Handsworth won the toss and elected to field
Kings Heath 91 all out in 34.5 overs Sam Crocker lbw 0 (2 balls) Matt Wright bowled 31 (4x4) Aaron Oliver bowled 9 (2x4) Bernard O'Connor ct sq leg 22 (2x4) Tom Salliss bowled 0 (2 balls) Gregg Arrand bowled 12 (1x4) Sean Brown bowled 0 (1 ball) Dan Armstrong ct keeper 0 (7 balls) Josh Williams 8 not out (1x4) Amit Patel bowled 2 Stuart Millard lbw 0 (5 balls) FOW: 0 33 60 60 74 74 77 78 85 91
Handsworth 97 for 3 in 23.5 overs (Millard 4-1-15-0, Williams 4.5-0-32-1, Armstrong 3-0-16-0, Brown 7-2-16-1, Crocker 5-2-10-1) FOW: 16 69 69
HANDSWORTH WON BY 7 WICKETS
This was a Saturday of poor availability throughout the senior sides, with most of the 1st XI missing due to the wedding of Dave Monk. This left a young inexperienced side travelling to Handsworth; only one Kings Heath player was over 21. After losing the toss Kings Heath were put into bat. Sam Crocker left the first delivery of the match, which pitched well outside off stump but swung back in a long way and passed over the top of the off bail. The line of the second ball was identical but perhaps pitched slightly fuller; Crocker shaped to leave the ball but it cannoned into back pad. After a brief delay, the umpires’ finger was raised, reducing Crocker to his fifth duck in 2nd XI cricket after only six innings. Stand in opener Matt Wright and regular number three Aaron Oliver produced a 33 run partnership; Aaron hitting an exquisitely timed cover drive early on, tempting the chasing fielder all the way to the rope. Aaron was soon out bowled for just nine runs; a frequent mode of dismissal for him but unusual for a top order batsman. Matt Wright was going strong for 31, hitting four boundaries and putting on 27 runs with his former primary school teacher Bernard O’Connor. Upon Matt’s dismissal Tom Salliss came to the crease, but survived for only one delivery before being dismissed on his second for a duck. Skipper Gregg Arrand joined O’Connor at the crease, and they had a partnership of 14, Arrand contributing 12 of those runs. The partnership was worth 11 when Arrand manoeuvred an inswinging yorker down to fine leg for three runs, demonstrating superb timing. The next delivery from the subsequent over shaped in to leg stump and Arrand tried to repeat the shot, however to his horror the ball swung away late leaving no time to adjust, bypassing the outside edge of the bat and clipping the off stump. Debutant Sean Brown walked to the crease but was bowled first ball for a golden duck, leaving Dan Armstrong to face the hat-trick ball. Armstrong tried to smash the hat-trick ball over the midwicket boundary and out of Handsworth Park for six runs, thankfully missing the ball altogether, but the momentum generated from the swing of the bat almost caused him to overbalance and topple out of his crease. Armstrong continued to ignore the match situation altogether (74 for 6) and played in a reckless manner before launching a ball high in the air for the wicketkeeper to collect a simple catch. Bernard O’Connor’s stubborn resistance ended soon after when he advanced down the wicket to the spinner and tried to smite the ball over the leg side. However he predictably mistimed the ball and the ball gently looped up for the square leg fielder to complete the dismissal. Bernard jokingly claimed “boredom” as the cause of the dismissal but had scored a hard fought 22, and Kings Heath had now lost four wickets for only four runs. Josh Williams reached the crease and continued his peculiar habit of striking his first delivery to the boundary, hitting a sweetly timed drive between the bowler and the mid off fielder. When Amit Patel joined Josh at the crease, he survived for nearly 15 minutes, holding the pose after every forward defensive before falling for two. Stuart Millard was the last man in the batting order, having a well earned reputation for registering ducks, particularly on his first ball. Thankfully he avoided that particular fate, but was given out lbw from his fifth delivery, leaving Josh Williams stranded on eight not out as Kings Heath posted only 91. Six of the ten wickets to fall were bowled and only one fell to a catch by an outfielder. The Kings Heath bowlers lacked penetration, largely thanks to an inexplicable number of dropped catches from usually competent fielders (Brown, Oliver, Millard, Armstrong and Wright all guilty). Sean Brown came on to bowl his first delivery in 2nd XI cricket to the left handed Handsworth captain, who creamed the ball behind square on the leg side for four. Not an ideal start, especially after recording a golden duck less than two hours earlier. Later in the over the ball looped up to Aaron at midwicket for a simple catching opportunity, Aaron confidently calling “Aarons” before promptly dropping the ball and denying Sean his first second team wicket. Sean did bowl commendably well, retaining his economy rate whilst generating several chances. His first wicket eventually came amid confusion; the Handsworth captain aimed a flashy drive through cover but only succeeded in clipping the ground with the bottom of his bat as the ball whistled past the edge, stand in keeper Amit Patel catching the ball and appealing. The umpire heard two noises and upheld the fielding sides appeal, the Handsworth skipper looked astonished but as his team had no chance of losing the match he agreed to depart without much fuss. Meanwhile Crocker had been bowling from the pavilion end, offering good carry to the wicket keeper and a little movement both ways off the seam. He was rewarded for his persistence with a wicket, and later confirmed it was “the best I’ve bowled all season”. Once Sean Brown had completed his seven over allocation, Josh Williams returned to the attack, and with the scores level was hit for a huge six over midwicket to finish the game. Although this had been a particularly demoralising day, there were encouraging signs as Kings Heath had generated several chances during the second innings and collected a valuable bowling point.
