Partner Ton Leads Second Team To Victory

He opened his boundary account of 15 fours and three sixes with an exquisitely timed shot through long on and followed it three balls later with another played through long off. This rather spoiled Nick Baxter’s figures after having conceded just one run an over from his first nine, he conceded as many from his last.

Partner also made light of Danish Zaman’s record of 32 wickets and conceding at slightly over four an over this season as he hit him for eight fours and three sixes to see him end wicketless with 94 runs from his ten overs. His first four off Zaman announced the arrival of his onslaught. He faced a further 82 balls, scoring 127 from them. He finally succumbed as he advanced down the pitch to Chip Lawton, his tired shot missed the ball and he was stumped. But he had taken Second Team from 41-3 to 260-8 in two balls short of 34 overs. He shared a fourth wicket partnership of 128 with Matt Grinham which steadied the innings. Later a breezy 25 from young Ed Pike, which included a six over long on into the Pound Meadow hedge, saw the final total to 268-9.

While mentioning Ed Pike, was this match that saw his coming of age as a Second Team player? He had seven previous sorties into the Second Team for League games, but in this match, as well as achieving his highest score with useful runs down the order he also bowled his slow left arm for a full allocation of ten overs unchanged picking up his first league wicket in the process. He drifted down the leg side a few times early on, but soon sorted out his line. Admittedly he got hit for six a couple of times as Kew forced the pace, but more experienced slow left arm bowlers than Pike have suffered similar or worse fates than that. And he capped it off with a very good catch at a straight deep mid wicket to dismiss Dave Ramsden in the forty second over just after he had reached his half century and was starting to increase the tempo.

Although in their pursuit of 269 to win Kew fell just 11 runs short, victory always looked unlikely as the required rate crept up and 102 were needed from the final ten overs. The increase in the scoring did not come until 27 were hit from the 44th and 45th overs but this was soon stemmed as Toby Wastling bowled Tom Hall, as he took the last of his three wickets, and Paul Orton followed this up by bowling both Lewis Abbot, who had scored 41 and was looking threatening, and Sean Abbott in the next over.

That left 40 runs needed from the last two overs, but although there was a little late flurry of hitting a scoring rate of in excess of three runs a ball was too big an ask.

Nick Grant had opened the bowling with a good display, conceding just 21 runs from his eight over spell, and picking up the wickets of the two openers, both caught at the wicket by James Hawkes. The third wicket then put on 78 before Wastling took the first of his wickets with his fifth ball as he dismissed Jack Maciver LBW for 49. This was followed by Pike’s wicket in the next over and then fifty were scored in the next ten overs against an asking rate in excess of seven and a half runs an over.

The victory keeps the Second Team in third place, but second place is now arithmetically beyond them. A win at seventh placed Maidenhead & Bray this Saturday should go a long way to securing a top half finish.