Knight-mare in the Capital
Intrepid reporter Sam Millard writes:
The 3rd XI travelled to London Knights confident after last week’s performance and when skipper Colin Couldrey won the toss on a green top despite the heat and sunny overheads he elected to field which was unusually greeted with joy by the players who would normally look to bat when the temperature gauge was anywhere over the 20s.
The new ball was taken by Tee Bizayi who looked sharped and bowled a hostile spell and dismissed their opener with a sharp catch by Captain Couldrey at short leg. The other opening bowler was Hayes’ unluckiest bowler Will Hadley who has promised to stop walking under ladders before games. Will huffed and he puffed, and he beat the bat on both sides but across two spells he could not get a breakthrough. Hayes were probably the happier of the two sides at drinks after 20 overs thanks to tight lines from Davis, Hadley and Bizayi. After drinks, the Knights opener Rahul Singh continued to hold up an end and frustrate the bowlers whilst Deepak Singh and Chintan Shah (61) batted with an almost perfect plan on a difficult track to help their cause and push their total on. It does have to be said that Hayes contributed to their own downfall with several dropped chances, some more costly than others, including an early one on Shah. Hayes managed to chip away and bag a few more wickets which ultimately, resulted in a few extra points in the long run. 171 felt like it could be a few too many but not totally insurmountable total.
After a picnic tea, Warne and Greenway set about chasing the total they both got into the 20s and apart from an arm injury that was troubling Greenway they looked comfortable. But, the dismissal of Greenway opened the floodgates and 46-0 quickly became 61-5. After his impressive debut Tee was dismissed with the ball of the day, as described by umpire Mark Bradshaw. Lewis Thislteton looked comfortable and started to build a partnership with Millard at 7 when he was dismissed with a diving catch at point. Millard who had looked to take the attack back to the bowlers and having hooked the ball previous was undone by a good ball from Husnain Ahmed, who ended up with a 5fer. At one point it looked like that there was going to be a magic performance from a number 9 as Colin played a fantastic captain’s knock supported by Dammika Silva as Hayes looked like they were going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Then disaster struck… Colin was adjudged to be run out…
Dammika nobly tried to shepherd the tail but was dismissed caught behind. Hayes finished 162 AO, disappointing not to win but, on a positive note Hayes took 12 points from the game which as we all know losing well is important at this level.
Next week, the 3s hope to recover hosting Bexleyheath CC on the Meadow. No ‘pressos’ once again and I’m tempted to give the PotM award to one of the oppo as in true Ricky Ponting style who was to be PotM if you don’t win. But, since this is a Hayes match report I’ll pick a Hayes player. Few candidates Tee with his bowling and fielding performance but Captain Couldrey’s heroics with the bat combined with his role modelling of good conduct when many other would have lost their head means he is my PotM.
Notable performances
LK1st XI
C.Shah 61*
H.Ahmed 5-31
H(K)CC
Couldrey 41 (46) 1 catch
Bizayi 9-1-35-2 and 2 catches.
