Kempton 1s beat RCC 1s by 85 runs

Winning the toss and electing to bowl first, Tom Easton made an early breakthrough bowling Kempton’s number 2 for a duck. Kempton then consolidated as numbers 1 and 3 were forming a bit of a partnership. Enter James Liddell who took a wicket with his second delivery. Some great bowling by James and 2 fantastic catches by Sam Stevens (at short mid-wicket) and J Vereker in the gully had Kempton 5 down for 70 odd and RCC were in the driving seat. However, a 6th wicket stand between the two Kempton batsmen soon had RCC on the backfoot and a little cameo by batsman number 8, induced a slightly earlier declaration, giving RCC 45 overs to chase 200 on what was still a very good track.

Kempton opened with 2 spinners and RCC progress was slow, but steady with Nick Freeborn in particular looking very comfortable at the crease. An unfortunate run-out plus some very poor shots (4 batsmen getting out caught to full tosses) had RCC moving from 21 for none to 24 for 5. However, a magnificent partnership between James Liddell and Sam Stevens, where both players showed the perfect balance of patience and aggression, gave RCC a faint glimmer of hope, but after James fell, the innings soon ended, RCC losing by a very disappointing 85 runs.

This is a game where the balance shifted a few times, but again, our batting wasn’t as good as I know it can be. In hindsight, perhaps after winning the toss, batting first may have been the way to go, but we just weren’t good enough with the bat.

Man of the match: James Liddell
(report by Paul Fuchs)