Knockers Vs Beechwood

Win :: Played on Sunday 4th September 2022

Beechwood
133-10

Knockers
136-8

Match Report

A gorgeous day, last minute replacements, dropped catches, bullseye emergencies and a tense run chase, the fixture had plenty to entertain.

A healthy bunch of 11 made their way to a very attractive Beechwood ground for a timed game and a lost toss sending us into the field first. The welcome last-minute removal of JT saw Finn O’Sullivan stride back into the 11.

Sticking to form, Young lost the toss and was swiftly stripped of his usurped captaincy as Knockers headed into field. Stevens and Knowles both trotted in with gusto, struggling to nail down lengths initially but coming to settle into a rhythm that probed many questions from the oppo front men. There was some give and take in the early encounters, with some good shot-making matched against occasional jaffers creating notable catching chances. Less said the better about how some of these chances were, ahem, turned down, but a satisfying 15 overs saw no heads drop and the platform was set for Ziggy and Finn to take the reins. It turns out Finn has been spending ample time focusing on his PhD, prioritising this over his 22 yards. After bounding in off his customary 30 paces for 2 magnificent overs of pace and rhythm, he puffed and pulled the plug and settled into the slips for much of the remainder of the innings. An unfortunate incident off a Ziggy ripper saw our mighty Prof castled as his catch attempt lacked an attempt and the ball clocked him in the forehead. Never in doubt, he was back later after an ice pack session to enthral the crowd.

The batters’ dogged approach led them to 100-1 before some persistent partnership bowling from Ziggy, Anand, Young, Marsh, S. Landers and a returning Prof Mitchell created chances left and right, ultimately restricting the opposition to an appetising 133 AO. Young showed plenty of nous to tempt and tweak, picking up 4 scalps from his 6 overs. Brutal captaincy tore away his momentum as the ball was handed to Prof to prevent any 5fer attempts. (Deliciously, this leaves Young and Bowen tied at the top of the wicket charts for the season ahead of next weekend’s closer at Hadlow, with the same captain debating reversed batting and bowling orders already). Herd stood strong for Beechwood but unfortunately ran out of partners as the Knockers veterans Landers and Mitchell pounced upon the tail end with Ziggy’s direct hit beginning the avalanche of wickets. On this occasion, the lunar trajectory trophy between them goes to our be-plastered John, with one LBW shout almost turned down by his own teammates as we feared it may not have reached the stumps. Props then go to sterling fielding efforts all round, and well-held catches from Knowles and Stevens in the latter stages to keep our foot on the pedal to close out the innings.

BYOT featured McDonalds, popcorn and some well prepared sandwiches, With the sun on the decline and the spreading fields in sight, it was a wholly calming moment to gather thoughts ahead of the upcoming chase.

M Landers and Prof Mitchell marched out, ready to apply clear heads to the task at hand. After some watchful salvos with Beechwood’s opening mixture of pace and guile, Prof fell to an awkward LBW that almost hit a waistline he had bent down in a very welcoming embrace to the oncoming cherry. Boreham came in and set about his innings with his usual aplomb that sped things along as others came and went, before he too fell to a worldy of a catch at wide mid on. After this, and with the announcement of the 20-over countdown, a middle order struggle showed we were dead-set on making this one a nailbiter. The Beechwood attack was relentless in its accuracy and we responded with patience in scoring 20 runs in a 10-over period, but this pressure told and various members fell cheaply; S Landers held the crease well and was ably supported by Bowen and Knowles but the climbing required RR forced some errant shots.

At 84-8, Marsh and Stevens were at the crease and nerves jangled slightly on the unthinkable discussion: battening down the hatches to secure the draw over the course of the remaining 10 overs. This could only ever be a fleeting thought for a Knocker and a rapport between the 9th-wicket partnership was fast forged to accelerate amidst some very ambitious quick singles. A few boundaries interspersed here and there and the pressure began to take its toll on the fielding side, rewarding Knockers with some overthrows to assuage the run rate heart rates.

Stevens showed composure in the face of an aggressive field set and clipped away for the win.

Post-game, Beechwood prompted us towards their local and very kindly put some food out as we enjoyed a sundowner and looked ahead to the end of the summer.

Onwards with one game to go.

TM

 

Batting

Batsman	How Out	4s	6s	Runs
John Mitchell	lbw	0	0	2
Matt Landers	bowled	3	0	14
Oli Boreham	caught	5	0	32
Finn Kinsler O'Sullivan	bowled	0	0	0
Freddie Young	lbw	0	0	1
David Bowen	caught	1	0	6
Scott Landers	run out	1	0	7
Daniel Knowles	bowled	1	0	11
Luke Stevens	not out	3	0	17
Ted Marsh	not out	6	0	32
Akhil Anand	dnb	0	0	0

 

Bowling

Bowler	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts
Luke Stevens	6.0	0	27	0
Daniel Knowles	4.0	0	19	0
David Bowen	8.0	1	28	1
Freddie Young	6.0	2	13	4
Ted Marsh	4.0	0	16	0
Akhil Anand	6.0	1	16	0
Finn Kinsler O'Sullivan	2.0	1	4	0
Scott Landers	2.0	0	6	2
John Mitchell	2.0	0	2	2

 

Match Photos