|
On a rather soft pitch at Cowgate, Kirkwood surprisingly elected to bat; Alan would have inserted them! Josh Koen struck immediately to bowl Nasis for a duck in the first over. Royster then had the other opener Chada well caught at deep mid on by Josh and the scene was well set. Wickets tumbled with Chad taking over from younger brother Josh and Royster continuing to tempt and dismiss. There was little for Don to do but mop up with a straight one to see off Parag for 15, and the fielding was superb with good keeping from Mike. Kirkwood were dismissed for 67 and there were catches for: Josh 2, Chad, Alan, Ben (casual as ever in the deep), Mike and a stunner from Phil and one run out from a Phil (to the wrong end!) and Mike and Royster (at the correct end!) combination. Bowling: Josh 2-17-2, Royster 3-15-3, Chad 3-15-2, Don 1.2-0-4-2. Only 2 boundary fours and a six from Ali to sober up Chad's figures!
Rowlands sent in Kev Hall with Ben and 20 came off the first 3 overs. Kev was run out for 4 after Ben thought he had sliced the field, but not! Adam showed promise with 6 (one 4) and Richie got 5. Ben was unlucky to be stumped for 15 (two 4s) by the alert Amrit Crawford when trying to accelerate the scoring. Phil got a constructive 8 (no boundaries how strange!) before Man of the Match Chad took control and hit 23 not out with four 4s supported by the demoted Royster with 1 not out. Chad made sure of one batting point with a 4 and a 2 off the last 2 balls of the 11th over. Josh, Mike, Alan and Don were not required to bat. Victory by 5 wickets was sweet and this was a double over Kirkwood this season. Good game played in a good spirit on a difficult pitch.
|
