Kinlet v Bedouins at Moffat School – Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Bedouins lost by 71 runs
After many seasons of trying, and having the game rained off, the Bedouins rolled into Moffat school in the wilds of the Shropshire countryside to play Kinlet in setting much akin to that of Enville. You could come up with several reasons why the Bedouins got hammered in this game. They were a man short; the ground was small and Kinlet had ‘local knowledge’ of how to play it; many of the regular Bedouins were absent (George, Hill A, Hill J, Moxon, Thomas, Currie). But at the end of the day Kinlet put in a strong performance worthy of the win and the Beds left with their tails between their legs.
Beds won the toss and put Kinlet in to bat. Kinlet had requested that every player bowled two overs and so Bywater and Pearson kicked of the proceedings. Bywater went for just 6 runs off his two overs and Pearson (taking an over to adjust to the sloping wicket) 15 but taking the first wicket.
It was one of those grounds where if the batsman avoided the fielder with his shot he would more than likely get four runs. The retirement for batting was set at 25 and three of the Kinlet players made it to that point. Some of the Bedouin bowlers came in for some fearful stick. Johnston going for 28 and our Polish overseas player, Dewinski, going for 25 (adding insult to injury by missing a run out from 6 inches away, when it was harder to miss the stumps than hit them). The skipper chipped in by dropping another catch that he should have held onto – an advert for Specsavers if ever there was one.
Hancock bowled his first two overs ever in any form of cricket and after a nervy first couple of balls produced a few ‘dots’. He should take comfort from the fact that on the night he was by no means the most expensive bowler (hi Des). Although the ball was being battered about nobody managed to do a ‘Neale’ and get hit for 24 from one over. Your record still stands Mitch.
The result of all this was that Kinlet finished on 163 for 4 from their 20 overs. Possibly the biggest target the Bedouins have ever chased in a 20 over game – the skipper was confident though that there was enough talent in the Beds side to get close.
Branch (14) and Bond (19) gave Bedouins a solid start, and Lockley was hitting the ball hard until being given out LBW on 24. After that it all went downhill quite quickly mostly thanks to the bowling of Mooney for Kinlet, who finished with 5 for 5 from his two overs. Kinlet held onto their catches with the skipper and Gregory being caught in the deep (Gregory first ball) and Dewinski (1) and Hancock (another first-baller who was left cursing and shaking his head) failed to trouble the scorer too much. The only high point towards the end was a 6 from Bywater to the longest part of the ground and Pearson’s exquisitely timed 6 to square leg. It was all over in the 13th over with the Beds scraping 92.
Never mind, it was a fine evening and although they thrashed us, Kinlet are a nice bunch of blokes and we were thankful for the food put on for us afterwards in the Eagle and Serpent. We shall look forward to having them back to Enville on Sunday 25th July for a 40 over game. Let’s hope the Beds can perform better on home soil.