2023
Sun 10 Sept East Horsley Lost by 36 runs
They 268/5 in 40 overs (Matthew Codrington 103 rtd, Amaan Arif 76, James Cooper 28, Wajid Tahir 2/37, Adam Sumner 2/38)
We 232/10 in 39.1 overs (Nitin Chaturvedi 94, Wajid Tahir 35, Praveen Lekhraj 31, Leonel Richard 24), Steve Larkin 3/40, Zain Arif 2/33, Paul Craven 2/49
2022
Sun 4 Sept East Horsley Won by 110 runs
We 229/4 in 40 overs (Rakteem Katakey 68, Chris Ledger 58, Andy Stokes 58, Steve Larkin 1/28)
They 119/10 in 36.4 overs (Tom Garlick 41, Jeremy Garlick 40, Saikat Barua 4/27, David Behar 3/13)
We batted first this extraordinary day. Rakteem and Chris put on a finely paced century stand (132 in 23 overs), blessed with sparkling strokes – a “mwah!” six over extra cover by Rakteem and a mighty AHA-I-knew-you-were-going-to-bowl-that-ball-next six over mid-wicket by Chris were favourites. Wayward bowling from a weaker-than-normal East Horsley neutralised the challenge of a somewhat dodgy pitch. Stokes scratched around for a bit after being put to the test by the relentless young Ken, out by the practice nets all afternoon. But then he pounced on some late innings pies served up by the always sporting Richard Hall, feasting his way to a tasty 58. We went to tea posting 229-4 in our allotted 40 overs. Nothing extraordinary. Yet.
It was in fact KCC’s performance on the field that was extraordinary. Seldom do we put together a performance with the ball, or out on the field, that looks and feels like the real deal. Not the filthy brand we are notorious for, smeared in the repugnant odour of dropped catches and leaky extras.
But something perhaps familiar to much finer pastures of cricketing artistry than the ones we display our higgledy-piggledy wares on every other Sunday. Our hero of the day was Adam Sumner, who put on a brilliant performance with the new ball. His figures read like your ATM pin: 8-5-9-0. The nine runs coming off three scoring shots. The other 45 balls were dots. Despite being desperately unlucky to not secure a wicket, Adam did go on to be the worthy winner of a fine silver trophy, awarded for the performance of the year at our posh annual dinner in St James’. He also learned an important lesson. Such sort of fine artistry — athletic delivery, high finish garbage is too good for our standard of cricket. You need to be a lot shittier than that to take wickets in Sunday cricket mate! To our one Gallic hero, East Horsley had two Garlick heroes. Nephew Tom Garlick fought bravely (41) at the top and Uncle Jeremy Garlick (40) tonked a few about late in the day. Tom was unlucky to be run out, hitting the ball straight to our only fielder on the on-side, Fred Evans at mid-wicket, and running down the track in a moment of desperation. Yes, our utter dominance of line and length on the day, meant that skipper Rohan was able to set an 8-1 off-side dominant field for large parts of that inning. It would be remiss to not acknowledge our other heroes who shone with the ball — Fred Evans, Eddy, David and, especially, Saikat, who picked up 4-27, apparently unscathed from the shock of hosting a party for 700 guests after getting married recently in Bangladesh. Felicitations, Monsieur et Madame Barua!
AT EAST HORSLEY
Back: Nitin Chaturvedi, Saikat Barua, Adam Sumner, Eddy Barreto, Rakteem Katakey, Fred Evans
Front: Chris Ledger (with Ken Ledger), David Behar, Rohan Ghosh, Andy Stokes, Harsha Gandadi
2021
Sun 5 Sept East Horsley Won by 6 wkts
They 188/7 in 40 overs (Zain Arif 48*, Amaan Arif 35, Jeremy Garlick 29, Dom Carpenter 29*, Sunil Amar 6/48)
We 192/4 in 34.4 overs (Rohan Ghosh 69*, Harsha Gandadi 41 rtd hurt, Bernard van Vuuren 28, Dom Carpenter 4/43)
KCC won the toss and skipper Chris Ledger chose to bowl first. With a strong batting line-up it seemed likely we would be able to chase whatever total East Horsley could post… And so it proved. But as it turned out, it wasn’t our batsmen that won us the game, but our one and only legendary old swinger Sunil Amar. The first wicket was taken by Stef Nayar (the key scalp of East Horsley skipper Ant Drake), but after that Sunil completely stole the show. Bowling a remarkable 13 overs on the trot, his figures after his first 10 overs were a fantastic 6 for 25. East Horsley had no answer to Sunil’s gentle but deadly away-swingers and it was only a swashbuckling 48 not out from Zain Arif at number 9 that allowed the home side to post a half-decent total.
188 was very unlikely to be enough, however, and despite a good opening spell from East Horsley man of the match Zain Arif a KCC victory never looked in doubt. In typically classy style, opener Rohan Ghosh stroked his way to an elegant 69*, while Harsha Gandadi smashed the ball hither and thither without mercy. KCC’s innings stuttered briefly when Harsha retired hurt after twisting his knee, with a couple of quick wickets falling to East Horsley’s challenging spin bowler Dom Carpenter. But at the other end Rohan serenely carried his bat, taking KCC to a comfortable victory with plenty of overs to spare. Despite Rohan’s excellent innings, the day undoubtedly belonged to KCC man of the match Sunil Amar, who simply blew East Horsley away.
2020
Sun 6 Sept East Horsley Won by 51 runs
We 256/4 in 42.1 overs (Shahzeb Mohammed 101*, Andy Stokes 60*, Amit Shanker 24, Extras 47, Dom Carpenter 3/64)
They 205/9 in 36 overs (Mark Flack 63, Ant Drake 50, Rajesh Kaji 21, Tim Russell 2/7, Adam Sumner 2/32, Neeraj Nayar 2/57)
Over the years, we’ve played many a cracking match against East Horsley CC. This year was no different.
We batted first. The elegance of Tim Russell and calm of Amit Shankar eased us past 50 runs in short order. When Kiwi-Tim fell, Stef got pinned at one end and Amit was out soon after, seemingly frustrated at not getting enough strike. Andy Stokes walked in and set about repairing the score, effortlessly smashing the ball about and dispersing the field. Rohan came and went, an uncharacteristic no-show after two back-to-back MoM performances at this ground. In strode an out-of-nick Shahzeb, scratching his way to 20 off his first 40 deliveries. At 139/4 in the 32nd, we were well behind the clock.
Wishing to make a game of it, oppo skipper Ant Drake offered two reprieves. First, a drinks break that allowed skipper Rohan to urge Shahzeb to “stop scratching about”. Followed by the traditional end-of-inning Sunday pie chuckers. With Rohan’s command ringing loudly in his ear, Shahzeb then rose from the ashened ruins of his cricketing form, like a phoenix with receding hairline and a blood sugar level pumped with saccharine orange squash. He dispatched the pies to all corners of the ground – well, mainly the corner between deep square and cow. And after completing his 50 off 57 balls, bludgeoned his way to a further 50 runs off the next 19 balls(!), smashing 9 fours and 5 sixes along the way. Bravo! This was Shahzeb’s second hundred for the club, but his first since his glorious one on debut back in 2010. Century complete and with 256 on the board, we declared in the 43rd over.
Adam and Wajid opened the attack for KCC, bowling with pace and accuracy. Brown fell in the 5th over, bowled by Adam. 12 for 1. The classy Drake was then joined by Mark Flack and the pair soon launched a counterattack building a 66-run partnership in no time. However, it proved to be the only substantial partnership of their innings for once Drake was dismissed, wickets fell at regular intervals thanks to some fine KCC fielding. Two outstanding catches were taken. A one-handed grab by Amit running 40 yards to his left at long-on. The other by Wajid who snatched the ball out of the sky leaping high at cow corner. And then there was a stunning pick up and throw run out by Tim Russell too.
To East Horsley’s credit, they pressed on for a victory with Flack in particular looking dangerous. Rohan brought Wajid back into the attack to try and remove Flack, with instructions to bowl fast. Flack was up to the task and smacked a few deliveries into the long grass. But soon we had our man, bowled neck and crop by a Wajid leg-stump yorker. With victory in sight, our very own pie chucker took charge – Kiwi-Tim’s irregular leg spin. Which of course reaped instant reward. East Horsley were all out for 205 in the 36th. Great game. Social cricket at its very best.
Action at East Horsley
Happy get-together with the East Horsley guys
2019
Sun 8 Sept East Horsley Lost by 2 wkts
We 224/6 in 41 overs (Rohan Ghosh 74, Nitin Chaturvedi 70, Harsha Gandadi 32, Stephen Larkin 3/53)
They 225/8 in 39.1 overs (Dom Carpenter 77, Harris Irfan 36, Ant Drake 27, Tim Drake 20*, Saikat Barua 3/45)
A gorgeous September day – KCC v East Horsley and could England repeat Headingley Sunday heroics, this time to save the test?
Skipper Neej arrived bright and early at East Horsley’s very charming setting to be met by our Legendary San Gore but very little sign of other teammates. When captaining KCC – ALL plans must be fluid. Firstly, if most of your team are still en route – it’s purely pleasantries that you can exchange at the Toss. Having played against the Drake family for 23 years it was not difficult to have a friendly chat with Skipper Ant, win the Toss and BAT since we had a missing keeper and strike bowler.
Chris and Nitin opened to face a fiery spell from Jason Larnder and the very economical, wily, skilful exhibition of swing bowling from senior Tim Drake who returned in time from his Devon sojourn to be part of our annual fixture. Chris looked solid in defence but it didn’t last as Jason had him caught behind. In-form Harsha (who arrived a few minutes prior) was rushed in at No.3 and started confidently against Jason. Nitin in the meantime was determined not to throw his wicket away to the aforementioned Senior Drake. Harsha started to strut his stuff by crunching drives and lofted flicks and raced to 32 but was dismissed soon after. The very classy Rohan joined Nitin for a memorable partnership. They first soaked up the pressure and then built a platform to open their shoulders and get KCC to a very competitive score, Rohan scoring a delightful 74 and Nitin racing to 70 in a 138 run stand. Amit Kumar waited with pads on for a No. 5 promotion and selflessly swung the willow in pursuit of quick runs and a declaration. Saikat bludgeoned a mighty six and two crunching fours for a quick-fire 18 not out and Neej could comfortably declare after the 41st over at 224/6.
A delightful tea was followed by a tight opening spell from Bernard and Adam. Their 14 overs conceded just 42 runs, however they went wicketless whilst Dom Carpenter and Harris Irfan dug in for the long haul. First change Wajjo bowled with hostility but it was Neeraj who got the first wicket, that of Harris with the score at 72. Ant joined Dom who was particularly severe on Neej and East Horsley’s intentions of chasing down our total were very clear. The game was racing away from us in a flash but our El Presidente Amar usually has the last say. He slowed the run rate down, picked up a wicket and with two run outs in his spell brought us right back in. Saikat too bowled a fine spell of 6 overs to pick up 3 wickets.
We had our friends at East Horsley 7 wickets down with 2 overs to go and still 21 runs or 3 wickets the equation. KCC knew that ALL results were still possible having had many memorable finishes here. Sunil’s over went for plenty with Tim Drake nonchalantly slotting the ball to the boundary repeatedly even though a run out was effected. With just four to win Tim won the game on the first ball of the last over.
We retired to the bar with plenty of Bon Ami and Cheer. KCC presented the Man of the Match to Tim Drake for his fine bowling and match-winning innings, and East Horsley chose Rohan for their MoM. Not to be outdone by our Cobras and Whiskies, East Horsley introduced their own Bottle of Bubbly for Rohan. A nice touch!
England, sadly, could not save the test, nor could KCC grasp a win. However, another great day in the sun, with good friends enjoying a close game of cricket. Onwards KCC… before the winter sets in!
2018
Sun 9 Sept East Horsley Drawn (but exciting)
We 241/4 in 40 overs (Rohan Ghosh 82, Saikat Barua 52*, Chris Ledger 50, Dom Carpenter 2/71)
They 231/7 in 39 overs (John Staddon 62, Ant Drake 47, James Aston 40, Jeremy Garlick 32, Neeraj Nayar 2/39, Ian Elliott 2/41)
Batting first in this declaration game, KCC’s openers Chris Ledger and Chetan Malhotra had to contend with some challenging bowling on a pitch of variable bounce. Scoring was slow for the first 10 overs but we did well not to lose wickets. With a platform laid and wickets in hand, Rohan Ghosh and Saikat Barua in particular were able to capitalise later in the innings, scoring rapidly to take us to a very competitive score of 241 declared after 40 overs.
In reply, East Horsley’s openers Andrew Bull and Ant Drake got off to a flying start, which had us worried until an excellent low catch by Saikat Barua brought the partnership to an end. Ant Drake, playing his last game as a bachelor before his wedding the next weekend, looked in ominous form before Chetan Singh bowled him through the gate with a pearler. Despite wickets falling regularly, East Horsley’s middle order continued the chase in spirited fashion, always just behind the required run rate but refusing to give up hope. With just one over to go all results were possible, with East Horsley needing 14 runs to win, and KCC requiring 3 more wickets.
As it turned out, neither side managed to claim a last gasp victory, and the match was drawn – a very entertaining game that went right down to the wire.
A special mention for Neeraj Nayar who in the course of this match reached 401 wickets for the Club. Congratulations, Neej – first to 500 soon?
A sunny day at East Horsley
2017
Sun 10 Sept East Horsley Drawn (in the rain)
We 161/9 in 46.3 overs (Preetinder Singh 71, Rohan Ghosh 24, Tabrez Khan 17, Sacha von Wolfen 3/61, Tim Drake 2/3, Harris Irfan 2/16)
They 54/6 in 19 overs (Jason Launder 19, Philip Drake 15, Ryan Konson 3/24, Amit Kumar 2/5)
Rain brought this game to a premature conclusion with Kensington well on top. Despite the early finish, important lessons were still learned.
1 Patience is a virtue
There was no Indian summer in September. Genuinely autumnal conditions meant it was a bowlers’ day. Only one batsman on either side mastered the conditions. Preet started watchfully but accelerated towards the end of his innings to lift us from 51/4 after 25 overs to a respectable total of 161/9. Preet and Ro shared a vital 6th wicket stand of 70 and Preet finished with 71 (exactly what he got in this fixture last year).
2 Be the first to pass the buck
Ryan’s late in-swing reduced East Horsley to 24 for 3. Meanwhile, Chetan was keeping a good length at the other end. Philip Drake, East Horsley No 3, toe-ended an attempted hit over the top from another good length Chetan delivery. The ball was swirling in the air somewhere above mid off and extra cover. Ro, at mid off, cunningly got his shout of “Your catch” in first. David, at extra cover, had no intention of taking the catch. Fortunately, Ro had the awareness to take responsibility and the catch as the ball swirled back in his direction.
3 Persistence is its own reward
Amit Kumar’s maiden season for KCC has been a tough one. He’s struggled to make an impact with bat or ball but has kept on turning out for KCC, enthusiasm undimmed. Fair to say, he finally arrived at East Horsley claiming 2 middle order wickets in one over, the only one of us who could bowl with a bar of soap! Only rain prevented him pushing for his maiden 5-for for the club.
2016
Sun 4 Sept East Horsley Won by 96 runs
We 188/10 in 43 overs (Preetinder Singh 71, San Gore 55, Stef Nayar 24, Tim Drake 4/29, Marcus Roche 2/4, Sam Robinson 2/28)
They 92/10 in 27.3 overs (Marcus Roche 43, Chris Chunnilall 5/11, Stefanos Nayar 2/30, Wajid Tahir 2/42)
As KCC arrived at the gorgeous East Horsley ground, there was a mysterious and long awaited scent of victory in the air. Welcomed by a friendly opposition, we found ourselves padding up and ready to put on a show that would do the Club proud. Unfortunately, the show had arrived from the wrong team as their opening bowler Marcus Roche penetrated through KCC’s openers, bringing down skipper Tabrez Khan and Jai Singh with devastating swing. David Behar was next to fall (7/3), bringing a change of heart to the E.H captain. With a change of bowling and solid batting from San, we managed to steady through the next 10 overs while two members of our team gently discussed politics during an umpire changeover. Stefanos then fell victim to young Luke Garlick’s accurate spin bowling which proved to be a good spell. Now four down and in came Preetinder with a confident look on his face and his batting did justice as he belted his way to his half century alongside San who soon followed up with his own fifty. Both were dismissed, however, after their 100 partnership. The tail did not wag this time as we were bundled out 22 runs later for a below-par 188. Spare a thought though for John Behar in his first match of the season. Coming in at no.9 he looked in good nick and smashed a ball to square leg destined surely for the boundary, only for Jeremy Garlick to hold a blinding catch. We trooped in for tea, the usual magnificent spread.
Wajid and Stef opened the attack in hopes to break through the top order. As Wajid picked up his first wicket, KCC were looking strong but Marcus caused quick panic only to be blown over by Wajid’s destructive pace (gaining himself a second wicket). Stef followed with a couple as that victory scent began to return (72/4). Neeraj bowled a crucial few overs but it was left to Chris Chunnilall to show his Behar relatives how it’s done as his quick wickets compensated for John’s bad shoulder. His offies swept through the tail and he ended up with five wickets for just eleven runs bringing KCC to victory and that long-forgotten sweet smell of success; East Horsley all out for 92 in 27.3 overs was a result we badly needed.
As always the game was played in good spirit. The two Garlicks were presented with the Gold Label and Chris won the KCC Cobra award. The opposition also kindly presented us with a bottle of wine after the game.
At East Horsley
2015
Sun 9 August East Horsley Lost by 4 wkts
We 221/6 in 39 overs (Nitin Chaturvedi 78*, Tabrez Khan 45, San Gore 28, Shahzeb Mohammed 25, Sam Robinson 2/40, Teagan Pitout 2/51)
They 223/6 in 33 overs (Jason Launder 127, Teagan Pitout 27*, Saikat Barua 3/53, Nitin Chaturvedi 2/28)
Beautiful (and expensive) houses surrounding the cricket green, and an opposition we love playing with, makes this a great day of cricket for KCC. The spirit is warm, competitive yet friendly and all about having fun on the field. We also have a long history of tightly contested wins and losses at this ground so everyone is bright eyed and bushy tailed.
So some of KCC’s finest set about padding up as Skipper Khan won the toss (a first) and chose to bat in the sunshine. When San says he will open the batting with a nod and a smile, you know he is the right one to take the shine off the ball. He struck decent partnerships with Kunal and Shahzeb and fell to an unfortunate bounce that spooned off the bat to mid-wicket. On came Tabrez and Nitin needing to steady the ship in the face of tight East Horsley bowling. A few lusty blows, well placed shots and a mix of aggression and defence led to an 86 run partnership and the score was 166 when Tabby got bowled for the second time that weekend in the 40s, playing the same shot! Nitin soldiered on to an unbeaten 78 off 70 balls. When Sam Robinson found himself with a hat-trick chance in the last over before declaration was due, it was discovered that next-in-to-bat Deepak had taken his pads off anticipating not to bat the last few balls. Tabrez declared at this point much to Robinson’s disappointment. A swift consultation with East Horsley Skipper and Deepak ran in to bat with one pad in hand – to be worn on the pitch before facing 3 balls, unbeaten, and not adding to the score of 221/6. Much ado about nothing but Robinson got to complete his over. Teagan Pitout was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 51.
Opening bat Jason Launder took to KCC bowling like a hungry man takes to his food. Although Saikat took two early wickets and troubled him at first, Jason dispatched everything with ease, to all parts of the ground and no chances were offered. He brought his side to within easy reach of the target with a splendid 127. KCC however, sensed an opening as other East Horsley batsmen walked in and out. A dropped catch, a tough chance some would say, meant that East Horsley crept over the line with Pitout holding his bat with support from Robinson and Elliott.
We retired to the bar for some excellent local brews and a post-match presentation in the sunshine. Jason walked away with the Johnnie Walker Gold Label Man of the Match bottle and Nitin got the Cobra Man of the Match (for KCC) bottle. A good day of friendly cricket ended with a trip to a curry house on the way home.
2014
Sun 10 August East Horsley Cancelled – rain
2013
Sun 11 August East Horsley Lost by 5 runs
They 222/4 in 38 overs (McClellan 102*, Smart 60, Launder 23, Manas Roy 3/39)
We 217/10 in 42.5 overs (Amit Shanker 94, Chris Ledger 38, Saikat Barua 22, Ant Drake 4/30)
A very enjoyable, close-fought game. Batting first, East Horsley initially struggled against excellent opening bowling from KCC’s new ball bowlers, Manas Roy and Saikat Barua. Deepak Ramachandra followed up with a typically tight spell, but having done well to survive, East Horsley’s man of the match McClellan was then able to plunder KCC’s wayward spinners. After McClellan reached his century, East Horsley’s skipper generously declared after just 38 overs with the score on 222, when most captains would have been tempted to continue for two or three more overs.
KCC’s reply started badly, with both openers dismissed in single figures, before Amit Shankar and skipper Chris Ledger staged a recovery, putting on 70 or so. Once Chris was out, Amit carried the rest of the innings virtually single-handedly as the rest of KCC’s middle order collapsed around him, just missing out on a well-deserved 100. Tailender Saikat Barua played a fine cameo towards the end, smacking 22 quick runs, but perished in the final over, caught in the deep attempting another boundary that might have taken KCC to victory. Although KCC lost, this was a great game of cricket, going down to the wire in the final over. Well done to East Horsley’s skipper Ant Drake for making such a finely judged declaration!
Saikat Barua, Navneet Bali, Karan Bali, Oscar Jefferson, Deepak Ramachandra, Shahzeb Mohammed Mark Jefferson
David Behar, John Behar (with Magnus), Chris Ledger, Amit Shanker, Swann and Trott
2012
Sun 12 August East Horsley Lost by 64 runs
They 223/8 in 39 overs (McClellan 76, Launder 40, Davies 32, Amar 3/53, J.Behar 2/54, Marshall 2/54)
We 159/10 in 39 overs (Ramsagar 53, D.Behar 20, Tharakan 18, Extras 31, McClellan 3/18, Elliot 2/27, Carpenter 2/39)
With the sun beating down hard, East Horsley decided to bat. Spectators in the Million Pound homes waited with bated breath to be threaded with some thumping sixes. KCC opening bowlers Khush Khan and Matt Marshall were having none of that. Matt was simply too good for the batsmen by swinging it both ways at will. San took a stunning catch at gully and at 18/3 KCC were looking good. McClellan and Saunders counter-attacked scoring 93 together until the Amar and Johnny Behar show finally began. Sweat, good fielding (Rohan pulling off an amazing stumping) and the heat got to everyone including Khush and Furquan who found the boundary shade a few too many times for their skipper’s liking.
203 is not a big score on this ground but KCC made a meal of it. Rohan got stumped (first this decade), David got caught flashing hard, Gore undone by the bounce (theme of the season), T Khan, Scalco, Marshall, J Behar all out within single figures. Ajit scored a fine gritted run-a-ball 50 but the hope for a draw in the timed game rested on Sunil and Khush Khan. Sunil had six balls to face the wily McClellan (who was MoM for his runs and 3 for). Each ball drew oohs and aahs from the fielding and batting teams and the umpires too.
Last ball, field in, “just put bat to ball Sunil”, thought his skipper Tabby Khan umpiring. The ball thudded on to the pads, in slow motion, men in white jumped up and down screaming their lungs for that lbw. A deep breath, right spirit vs save the game, and Tabby raised his finger very slowly. EH were joyous at returning the stuffing they received previous year.
Post match hospitality and beers saw some banter, handshakes and hugs. Surely, that’s what Village Cricket in England is about.
2011
Sun 7 August East Horsley Won by 18 runs
We 222/7 in 46 overs (Shahzeb 62, Ghosh 47, T.Khan 30*, McLellan 5/45)
They 204/10 in 43.4 overs (A.Drake 59, McLellan 55, Brown 51, Chaggar 3/42, Shanker 3/44, Nayar 2/20, Amar 2/35)
As the England-India test series has become hopelessly one-sided, it has fallen to KCC to keep up interest in the highest forms of the game.
KCC won the toss and elected to bat. Rohan Ghosh (47) put on a steady start with Chris Ledger (who was still reeling somewhat from the festivities marking his personal half century the previous evening) and was unlucky to miss out on a half century. Shahzeb survived several attempts at running himself out, but played some delightful shots in between to help himself to 62. He was ably supported by Pammi Chaggar (21), but East Horsley kept the run rate in check with some impressive bowling, particularly from Rob McLellan (5/45) who also took what looked to be a superb catch diving full length forward at the boundary to get rid of Tabrez (20 in quick time), but sportingly declined to appeal as he thought it was a bump ball. Stefanos Nayar’s verdict was “they wanted to keep him in”, though he subsequently retracted (was made to retract?) the statement.
The run rate dragged along at 4 an over for 39 overs until Tabby decided that enough was enough and, sans helmet (naturally) slapped the bowling around to reach 30 in no time at all and help KCC post a respectable 222/7 by the time a delightful tea was taken.
East Horsley started the chase watchfully, and were pegged back to 37/3 thanks to accurate bowling from Amit Shanker (3/44) and the wiles of that man Neeraj Nayar, who conceded just 16 runs in his eight over spell. The introduction of skipper Sen’s off-spin opened the floodgates as Ant Drake (59) and Brown (51) tucked into anything short, and for a few overs it looked as though the hosts would canter home to a comfortable victory as KCC (particularly Furquan, who found himself in the uncomfortable position of boundary rider) chased leather.
However, Pammi Chaggar held his nerve to keep things under control – just, while el presidente Sunil Amar produced a golden spell to tilt the balance back in KCC’s favour. At 151/8, KCC would have been entitled to think the game was effectively over, but again, Rob McLellan (55) had different ideas as he put on a 51-run partnership for the ninth wicket with young Dominic Carpenter, who contributed 1 run to this figure. With the game threatening to get out of hand, Tabby produced a disciplined spell of death bowling which enabled the re-introduced Neeraj to induce McLellan to hole out to long-off and then pick up the last wicket to give KCC a win by 18 runs.
Great sighs of relief accompanied the excellent post-match hospitality and we look forward to another great match next year!
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