KEMPTON CRICKET CLUB MATCH REPORT

DATE :                                      28th MAY 2011.

TEAM                                       4th XI

OPPONENTS                           WEYBRIDGE 

TYPE OF MATCH                   SURREY CHAMPIONSHIP

VENUE                                     KEMPTON 

RESULT                                   WON BY 5 WICKETS

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................          

A good start to the day by winning the toss and deciding to field first. On returning to the clubhouse with the good news, things then started to go wrong. Steve Crossley called to say he couldn't play due to Lesley being immobile and apologised profusely for the late drop out. A quick conversation with our treasurer to see if we could find a replacement, in the hope that an eleventh man might turn up and we took to the field with only 9 men as Dave Miah was still changing after returning from the morning's Colts match at Albury.

The Weybridge opening pair took an immediate liking to our bowlers, putting on a stand of 70 runs before we got our first victim. Our opening attack was Matt Loveridge 14.4-2-48-7 (1 Caught and Bowled,2 LBW's,2 Bowled and catches for Tom Broad and Alfie Mekwan) and Tom Broad 3-0-23-0.Tom was replaced by Dylan Patel 5-0-20-1 (Catch by James Warne). The wickets fell at regular intervals from then on, each time the skip threatened to take Matt out of the attack he took a wicket. Bringing on Mike Dart 4-0-19-2,to replace Dylan was a captain's dream. First ball Mike got one to swing from outside off stump to york and clean bowl the batsman and four balls later he got the Weybridge captain to edge a sharp catch to Charlie Welch behind the stumps. Malcolm Smith 2-0-9-0 being the only other bowler used and the Weybridge innings closed on 140 All out after 28.4 overs, Extras 17 Byes,1 Leg Bye and 11 Wides.

With the first knock finishing so early the captains decided to have a 10 minute break between innings and take tea 15 overs after the resumption. Lacking any regular openers Alfie Mekwan 1 and the skip 1 planned to be at least the tea watchmen, but alas we were both out to the same bowler managing to sneak one under our vertical bats and hitting our stumps. Charlie Welch 9 and Mike Dart 9 were in and out next and a disaster was looking unavoidable, with our score being 26 for 4 before the tea interval. What happened next was one of the best rescue missions ever seen. James Warne 42 and Dave Miah 41 Not Out set about steadying the rolling ship and all of a sudden we were back in the driving seat. An excellent partnership of 64 between James and Dave got us in sight of victory and it was a shame that neither batsmen  got the half centuries their efforts deserved. When James was dismissed the total was still only on 90,at which point Dylan Patel 13 Not Out came in to hold an end, while 'Dangerous' Dave continued his mission to win the game. Victory came after 36.1 overs with our score on 141 for 5,Extras 9 Byes,5 Leg Byes,10 Wides and 1 No Ball. Our unused batsmen Tom Broad, Harry Lee, Malcolm Smith and Matt Loveridge.

A great game to have played in with all it's twists and turns, the upper hand changing all the time. Excellent fielding by both sides, especially Alfie's over the shoulder running away from the ball catch. Weybridge a good side of 10 youngsters captained by Mike Koops, a real gentleman. Special thanks to Harry Lee for filling in at short notice, sorry you didn't get much of a game, but you are still young and your time will come. Likewise Mike Dart, Tom Broad and Dylan Patel who all bowled and fielded well, proving the investment the club is making in colts is starting to pay dividends already and the future of the club is looking good.