Kenya Kongonis – 4 August 2013

Result: Lost by 43 runs

Match Report: Stragglers lost the toss and were invited to bat (after the opposition had had their go first, of course!). A difficult pitch greeted us, and we set to; Mick Green getting things going with a couple of early wickets, followed by a wicket first ball for Gurps Singh and one for the skipper. Four down quite quickly was a good place to be, but they fought back through a combination of determination, a little luck in the right places and a pitch seemingly getting better. We were disciplined with our lengths especially, but there was perhaps scope for some hopeful long-hops to exploit the characteristics of the track – a few slow stinkers half way down which could then shoot along the deck might well have shortened the game. Be that as it may, 85 off 142 balls was a serious effort from their number 5 and was probably the key innings of the day.

KK declared after 54 overs on 205, by no means out of reach and with a reasonable prospect of getting at least 45 overs back. Mick Green, Gurps with his leg-breaks, and Sunny Naveed did the bulk of the work, while the skipper also slipped in with a couple more right on the declaration. The fielding was pretty good, and Nino’s figures behind the stumps were unfairly assaulted by a lack of carry from any length. Humour was good throughout, and we departed for the innings break optimistic.

With a batting-heavy side, run-rate was unlikely to ever be a problem, and so it proved. But we kept on losing wickets, and disappointingly few of them could be laid entirely at the door of our changing room. It wasn’t just the track either, although the short balls we didn’t bowl did pick up a couple. At 78-7 and with the last remaining batters at the wicket, things were looking bleak. And even more so once the skipper’s wicket was awarded LBW to the recent Kenyan squad member. But that didn’t dampen the run chase; in fact it speeded it up. Mick Green reached a half century in remarkably quick time, with good support from ‘Gurps’ who unwound a couple of nice shots himself. Sadly Mick (while being careful to avoid getting hit on the pads) was next out, stumped down the leg side with us still 50 short. Undeterred, Nino and Gurps fought on, but this wasn’t to be a famous rearguard, and the next strike on the leg-guards saw the game ended with us 43 short and 8 overs remaining.

It never felt as though the Stragglers were outplayed in any department and the game deserved a closer finish than the one that developed. It only remains to recall that too many small margins went against us during this game, from which it proved very hard to recover.

 

Team Batting First: Kenya Kongonis

 

FOW: 1: 12 2: 13 3: 37 4: 41 5: 118 6: 200 7: 204 8:205

 

Team Batting Second: Stragglers of Asia

 

FOW: 1: 13 2: 31 3: 31 4: 34 5: 45 6: 72 7: 78 8: 101 9: 155 10: 163