Match Report: 4s vs Finchley 4s (21/05/2022)

Toss: Finchley 4s won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Week 3 and back to back home games for Kenton 4's as we welcomed Finchley 4s to the Alan Digby Ground. On arrival at the ground it was clear that neither side wanted to bat first on what looked a very green and damp track. Finchley won the toss and had no hesitation in sending Kenton into bat. The game started early and it was clear from the first over this was a tricky track to bat on. Searan and Vijay opened the batting and helped us not to loose early wickets as the ball popped up on a number of occasions. It was evident early on that our target of 200 may not be achievable. Searan went first and was followed shortly after by Vijay. Sanjay played his shots and scored an important 19. Amit held up one end but found it hard to score. Mansoor went early before the captain Hiren came in and was also struggling with the pitch. Being hit on the glove a number of times and on the helmet grill. We were loosing wickets regularly and were at risk of being out for less than 100. However key lower order partnerships (especially between Mihir and Zabiullah) and a number of extra's allowed us to reach a target of 130 and 3 overs short.

We felt that the total was worth closer to 175 on the wicket and we had a chance after filling up the opposition on a very large tea offering!

Our opening bowlers Vijay and Zabiullah were bowling good lines and lengths from ball one. Kenton had one of their better catching days and this was evident early on when Amit held a catch at first slip to remove the no.2 without scoring. The Finchley skipper at the other end looked solid and did not look to give any chances by moving down the wicket to negate the additional bounce. Zabiullah was coming to the end of his 6 over spell when we took another catch to remove the no 3. The 2nd of a total of 7 catches on the day. No's 4 & 5 were snapped up early and Finchley were struggling at 34-4. Amit hadn't played for a couple of years and this showed in his spell and so it was time for our match winning bowlers from Week 2 to make an impact. Mansoor came on with the score on 60-4 and took a wicket with his first ball. Finchley continued to be aggressive and the new batsmen hit a 6 to continue to edge Finchley towards 100. In his second over Mansoor took the key wicket of the match, FInchley's captain on 29 given LBW!! 60-5 became 72-5 and then 72-6. Kenton clearly on top at that stage. However no 9 came in with an aggressive intent and started edging Finchley closer to the target. It was time for the opening bowlers to come back and for the Kenton skipper to take a game changing catch. With Finchley 7 down and the score 100 the game was slipping away. However Dillan the Finchley keeping who had batted for 39 balls for his 16 nicked one to gully where the skipper took a one handed catch diving to his left. This lifted the home team. No 9 kept going and the score reached 124-8. 6 runs to win with 2 wickets in hand. Finchley again favorites. However 1 wicket a piece from Zab and Vijay caught behind meant Kenton bowled Finchley out for 125.

This was an impressive fielding performance with only 1 dropped catch. Excellent bowling from Vijay (11.2-2-28-4) and Zabiullah (8-1-31-3) and 2 key wickets from Mansoor ensured we made it back to back league wins. Something we haven't managed since July 2021. Let's keep it going and carry that momentum forward.