Bowlers guide firsts to an assertive home win.

After a tough game last week, the firsts were hosting Chadlington at the brake. Once again the weather was roastingly hot and sunny, not a day to want to be chasing leather for 45 overs! In relatively good batting conditions: a green but solid wicket and a rock hard lightning quick outfield, returning captain Edd Willmot lost the toss and the Chadlington captain unsurprisingly chose to bat. It seemed like it could be a long and hard day in the field but we were certain that a few early wickets could prevent them being able to attack the bowling, and keep them down to a low score. Before I get started on the 1st and 2nd innings and the rest of the match, a special mention to Will Thwaites for his dedication towards KCC, he drove all the way from Cambridge for the second consecutive week to play a Saturday game!

With 10 to start with as Will was delayed by traffic, Edd set out the fielding positions and Kamran Ramzan started the innings by bowling the first over. Excited over the sight of a left handed batsman marking his guard at the crease and his own angle with the ball swinging in to the leftie, he stood at the top of his mark licking his lips and hungry for an early wicket or two. The ball was swinging quite nicely, a fair amount from outside off stump to leg stump. There were a couple of LBW shouts in the first over but both were marginally going down leg. Tony Launchbury opened up at the other end, he too would have been wanting a wicket, bowling his consistent length and the pressure building with each over being economical. He was repeatedly testing the batsmen's technique and patience but then in the 12th over, the breakthrough came and the left hander Magee was bowled for 12. Kamran was focussing on
the batsmen's end and less so with his run up and ended up overstepping twice but luckily bowled good deliveries off the free hits and both were dot balls. He then came off after a tiring but very economical spell, bowling 6 overs for only 7 runs, 3 of which were 2 no balls and a wide. Will Thwaites then replaced him and Tony was swapped with Edd Willmot. Tony's 7 over spell only went for 17 and he also claimed a wicket. Will began tentatively but soon got into the flow and bowled fast and accurately, pinning the batsmen in the crease and leaving them unable to score freely. North was bowled off a very good ball from Thwaites and we had Chadlington on 62-2, a position from which they could still score big and also they could collapse. The latter option was looking increasingly likely when Will took 2 more wickets in consecutive overs, his third wicket and the fourth overall was thanks to an outstanding one handed diving catch by keeper Ben Bollig, an absolutely unreal moment and Ben was really pumped. The high amount of pressure was daunting for Chadlington's lone soldier and star batsman Lambert, we knew that once he got out the innings would pretty much be over. A fuller ball from Edd yorked Lambert in the 32nd over and the wicket we were hoping for had come, he left the crease bowled on 34 and the score was now 96-5. There had been quite a few poor umpiring decisions against us on balls called wide but then a bad decision went our way for once as Will dismissed Foster LBW, they were dropping like flies and now 6 down for 100. The next few overs saw and end to both Will's and Edd's spells of 12 overs each. They were both economical but Will was unlucky to have missed out on a first KCC five wicket haul. This brought Jacob Oliver to have his first bowl of the innings and Tony to return at the other end. Jacob bowled incredibly and this began with a good maiden. In his second over, his first ball brought him his first 1st XI wicket and his delight was evident. A shorter pitched ball slightly down leg side tempted the batsman to go for a half flick half pull shot and his indecisiveness resulted in a top edge. Kamran Ramzan was at 45 and he sprung forward and stretched to reach the ball, it just about reached his left palm as he completed a fantastic catch to send back Betts. The last few batsmen were really struggling to hit the ball far enough for an opportunity to get a single, such as Perrott who was in at 7, was at the crease for 10 overs and finished not out on 0. Jacob completed his over only conceding 2, and in the next he took his second wicket when once again a mistimed shot was played, this one straight into the hands of Will. Tony bowled 2 maidens at the other end, his second consisted of another wicket. Jacob bowled a wide in his third over and followed it with a wicket, leaving his figures on 3-5 in 3.1 overs! The final score was 111 all out, the top order batsmen were already thinking how few overs it would take to chase this down! A fantastic bowling performance overall but there were still a few mistakes in the field, which didn't cost us today but could have been lethal on another.

After having a fabulous tea with many tasty treats like cakes and watermelon, Richard Walker and Sahil Kalyan ventured out to the crease. It was a strong start from both, the usual mix of power and timing, shots being played up and over the fielders and also along the ground through the gaps. It was just a tad of a shame that we didn't get to bat first as I'm sure we would have racked up a huge 300+ total. With the score racing along the 50 mark was crossed, this was Rich and Sahil's 6th 50+ partnership, this also includes a hundred partnership. In the 13th over with the score on 88, Richard played a shot which was mis hit and was caught for 55. You know your team has played badly when 1 batsman hits more boundaries in 13 overs than your whole team did in 42! With 18 boundaries between our 2 openers, we doubled Chadlington's boundary count. Craig Woods was in at 3, joining a well set Sahil with 24 still to win. Craig had to only face one ball in the rest of the innings which he carefully played for nothing, and then Sahil unleashed his aggressive strokeplay at the other end. With 4 runs to win and Sahil on 45, the bowler bowled a bad ball which both the batsman and the keeper missed and it sped to the boundary for 4 byes. A very successful day for the firsts, the score being chased down in 15.5 overs.

It was a new experience for me, writing this week's match report on the plane after a complete thrashing of Chadlington. Good luck to the firsts next week away at West Ilsey, hopefully a re-enactment of this game!