Week 4 – Kenton CC 1st XI vs Bessborough 1st XI (Home)

On a rain affected Kenton pitch and a cloudy day, Sachin Patel won the toss and sought to take advantage of the conditions by bowling first. The new bowling partnership got off to a steady start, with Charles Erdwin bowling well to tickle the edge of W.Whitsons bat (or so it seemed), only for the umpire to rule not out. After a tidy first 10, it took a bowling change to get the first breakthrough, with Deepak Singh forcing false shots to dismiss both openers. Kumar (the pro) dismissed no.3 with the perfect off break delivery, spinning sharply throught the gate and taking leg stump from outside off. And soon after, Bessborough were 83-4 after no.5 offered no shot to the spinning ball, given LBW, another good delivery from the pro. A valuble 6 overs by Singh was followed by a surprise spell of seam up pace bowling from David Sweeney. Kumar continued from the top end in an attempt to stop the flow of runs, but eventually started leaking a few when the arrival of Barrie and Chavda steadied the Bessborough ship. The partnership of 50 ended when Barrie struck the ball back at Kumar, who deflected it onto the stumps at the non-strikers end, with Chavda watching on from outside his crease. Barrie soon slipped up after attempting to increase the run rate, pulling the ball high into the air, caught and bowled by Erdwin for 83 - a fine innings. Kentons bowling attack seemed to regularly concede boundaries, however Bessborough negatively only managed to score at less than 4 runs per over off 55, a total of 213.

Kenton required 214 to win, and 175 for the winning draw.

With the rain ready to come down, Kenton began in typical fassion, losing early wickets and getting into trouble. Schopun Jooma was dropped a few times before providing an opportunity too easy to put down, out for 15. Trushaal Gaikwad slotted in at 3 this week, but after getting off the mark, got frustrated by some tight bowling and ran down the track past a straight ball. Captain Sachin Patel looked comfortable and settled before Barrie moved the ball back and cramped him for room. The ball came off his body and bowled him for 10, an unlucky dismissal. The rain break earlier had reduced the game by 2 overs - the revised total for the winning draw was 167. Kenton looked to The Pro to steady the innings, but a brilliant catch by Barrie off his own bowling meant that Kumar was out first ball chipping it back. The score now, 49-4. In came Mark Sweeney who has been in good form this year. After some lovely shots, Sweeney and Mills put on a partnership of 79, with plenty of boundaries, incuding a big hit from Mills into the courts (a rare site to see). With over 80 needed from 10 overs and Mills (69) caught on the boundary, and Sweeney (59) followed in similar fassion after Singh got bowled around his legs paddlesweeping a legspinner. Requiring 60 off 8 overs seemed like a difficult task, but with Kotecha at the crease and the captain instructing nothing less than 10 points, Kotecha hit boundary after boundary, forcing bad bowling and putting poor bowling away. A much needed 42* from 20 balls saw Kenton home in 41.4 overs. Kenton keep Bessborough rooted to the bottom of the table.

A crucial innings of 83 by Ian Barrie helped Bessborough to post a total, however significant contributions from Jonathan Mills (69), Mark Sweeney (59) and Rishi Kotecha (42*) earned 10 points for Kenton.