League match
Kings Heath 119 all out in 40 overs Jeff Webb run out 12 Rizwan ct keeper 22 Ritesh Patel lbw 10 Jattin Patel run out 2 Paul Spinks ct midwicket 5 Jack Turrell run out 9 Gregg Arrand run out 11 Amar Bhudia ct mid on 10 Adnan Ali ct keeper 11 Aman Khan bowled 7 Josh Williams 4 not out
Walsall WMF 122 for 6 in 27.1 overs (Amar 12-2-38-1, Adnan 9-1-45-2, Josh 4.1-2-25-2, Aman 2-0-6-0)
WALSALL WMF WON BY 4 WICKETS
Kings Heath had one of the strongest 2nd team batting line-ups for a while, 10 of the 11 players having scored fifties for the club (Adnan the only player not yet having hit a fifty, but later in the season would hit an unbeaten 49 against Five Ways and his maiden fifty against Solihull Blossomfield in August). Kings Heath won the toss and elected to bat first on a warm day and a good batting pitch. Rizwan began the match by striking three fours in the first few overs, and a 70 yard six over the midwicket boundary, the longest on the ground. However on 22, with the bowlers at his mercy he decided to try to hit another six. Rizwan merely succeeded in lofting the ball high in the air for the keeper to take a comfortable catch after having enough time to set himself in a balanced position. Ritesh and Jeff Webb steadied the innings with a partnership, before Jeff nudged the ball off his pads into no-mans land behind square on the leg side. Ritesh called a single and set off; after a moment of hesitation so did Jeff, accepting his partners call but struggling to accelerate up the slope from a standing start. The Walsall square leg fielder swooped round to collect the ball and threw down the non-strikers stumps. Jeff was fully outstretched, having dived to successfully make his ground. However despite the umpire Jack Turrell not having moved his position to side on he gave the batsman in question out, much to the surprise and delight of the Walsall team, and the general astonishment of the Kings Heath players. A short partnership between Ritesh and Jattin was terminated when left hander Ritesh pulled the ball to midwicket, who dropped it and made a mess of picking the ball up cleanly. Both batsmen went stop, start, stop, start and by this time the bails had been removed and Jattin was run out. Spinks was soon caught at midwicket and Ritesh was caught by the keeper for 10, having left a trail of destruction behind. Gregg Arrand was in good touch, fresh from hitting 65 for the 3rd XI two weeks previous. He hit the final delivery of an over to the fielder located at deep point for an easy single. However non-striker Turrell failed to accept the call and only made a half-hearted attempt to make his ground, stopping in the middle of the pitch for several seconds before being run out. The following over the captain turned the ball off his hip for an easy single to deep fine leg but non striker Amar took several steps down the wicket before calling ‘no’. Gregg found it difficult to turn and change direction so abruptly and was run out by three yards. There was clearly a run and the lack of trust between team members was growing, with four run outs in the first seven dismissals. The lower order contributed useful runs dragging the team score past the 100 run mark, but Amar was caught trying to clear mid on and Adnan was caught by the keeper. Josh faced a single delivery, which was hit for four, but the first ball of the next over Aman was bowled, and Kings Heath were all out for 119 in 40 overs. Amar and Adnan opened the bowling: Adnan was involved in the each of the four wickets to fall, taking two wickets and two catches in the outfield. Amar achieved prodigious swing in an unbroken spell of 12 overs up the slope. However despite repeated plays and misses, the batters were not good enough to get a touch through to the keeper or slips. Spin came into the attack as the target neared, Josh beginning with two maidens before his final 13 deliveries conceded 25 runs. Walsall WMF managed to achieve the required score six wickets down.
