Kew CC v BCCC
Kew CC 246-5
BCCC 218 Lost by 28 runs
A familiar trend to the last match but with a difference as we had fielded our strongest batting line up to date. So on paper we had a batting line up capable of chasing any total !!! Anyway close but not close enough.
If we were a competition side heads would roll but as we are just a Sunday team of somewhat dubious age semi retired professional players I guess it's fine. So let's move on to the next match. However, it would have been nice for the sake of the entire team if player/s were in tune with the match situation and played accordingly. Putting too much pressure on the other bats only creates unnecessary risk taking.
Anyway, moving on, Barnes players finally arrived at Kew and the game started at 12-50 pm. Lost the toss again and we were put in to field on a damp wicket !! Graeme and Suraj opened the bowling with some good line and length and restricted Kew to 55 after 14 overs. A few hard chances went down especially off their opener Sandhu when he was on 20 and again on 62 and he went on to get 93 runs !! Suraj 6- 27-1 . Graeme 8-1 -28- 0 . Another 71 by their number 4 bat Liudi help put back the momentum in their innings to take then up to 190 in the 33rd over. After that in came Kiddy their West Indian import who scored a quick fire 32 in 8 balls to take their total up to 246 in 40 overs. I think we gave away 30-40 easy runs along with dropping their top scorer when he was on 20 and 62 !! . Bowlers figures were Vish - 7-42-1. Keith 5-36-1 . Henry - 6-36-1. Kiran - 3-32-0 (v. expensive) , Nik- 4-37-1 ( expensive) Sanjay 1-3-0.
Kew having set BCCC 247 to win at just 6 runs an over was not beyond Barnes batsman's capabilities to chase down as last year we chased down 260 against the same opposition. But alas it was not to be and Barnes ran short by 28 runs when last man standing Phil was bowled in the 40th over !!! A valiant effort but in vain. Keith and Nick started the innings. Nick went after the bowling from the start and was on 15 off 2 overs before trying to pull a short ball which stopped on him and was caught at midwicket for 17 in the 3rd over. Kiran walked in next and took a few balls to get going and decided to take on the bowlers too to score a quick 28 with 5 boundaries. One of which a six over long off competes with Henry's cover drive for the shot of the match. At this stage we were on 54 for 2 in 10 overs. One side of the batting partnership was working well. Graeme unlike him did not last long and went for 3 as did Sanjay for 5. At this stage Barnes were 79 for 4 off 19 overs . Nik -17, Kiran 28 , Graeme -3 , Sanjay -5 , Extras - 11 and Keith on 15 still holding up the other end. In walked in Henry at 6 who started taking the bowlers apart with ease and got us to 140 off 28 overs before getting out after scoring a very handy 45 runs but not before leaning into a beautiful cover drive off their fast bowler Kiddy. 12 overs to go and 107 runs required at nearly 9 runs an over !! Vish walked in and out as he was yorked by an unplayable delivery by Kiddy. In comes Suraj who showed intent to score a quick 23 before being run out to an unfortunate mix up. Barnes could have done without at this stage. Phil in next tried to take on the chase and ended up with 24 valuable runs as he soon ran out of partners after Keith departed in the 35th over after scoring 43. Arun walked in and out for 0 in the 36th over, with Pete H coming in to help Phil get to the target to remain not out at the end. In the end Barnes fell short by 28 runs !!
Man of the match - Henry for his quick fire knock of 45 with 9 4's. Not sure if he's happier getting the trophy or having a pint of beer !!!
Catch of the match - well I guess that goes to me by default for taking the only catch of the match at slip off the bowling of Nik to get their opener out for 93 !!!
Shot of the match - Kiran's six over long off which cleared the boundary with ease. A shot similar to a few his old man used to hit ( well at least like he did in his younger days .. Up until last year !! ).
