Sun 15 May                                       Ickleford                                Won by 86 runs

    We    231/8 in 42 overs     (Kidwai 72*, Ghosh 70, D.Behar 46, Crouch 4/79
    They 145/10 in 29.4 overs  (Munn 51, Shinner 13, Marshall 3/28, Amar 3/31)

This was our inaugural fixture with Ickleford CC after Ascot failed to raise a team.  KCC were too strong for Ickleford’s Sunday team with a good all-round effort taking us to victory.  Not sure what was in the water but 3 of the 4 opening bowlers on the day were unable to complete their spells due to various strains and injuries.  Ickleford’s opening bowler Day was the first to succumb, forced to leave the field with a side strain after bowling 6 tidy overs.  Mirza and Jamuar were to follow at the top of Ickleford’s innings as well.  

Skipper David Behar and Shahzeb Mohammad played with carefree abandon after the early departure of Atul Setia.  But it was left to Rohan to consolidate the innings with a well paced 70, and Furquan to accelerate us to a respectable total on a small ground finishing on 72 not out.  Crouch was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 79.

Ickleford wickets fell regularly.  Opening batsman Muna scored a good 50 with Furquan’s wicket-taking strategy of bowling long hops only serving to feed his powerful pull shot.  Otherwise, there was little resistance to KCC’s varied attack.  Amar and Marshall claimed 3 wickets apiece and Sharma and Setia cleaned up the tail.  Presentations were made on the terrace outside the bar after the game and Ickleford were thanked for giving KCC a game at the 11th hour.