22/05/2011 v Kidbrooke CC

won

Century for Tim as he and Adam put on 123 to win game

The omens weren't good at the off, the A2 was stuffed as was the A20 by all accounts, on arriving at the ground Bob demonstrated his new automatic sun roof and instantly a heavy shower poured down much to our amusement, whilst we scuttled for cover. Add to that the boys had missed the ground entrance and were heading for central london and one of our members who shall remain nameless (the ox) was touring 'Nil by mouthland' on the assumption that as we were playing Kidbrooke the ground must be in Kidbrooke, (ass you and me - theres a fitting saying in there somewhere) not an auspicious start.

Peg won the toss with our bowling line up looked pretty good and a belief that we are generally a little better chasing we decided to bowl first.

With Tim Mc still trailing round the Ferrier Estate looking for a square we took to the field and Bob and James kept things really tight to start an early runout after some smart work from Shaun and a wicket from James saw as confine the oppo to 50/2 off the first 15(odd) overs.

Second change saw Charlie and Billy take over but Billy struggled to find his rhythm and the tide started to turn a little with Kidbrookes 4th wicket pairing starting to build a substantial partnership.

A real toil ensued with the opener and the no4 putting on well over 100 and both securing 50's before Charlie finally struck and with Peg racing (i kid you not) from 1st slip to silly mid off and producing a salmonesque dive, snaffled a sky bound top edge to remove the opener.

This signalled a push from the No4 who was clearly a good bat, Billy unfortunately bared the brunt of this having come on again from the other end and Brad at the other end faired only a little better he inevitably reached his 100 having chanced his arm a little with two narrow squeeks in the slips and a hard hit chance to mid-wicket that Pete spilled whilst he was in his 90's luckily enough it didnt prove too costly and when he repeated the shot a couple of overs later Pete duly made amends and said batsman was on his way back having finished on 108.

Things pretty much fizzled out for Kidbrooke by then with the damage already having been done and another quick wicket in the last couple of overs saw them finish on 229 for 5

Tea

Quality - 8 -good range of sandwiches including wraps - plenty of cheese (with no onion) oodles of savourys and chips - always a winner. Quantity - 5 - little light weight on the amounts - second runs were disapointly light Choice - 8 - as mentioned lots of choice and impressive amount of cakes and fruit (for girls) Overall Dinning Experience- 7- All in all very good but just a little shy of the required amount for 22 gannets.

Total:- 28

The second half commenced despite the interest in the Premiership relegation saga with Peg and Shaun opening, Kidbrookes opening bowlers were tidy if not spectacular but the left hander especially was acurate and hit a nagging length that was right on the sticks, sure enough it was very effective when he took account for Peg and Mark (offstump cartwheels) and Brad (leg stump) meanwhile Shaun fell at the other end to a top edge - things were looking decidely shakey.

Thankfully Tim Mc (who had finally turned up) in at 3 and Adam in at 6 steadied the ship marvelously and slowly began to recontruct our innings and soon built a similarly productive partnership and added over 100 too. With his 50 secured Tim started to have a dash himself and was soon dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground when some mid innings pie chucking came to the fore from Kidbrooke, quite coincidentally he too finished on 108 when he let one slip through and lost his off stump.

Charlie came in to support Adam who had been quite happy in his anchor role opposite Tim but things looked tight with 8 an over required off the last 12.

Adam and Charlie took to the task magnificently and with some expansive shot making and a couple of pieces of luck with Adam being dropped twice and Charlie once the targets soon loomed into site and Charlie (35 n.o.) hit the winning runs with Adam finishing off after a magnificent effort on 44n.o. with two balls to spare for a 5 wicket win.

All in all you couldnt ask for a more exciting finale and Kidbrooke played there part too in what surely will be one of the games of the season.

Man of the match was collectively awarded to Tim who's terrific innings was only slightly marred by ANOTHER bout of bowel indiscipline which left Mark sweating at No. 4 on a early introduction (luckily avoided)

Top Stuff