Kings Heath 215 for 6 in 50 overs Jeff Webb bowled 2 (10 balls) Kasim Abbas caught 2 (8 balls) Paul Spinks caught 43 (102 balls, 4x4) Bernard O'Connor retired hurt 55 (95 balls, 4x4) Tom Salliss lbw 54 (46 balls, 3x4) Adnan Ali bowled 13 (11 balls) Josh Williams caught 20 (10 balls, 2x4) Dan Brockman 0 not out (0 balls) Gregg Arrand 14 not out (7 balls, 1x6) Did not bat: Sean Brown, Jag Patel FOW: 3 10 89 163 202 202
Barby 137 for 5 in 50 overs (Brockman 15-7-24-2, Brown 11-3-28-1, Williams 10-1-25-0, Adnan 5-1-21-1, Kasim 5-1-18-1, Jag 4-1-10-0) FOW: 6 19 58 96 128
KINGS HEATH WINNING DRAW
Barby elected to bowl first on a wet wicket under cloudy skies and soon had the upper hand, extracting both openers for only two runs apiece. Bernard O’Connor and Paul Spinks set about rebuilding the innings, successfully repelling the Barby bowlers and denying them the satisfaction of taking another wicket. By the halfway stage of 25 overs Kings Heath were still in a precarious position of 50 for 2. Spinks was aiming for a total of around 130 from the full 50 overs and told the Kings Heath skipper this. The skipper firmly replied that the wicket would soon dry out and offer very little assistance to bowlers, and with a strong batting line-up they should look to get to at least 130 in the next 15 overs, leaving 10 overs at the end for a smash. The batsmen responded to the prompting from the captain, and pushed the score on accordingly before Spinks was caught out for 43 and the total on 89. By this time the opening bowlers had delivered their full allocation of 15 overs (conceding under three runs per over), and the change bowlers were comparatively erratic. Tom Salliss entered the fray and took advantage of the 10 fielders, several of whom had never played league cricket before. O’Connor continued to rotate the strike regularly, passing fifty, his first half-century for the Saturday 2nd team which had contained four boundaries. Shortly after the completion of his fifty Bernard attempted to pull a good length delivery but the ball caught the top edge of his horizontal bat and hit Bernard flush in the face, just under the left eye. Bernard dropped like a stone and clearly needed medical assistance. Kings Heath players rushed to help, getting ice and the first aid kit and escorting Bernard from the field of play. It was unfortunate that due to the hot weather and length of his innings he had removed his helmet several overs earlier. Thankfully the injury could have been worse, and Bernard spent the rest of the innings sitting watching play whilst other players checked for concussion and assisted wherever they could. One of the more cynical players suggested the incident had been a clever ploy for the batsman to earn a ‘not out’ for retiring hurt and allowing Adnan the chance to get to the crease and play suitably aggressively. One of the more witty and humorous players awarded Bernard the nickname ‘Cyclops’ due to the black eye which was growing ever more prominent. Adnan, as predicted, scored 13 runs from only 11 balls but his innings was notable due to the absence of boundaries. Tom Salliss raised his own fifty shortly afterwards, which contained only three fours. This was due to the Barby fielders going quickly into defensive mode and sending their inner ring into the outfield to protect the fours. This enabled all of the subsequent Kings Heath batters to keep the strike rotating and the run rate at a suitably high level. Tom Salliss was eventually lbw for 54 from only 46 deliveries and Adnan was bowled for 13. The fluid batting line-up of the Kings Heath lower order sent in Josh Williams and Dan Brockman next, Josh striking two fours in his 20 from only 10 deliveries before he was caught. Gregg Arrand strode to the crease with just seven deliveries remaining in the innings and collected a single from the final ball of the 49th over. Arrand took 12 runs from the final over, ably assisted by the tall Dan Brockman at the non-strikers end who was able to cover a lot of distance in only a few strides. Arrand dispatched the fourth ball of the final over for six over midwicket as Kings Heath finished on 215 for 6. Kings Heath had scored freely at nearly seven runs per over in the final 25 overs. Bernard (55*) and Salliss (54) had both made their maiden second team fifties, and quick runs from the lower order pushed the total past the 200 mark. Kings Heath were always unlikely to bowl the opposition out unless they broke through the top order quickly. Despite reducing Barby to 19 for 2 they quickly rallied by refusing to play any aggressive shots, finishing their 50 overs having scored at only 2.74 runs per over. The humour and confidence in the Kings Heath team was apparent from the start of the fielding innings. This was typified by support for the evergreen Dan Brockman coming in a number of forms, including encouragement in German from a possibly concussed Bernard. Brockman finished with exceptional figures of 15-7-24-2. There were a number of bowling changes from the other end as Kings Heath strived to take wickets but none were forthcoming. One opposition batsman in particular was using a bat so old it looked like it belonged in the 1930s; and his survival at the end of the innings prompted a streak around the Kings Heath pitch by one of the Barby players. Although the Barby players offered determined defence, Kings Heath were satisfied with their days work, collecting maximum batting points and two useful bowling points against an opposition who were also threatened with relegation.
