Blast from the past

The summer sun finally arrived as Kings played host to their old rivals Pyestock. It was the tenth time the two teams had clashed, with Kings holding the upper hand in the previous encounters, having won five to Pyestock's solitary win back in 1996.  The game earlier this season had seen Kings dominate, with Pyestock holding on for a draw. Kings were fully aware that their long-standing foes would try and raise their game considerably in an attempt to put their barren run to an end.

This time, the two sides were destined to play out a low scoring, but highly entertaining and intriguing game, in which excellent bowling dominated throughout.

Due to a problem with the mower the scheduled pitch could not be fully prepared and the match was played on the previous days pitch, which had seen 17 wickets fall for just over 140 runs. Pyestock, under the Captaincy of their evergreen stalwart Neil Butler, won the toss and asked Kings to bat. With Kings Dave Perry missing, Steve Smith retained the opening spot and he opened with usual opener Dave Miller.

Miller and Smith made a cautious start against the new ball, which Butler was already getting to cut back sharply, whilst at other end Heath was getting some good away swing. The first wicket fell in the 5th over, when Miller clipped Heath to mid-wicket, called for a single but was sent back by Smith. Miller in attempting to regain his ground, slipped and this cost him vital seconds and saw him fall short of his ground by some distance. Kings suffered a vital set back two balls later when Pipe cover drove at Heath only to be caught by Ensor. With two big guns back in the pavilion Kings now had to dig deep to recover. Smith was batting well and supported by Evans they saw the score to 31 before Evans gave himself some room to cut and was bowled by Butler's inswinger. This soon became 33-4 as Smith became Heath's second victim, with Ensor taking his second catch. Butler was now well into his groove and Tighe and Young had to play watchfully in trying to rebuild. However with 9 runs added Butler dismissed Young, and a further nine runs on Tighe suffered the same fate. At 51-6 Kings were in danger of falling to one of their lowest scores.  However the tail dug in deep and tried to see the opening bowlers off, which they partly succeeded when Heath finished with 2-26 off nine overs. Yet the dangerous Butler remained, and just 11 runs were added before he claimed his fourth wicket when he bowled Wright. Mears and Bygrave continued to fight hard to give Kings something like a total to bowl at. Another 11 runs were added before Mears who had fought for 34 balls for his 9 runs became Butler's fifth wicket when he clipped the ball to Colin Butler at cover point. (74-8). Bygrave and Sones continued the fight, and were relieved to see Neil Butler finish his 15 over spell one over after dismissing Mears. They took every advantage to score where possible off Ensor and Paul Heath, but suffered a further set back when having added 15 runs for the ninth wicket Sones was bowled by Paul Heath. With time running out and the slow bowling of Short now in the attack Bygrave and last man Adams pushed for as many runs as they could muster in quick time. They had taken the innings into the last over, and added 15 before Bygrave became last man out when he was bowled by Short for 17. In their innings of 41 overs and 4 balls Kings had managed to struggle and battle their way to 104 all out, a total far short of what they would have expected and wanted, but it had, at least, given them a total to bowl at.

How Kings played the second innings was going to be important, trying to attack, whilst defending a small total. Nick Tighe opened the bowling of the second innings, for which Ensor opened for Pyestock. With an attacking field in place Ensor was relieved when the first ball was outside off stump and he dispatched it to the backward point boundary. However the next four balls were right on the prefect length and gave no chance of scoring. The last ball of the over was short of a length and quicker and got big on Ensor, however he could not resist the challenge and tried to pull the ball but only succeeded in getting a top edge allowing Adams to take a well judged catch backward of square.  After a further eight runs were added Tighe struck again when he clean bowled Sladen (12-2). However Paul Heath then took a liking to Sones and rapidly added runs, scoring 10 an over, in two successive overs. Kings could not afford such a scoring rate and Sones was replaced by Pipe. With the score on 39, with Heath having scored 24 of them, Tighe produced a brilliant delivery to clean bowl Heath and it was soon 39-4, as Pipe found the outside edge of Grigg's bat and Wright took an outstanding diving one handed catch at second slip. This was the turning point of the game, as it opened the door to the lower order and when Pipe caught Jeffs to give Tighe his fourth wicket Pyestock had slumped to 46-5. One run later Pipe produced a peach of a delivery to bowl the experienced and stubborn Short. Neil Butler was now trying to farm the strike but when Want ended up facing Pipe there was only one winner, with Pipe disturbing the timbers.(55-7). Tighe did not have to wait long before he claimed his fifth wicket when Butler failed to keep out a ball that kept a little low. (55-8). The wait for Tighe's sixth wicket was as short as it can be, with Barber being bowled first ball.(55-9). The last pair of Colin Butler and Chris Heath somehow kept Pipe and Tighe at bay, adding 19 runs, as they tried to delay what seemed the inevitable. A change of bowling, Adams and Bygrave entering the attack, kept the pressure on, with Adams finding the perfect length from the off. Then off the last ball of Bygrave's first over, Heath, having just pulled the ball to the boundary, was beaten all ends up by Bygrave and lost his off stump.

Kings had won the game with a super bowling and fielding performance in defending a very fragile total. In victory Kings defended their unbeaten home record, now stretching back 28 games and over four years. Meanwhile Pyestock must have felt mortified that having bowled so well, with Butler superb with 5-38, that they were unable to record their first win over Kings in six years. Kings though got their reward for determination with the bat and excellent bowling, especially from Tighe who returned with figures of 6-24, Kings fifth best bowling return.

                Kings CC

                        Extras:                                                                         18

                        Total: all out off 41.4 overs                                          104

                        Butler N: 15-3-38-5      Heath C: 9-2-26-2        Ensor: 8-2-12-0
Heath P:  6-1-9-1          Short: 3.4-0-9-1

                        Pyestock CC

                       Ensor                c.Adams           b.Tighe                         4
Sladen                                      b.Tighe                         4
Heath P                                    b.Tighe                         24
Grigg                c.Wright          b.Pipe                           3
Butler N                                   b.Tighe                         12
Jeffs               c.Pipe               b.Tighe                         1
Short                                       b.Pipe                           0
Want                                        b.Pipe                           0
Butler C                        Not Out                                    16
Barber                                      b.Tighe                         0
Heath C                                    b.Bygrave                     4

                        Extras:                                                                         8

                        Total: all out off 27 overs                                            76

                        Tighe: 13-2-24-6          Sones: 4-1-24-0            Pipe: 7-2-16-3
Adams: 2-1-3-0 Bygrave: 1-0-4-1