anything go through them! a real credit to the youth at KCC!