Knockers Vs Horsmonden

Winning Draw :: Played on Sunday 16th July 2000

Knockers
211-4

Horsmonden
170-4

Match Report

One of the first Sundays of the summer not to be dull and overcast meant that Knockers headed for Horsmonden in good spirits. Captain of the day, Guthrie Miller, won the toss and elected to bat, much to the relief of the rest of the team who were feeling the effects of the night before.

The innings started off fairly steadily even though the loss of two wickets relatively cheaply was not ideal. Paul Styles was not distracted by the departure of numbers 2 and 3 (Can't remember who it was or how they got out) and continued his scoring in a good partnership with E. Irwin who had been given a shock promotion up the batting order. Although out of touch, Irwin grafted for 21 supporting Styles to his 50. The departure of Styles on 58 brought the Ginger enforcer (M. Thomas) to the crease. The partnership with Irwin was, however, short lived as impatience finally got the better of Irwin. Down on one knee, aiming a Steve Waugh style sweep over mid wicket for six only resulted in a top edge into the keeper's gloves.

This brought G. Miller to the crease and rather embarrassingly for the Knockers Cricket Club meant that it was an all ginger affair. Determined to stand up for his ginger race Thomas immediately went after the Horsmonden bowlers despatching them to all parts of the ground. Although dropped several times Thomas's innings of 58 not out was a superb display. Although much criticism must go to the fielding side spurning chances, it is only due to the ferocity of the hitting that the chances were put down. Miller supported Thomas well and guided Knockers to a good total of ........(Don't know)

The tea was soon devoured and Arvind Palmer slated throughout for his dismal Davis Cup performance. The bowling was opened by a superb spell from Rumary and ?????? who were unlucky to be taken off but the state of the game meant that tying Horsmonden down with unplayable deliveries was never going to get Knockers the result. What followed next was a procession of spin bowling of all calibres, from the leading wicket taker Trounce to the ambidextrous S. Seldon. 10 members of the team bowled, including Martin Thomas who decided to confirm his village status by removing his wicket keeping equipment in order to bowl. Teasing the batsmen out of their shells, however, seemed nigh on impossible. Despite gifting them runs through poor fielding, namely Miller's athletic dives out of the way of the ball, Howe missing a slip catch due to the fact he fell to the floor his hands clasped over his face shouting, "anywhere, anywhere but the face!". Irwin's fielding was more committed but not necessarily more effective. Several full speed sprints to the boundary culminated in him missing the ball when he got there.

The game drifted to a rather sombre end with Horsmonden not committing themselves to going for the win and Knockers not being able to break through.

Ed Irwin

 

Batting

Batsman	How Out	4s	6s	Runs
Stuart Seldon	lbw	2	0	18
Paul Styles	lbw	6	0	58
Corin Spencer-Allen	caught	3	0	20
Ed Irwin	caught	3	0	21
Martin Thomas	not out	9	1	58
Guthrie Miller	not out	2	0	18
Nick Jariwalla	dnb	0	0	0
Ben Rumary	dnb	0	0	0
Guy Howe	dnb	0	0	0
Andy Darry	dnb	0	0	0
Steven Trounce	dnb	0	0	0

 

Bowling

Bowler	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts
Ben Rumary	4.0	3	3	0
Corin Spencer-Allen	8.0	1	30	1
Steven Trounce	5.0	0	24	0
Nick Jariwalla	5.0	0	16	1
Guthrie Miller	4.0	0	25	0
Andy Darry	4.0	0	32	0
Guy Howe	2.0	0	6	1
Paul Styles	2.0	0	4	0
Martin Thomas	3.0	0	20	1
Stuart Seldon	1.0	0	13	0