Richard runs riot as firsts thump Broughton

On the day of the England's World Cup quarter final, we were away to Broughton in the blazing heat at a fairly nice ground. Captain Edd Willmot lost the toss and we were put in the field for a full 45 over game, unlike some other games in the league. With Sam Rodway arriving late after work, we started with 10 in the field.

Kamran Ramzan opened the bowling as usual with a new opening partner at the other end, Chris Graham. A few loose balls at each end, mostly at Kamran's meant that Broughton managed to get on to an ok start, with the runs coming at a fine rate. We didn't have to wait too long though before Chris removed Taylor for 8 when a ball from outside off jagged in sharply to hit the stumps. The ball was slightly slippy with the sweat and suntan lotion from people's hands in the field and this was evident when Chris bowled a beamer to receive a first warning. With the batsmen not in much difficulty with Kamran's bowling, Edd brought himself on at his end after 8 overs. Chris was now bowling in a really good rhythm and repeatedly putting the ball in good areas. After bowling a maiden and four consecutive dot balls, he got the opening batsmen Derry playing one late cut too many and edged one straight into the hands of Andy Oliver at slip, going for 14. Berry now came in but had to leave straight away after he was clean bowled by a full delivery on his first ball for 0, Graham now had 2 maidens in a row, this one a double wicket maiden! Edd bowled the wild swinging Walton in the very next over for 21, Broughton now 54-4 in 11 overs and we started to think that we might be able to finish off the innings with not much of the England game having been played. It was unfortunate to see Chris miss out on a hattrick and also bowl a second beamer in his next over meaning that his fantastic spell had to end 1 ball short of 6 overs, finishing with 3-18. Tony Launchbury took over at his end and also bowled decently getting 2 wickets, 1 LBW and 1 caught behind by Ben Bollig. During on of Edd's overs, Richard misfielded one which then went for 4 and in frustration he kicked the ball back leading to an injured foot. Edd took himself off after 11 tidy overs taking 2 wickets in his spell with Will Thwaites coming on to bowl. He bowled well too bowling back of a length and pushing the batsmen on to the back foot with not much room to free their arms. The runs were increasing with the batsmen playing slowly and not throwing their wickets away but not as many as they should have scored on this wicket with the boundary sizes and conditions. Tony finished at the other end, his figures impressive with 2-35 in 11.1 overs.Kamran came back on and got Harper out LBW with a full delivery in his first over and then Russell bowled 2 balls later but was denied the second wicket as it was a no ball. Edd bowled his final over at the other end and ended with 2-56. Jacob Oliver bowled 2 overs for 9 runs which was really good as these were in the death overs but he bowled to his field. Will bowled the last over and picked up a wicket to finish with 1-20 in 7 overs and Broughton scoring and average 204-9 in 45 overs.

We enjoyed a cracking tea and watched the end of the England game, filled with joy over the result and the vast selection of cakes. I don't think anyone expected the fireworks that were about to follow out in the middle. Richard Walker opened up with Sahil Kalyan and singles were not on Rich's mind after hurting his foot in the fielding mishap earlier. He started off with a fantastic drive through the covers for 4 off the second ball of the innings and there was no holding back after. Possibly angry over his injury and non cricket related stuff, he charged against the bowling like a bull enraged by a red cloth and dispatched many shots over the boundary and in the gaps, with runs coming thick and fast. His relentless hitting demoralised the opposition and it wasn't long before they started bickering between themselves. He raised his bat for his 50 in the seventh over in which 5 consecutive shots of his raced to the boundary for four but he was nowhere near done yet. Sahil did the right thing at the other end, feeding him the strike and not taking any risks. Richard was smoking shots to all parts of the ground, meaning the fielders just couldn't do much about stopping the ball reaching the boundary. In the 11th over Richard passed 100 with yet another boundary and out of the team total of 116, he was standing at the crease with 103 of them. After going for another slog he got caught but he had done much more than expected. Andy Oliver came in at 3 and then we were treated to him and Sahil playing exquisite cricketing strokes with a variety of classic punches and drives. The run rate was so low thanks to Richards flier that everyone was relaxed watching the 2 in the middle batting well, ensuring that we chased the target down. Today seemed like it was our day with the batting and even a typical KCC collapse didn't feel near. Andy crossed 50 with Sahil needing 2 for his own. We only needed 1 to win and Sahil was hoping to seal it by also passing 50 but the bowler bowled a massive wide and Sahil missed out. Well batted to Richard, Sahil and Andy as we chased the total down after 34.1 overs.

We had a fantastic day with both us and England winning and stayed on for some food from Broughton's barbecue. Hopefully we can carry on with this outstanding performance next week against Bampton away.