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BGCC arrived at a damp Kenilworth Wardens so the start of this BDCPL Div. 1
game was delayed by 25 minutes and reduced to 47 overs a piece.
Captain Andy Ford won the toss for the 3rd week running and this time chose
to bowl first. The new look opening pairing of Tim Williams and Alex Hepburn
took some early punishment from Kenilworth openers Keith Bell and Martin
Donald with the latter particularly prolific with multiple boundaries.
KWCC’s 50 came up in only the 7th over with Donald’s 9th four of inning
through the covers.
Again the rain fell and the game was disrupted for 45 minutes. On resumption
of play KWCC lost two quick wickets with both openers being dismissed.
Donald fell first, hitting out once too often – he was well caught by Milton
at deep cover off Hepburn for 40 off only 28 balls. Then Bell was trapped
lbw for 19 from Ford’s second ball. This brought together Scott Stenning and
Sitansu Kotak, forming the key partnership of the game. Although the run
rate dramatically both batsmen accumulated runs steadily, hitting regular
boundaries of each bowler.
Hepburn struck again in the first over of his second spell when he clean
bowled Kotak for 75, bringing to an end an impressive 153 partnership.
Stenning was joined by Jason Young and the total had reached 250 when
Stenning was run out on 83 by Hepburn. Blair Kingsland had Nick Seagar
stumped by Ash Brewer first ball then with only 9 balls remaining rain
disrupted play again. An early tea was taken and then KWCC added 14 runs to
reach 281 for 5 in 47 overs – Young not out 51 off only 31 balls.
Scorers and umpires conferred and calculated that with 11 overs lost to rain
BGCC needed 251 off 36 overs at a run rate of just under 7 an over. With
this in mind nboth openers Alex Milton and Mark Hooper knew they had to be
more attacking than normal. Milton was the first to go for 4 when an inside
edge was spectacularly caught one-handed down the leg side by keeper Bell.
Hooper and Alex Hepburn rode their luck and the green’s 50 came up in the
11th when Hepburn hit Paul Henderson for 6 over deep square leg. He tried
the same shot off Henderson’s next over but was caught by Alistair Wilkinson
on the boundary – out for 36. Hooper too was caught off Henderson when he
skied one to Donald at mid-off when on 29.
With the score on 80 for 3 with 20 overs left, a third break for rain of 40
minutes changed the game yet again. Further calculations meant the revised
target was 182 off 26 overs – meaning new BGCC batsmen Elliot Hennessy and
Kev Golder faced a daunting task of 102 off 10 overs. Golder was cleaned
bowled by Matthew Hancock’s first ball bring Captain Andy Ford to the
crease. With very little time to play themselves in both batsman rotated the
strike well and punished the bad balls dispatching them well to the
boundary. Frustratingly neither batsman could stay the distance. Hennessy
had made 30 when he was caught by Young on the deep cover boundary when he
didn’t quite time one. Ford was dismissed in the same over from Wilkinson
when he was clean bowled for 29.
Dannie Rees was quickly out caught by Donald at extra cover, to leave BGCC
136 for 7 with less than 5 overs remaining. Tim Williams and Ash Brewer
raised the Green’s hopes with several quick boundaries including a fantastic
six from Brewer over deep square leg. With 23 off 12 balls needed Brewer
skied one to keeper Bell to give Dan Wood his second wicket. Chris Smedley
joined Williams and despite their best efforts they were unable to get to
target. BGCC finished 172 for 8 in 36 overs which was an agonising 10 runs
short. KWCC get the full 20 points but the Green’s 4 points still leave them
5th. Next week’s sees the Green host local rivals Bromsgrove CC and the
return of ex-BGCC player George Rhodes to North End Lane. |
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