Kasim Abbas bowled 7 (13 balls)
Jattin Patel run out 40 (50 balls, 4x4)
Ben Jones bowled 7 (26 balls, 1x4)
Tom Salliss bowled 8 (20 balls, 1x4)
Rizwan caught 1 (6 balls)
Adnan Ali ct&b 4 (6 balls)
Shak Syed bowled 3 (11 balls)
Sean Brown run out 51 (60 balls, 6x4)
Callum Bird ct keeper 18 (36 balls, 2x4)
Josh Williams 11 not out (12 balls)
Gregg Arrand run out 0 (0 balls)
FOW: 17 32 71 72 77 78 81 157 171 174
(Shak 8-2-20-4, Sean 7-1-21-2, Josh 6-0-28-3, Adnan 2-0-19-0, Rizwan 2.2-0-5-1, Callum 3-0-20-0, Kasim 2-0-6-0)
KINGS HEATH WON BY 56 RUNS
Bournville started their chase badly, losing several early wickets to opening bowlers Shak Syed and Sean Brown. Shak bowled in inconsistent areas, too often bowling wide of off stump, allowing the batsman to leave the ball in relief. He caused the most trouble when bowling at the stumps, with all the batters reluctant to play well forward, in fear of the sheer pace and reluctance to give a bat pad chance to the short leg fielder, Kasim Abbas. Sean concentrated on the area outside off stump, getting impressive away movement. This resulted in the batmen playing away from their body, Ben Jones taking an excellent catch when an opposition player reached for a borderline wide delivery with minimal foot movement. The pair collected six wickets between them due to the pressure.
The Bournville number eight batsman decided to smash the ball to all parts, and doubled the total in a matter of overs, collecting numerous fours and sixes along the way. However Josh Williams enticed him to loft a high catch to Adnan Ali at deep midwicket, who duly took the proffered chance. Adnan has developed into the most reliable catcher in the team, and the catch was merely one of many catches he has taken this season. Even though they were losing wickets, Bournville kept up with the required rate, so a balance had to be found between taking wickets and saving runs. Several bowling changes took place so the batsmen did not settle against a particular bowler, Callum Bird finding prodigious turn bowling his leg spin on senior debut. Rizwan later benefitted from a change of ends, collecting the final wicket with only his second ball down the hill. Bournville fell 56 runs short with 58 balls remaining, and with more wickets in hand could have been a very tight finish.
Kings Heath started the match with only seven players present, and was initially thankful when Bournville won the toss and elected to bowl. However closer inspection of the pitch saw a green wicket underneath cloudy skies – perfect bowling conditions. Due to the missing top order the batting positions were swapped around and several players had to bat in unfamiliar positions. Kasim Abbas, fresh after scoring 80 against Solihull Blossomfield, and opening in the temporary absence of Rizwan, demonstrated the detrimental effect this had on the team by some chaotic running between the wickets, calling a run every time the ball dropped into the offside. Thankfully no wickets were lost because of this, and the first wicket fell when Kasim was bowled and he was subsequently given a ‘send off’ by the agitated bowler. Kings Heath soon slumped to 32 for two, but a partnership of 39 between Tom Salliss and Jattin, who dominated the scoring with 40 from 50 balls, brought calm to the team and allowed the late arrivals to prepare themselves for a long innings. In the event, Kings Heath slumped from a strong 71 for two to 81 for 7 at the halfway stage of 20 overs, and Bournville could hardly contain their glee, having justified their decision to bowl first.
However two juniors Sean Brown (Under 15) and Callum Bird (Under 13) put on 76 runs for the eighth wicket, Callum in particular showing considerable maturity and talent on his senior debut, with Sean at the other end progressing to make his first adult fifty, eventually run out for an exceptional 51 from 60 deliveries. Bournville were guilty of relaxing and taking their foot off the pedal at the arrival of the youngsters at the crease, expecting them to quickly lose their wickets and the innings to fold. As the partnership developed, characterised by good running between the wickets, forcing the fielders to pick up the ball and throw over the stumps under pressure. The away team soon lost their composure, allowing a simple catch offered by Sean to the gully fielder to be dropped, but to add to the ignominy, the attempted throw at the stumps had nobody backing up and Callum and Sean ran two overthrows, then when the fielder retrieving threw the ball back to the keeper, he missed the ball and they ran another two. This typified Bournville’s day – offered the chance to seal the game at 81 for 7, they missed the opportunity and allowed Kings Heath to recover.
This win was very encouraging, particularly with four players in the side who were 15 or under at the start of the season, and guaranteed Kings Heath promotion into Division Two of the Arden Sunday League.
