KEMPTON VS ST LUKES ‘A’ -
A beautiful summer afternoon
in the shadow of the Kempton racecourse grandstand provided the perfect setting
for this closely fought match.
In the field
Skipper for the day James
Somers honoured the long standing St Lukes tradition of losing the toss and
Kempton predictably chose to bat on what looked like a high scoring (and in
light of the hosepipe ban, suspiciously green!) pitch. Yet only a few
minutes later, Kempton were stuttering at 8 for 1 following a superb direct
throw by James onto the wicket that left their opener at least a yard short of
safety.
Kempton rallied however,
thanks to some strict interpretation of ‘wides’ by
their permanent umpire and a couple of very short boundaries. Having
conceded around four an over by the drinks interval, St Lukes then rallied and
had Kempton struggling somewhat at 120 or so for 5. Unfortunately,
Kempton had left their top scorer till near to the end, and he scored a quick
40, much of the runs being smashed into the trees on the mid wicket
boundary.
Pick of the bowlers was once
again Hiren Patel who bowled straight through his twelve overs, and whose
consistent line and length thoroughly merited figures of 3 for 26.
Michael Krishna and Evan Huyerman both got a couple with Jason Custance and Joe
Durnall each taking a wicket. Mitsi Patel once again performed wonders
behind the stumps and was rewarded with a couple of catches. And a
particularly pleasing aspect of the St Lukes fielding was that all of the catch
chances in the field were held.
An early controversy however
saw Hiren’s direct throw on the stumps not rewarded
by a raised finger, despite the suspicion that the bat was not grounded.
A favourable decision at this stage could have curtailed Kempton’s total.
But overall, the St Lukes players were cautiously pleased with a final tally of
173 all out on a pitch that had seemed to threaten 200 plus runs.
With the bat
John Beer contributed 11 in
an opening partnership of 17 with Joe before being bowled. Hiran then rallied the innings with 24 (including two
sixes). Top scorer Michael was unlucky not to reach his half century
scoring eight fours on his way to an impressive 46, but Joe (a steady innings
of 16) was even more unfortunate in being the victim of a run out following a
terrible misunderstanding between the batsmen.
As the shadows began to
lengthen, St Lukes seemed to be sitting pretty at 135 for 4 with plenty of
overs to spare. Then disaster struck, three wickets falling in quick
succession (Michael bowled for 46 and Matthew Cobb caught for 8 after sharing
the key partnership of 37, then James went for a duck), and St Lukes were
suddenly staring into the face of defeat at 139 for 7. Evan (b 8) and
Mitzi (b 10) took the score to 155 for 9, leaving the last pair of David Jones
and Jason needing 19 from the last three overs. By adopting an effective
‘if in doubt, run’ approach, St Lukes reached 168 with two balls left, before
David was run out for 3 chasing a single that never was and Jason was left
undefeated on 8.
Result
St Lukes (168 all out) lost
by five runs.
Champagne moment
James’s
throw hitting middle stump from 20 yards, our delirious reaction and the
stunned silence with which it was greeted by the Kempton players.
Conclusion
This was a real team
performance by St Lukes from start to end. The fact that we were
disappointed to have only scored 168 runs speaks volumes for the heightened
expectations and ambitions that the team now has. Perhaps most
importantly, it showed (as if further evidence was needed) why we all love the
game of cricket - an evenly balanced game played in an excellent spirit with a
great sense of team camaraderie and commitment.