North Holmwood

Sun 26 June                                  North Holmwood                       Lost by 16 runs

    They 182/4 in 40 overs     (Tyers 57, Homewood 57, Wall 27, Sen 2/39)
    We    166/9 in 40 overs     (Quettawala 65*, Gorasiya 48, T.Khan 23,
                                                          Cairns 3/16, Herbert 2/14)

When Skipper Tabby Khan left home on a hot and sunny day without the scorebook he should have known it was not going to be a good day at the office.  Some KCC players arrived late and we were asked to bowl first.  Khush and Bharat were a tad unfortunate as theNorth Holmwood openers scored 57 each before being stumped by the in-form KCC wicket-keeper Mark Oppe.  Abbas Q was unlucky to take only 1 wicket as KCC displayed some sorry fielding.  Four catches were dropped and easy runs were given away (more cap biting for Khan).  A refreshing spell from Stefanos Nayar brought another wicket and Saurav got two whilst being unusually expensive.  Mark kept himself busy with another stumping. North Holmwood got to 182/4 in 40 and KCC needed a drink and some shade.

KCC’s openers, David and Neeraj liked the shade a lot – they were back in the hut before the score reached 20.  Khan steadied the ship before an ‘interesting’ lbw decision by his own umpire.  The next 2 wickets fell within 3 runs and KCC were 7 down with less than 50 runs on the board. Cairns, a part time bowler, had taken 3 wickets thanks to KCC batsmen or umpires.  The KCC cap had been eaten by now.  Abbas and Bharat had different plans though.  Great fighting knocks, some sublime shots by Abbas (65*) and some effective whacking by Bharat (48) got KCC close to the target, but the visitors ended 16 short.  Everyone enjoyed some cool Cobras and the local bitter whilst talking through the day’s cricket. North Holmwood, as ever, were very hospitable and we are all looking forward to the return fixture.