Barnes 2

Sun 21 August                                  Barnes                                  Won by 3 wkts

    They 235/9 in 40 overs     (Scott 88, Pilkington 37, Chaggar 4/32, T.Khan 3/56)
    We    236/7 in 39.5 overs  (T.Keleher 52, Shahzeb 52, Ledger 42*, Shanker 24,
                                                Lamb 2/36, Collins 2/44)

This was yet another cracker between Barnes CC and KCC, as it’s wont to be in recent history.  KCC skipper Rohan won the toss and inserted the opposition on a fresh pitch.  The atmosphere was electric almost from the first ball as Amit and Neeraj opened the attack against the classy Barnes opening pair of Pilkington and Scott.  At 72 for no loss in the 11th, the odds seemed stacked against KCC.  After Scott fell for 80, short of a deserving hundred, excellent spells from Saurav and Pammi Chaggar (7-2-32-4) and some really spectacular KCC fielding restricted Barnes to 235/9 in their allotted 40 overs.

In reply, KCC’s Matt and Rohan fell early, but Tim (52) and Shahzeb (52) batted with controlled aggression to leave the visitors 100 behind, with 15 overs and 6 wickets in hand.  However, the game swung again as Barnes came back strong, picked up a few wickets cheaply and pinned us back.  Requiring 42 off the last 6 overs, it was up to KCC’s resident royals, Dame Tabatha (Tabby) and Lord Ledger to steer the ship home.  And so they did.  Not without drama, of course.  Tabby smashed a delightful straight six after teasing the bowlers with a few copy-book defensive prods and Chris reverse-swept fours with gay abandon as if he was having a stroll on the sun-kissed decks of the Queen Mary.  With four required off the last over, it all seemed settled.  But when Chris was dropped at square leg off the second-last ball when the scores were level, Tabby decided it was a fitting occasion for an impromptu jig and rushed down the pitch, unable to control his enthusiasm.  While Chris and Tabby were busy imitating Fred Astaire in the middle of the pitch, to the tune of that old classic “Yes and No”, run out chances were missed, at both ends.  And somehow we won … off an overthrow!

Back at the bar, we reflected on a fine performance by KCC.  A real TEAM performance!