Kai Tak vs. Witherers 10th December at Mission Road

Witherers 206 all out

Kai Tak 9 for 192 (34.4 overs)

Match won by Witherers

 

Hopes were high for us to get back to our winning ways against Witherers who had been struggling of late. As they piled off their team bus our confidence took a slight hit as we noticed some big names appear who had obviously been drafted in to see off the Kai Tak challenge. Witherers won the toss and batted. Mohsin, as is his way, took a wicket first ball with a rank long hop - you beauty, just the start we wanted. Witherers 1 for 30 odd off 8 overs we were keeping it tight and looking to turn pressure into wickets. Then things went astray. All of a sudden we couldn't pitch the ball, lots of full tosses punctuated with wides and Mark Fuzes was away! 1 for 110 at drinks and staring down the barrel of a 250 plus run chase. Out we came revitalised and ready to do the business, Donnie Miller starting the wicket taking procession breaking the 2nd wicket partnership and finishing with 4 wickets for the innings. Regular wicket taking will always see the run rate dwindle. Great ground fielding, catching and more discipline with the ball saw us show tons of character and guts, bowling Witherers out for 206. A very gettable target! Morls finishing an economical spell with 1 wicket, 3 for Mohsin and 1 for Bob (Fidel having his first ordinary spell of the season and going wicketless) Our only concern being the fitness of Bob Ward who strained a calf muscle in the dying overs, replaced by our 12th man who was dispatched straight to deep mid wicket and performed an innings worth of fielding in 2 overs!

The run chase started badly with the skipper looking to lead from the front, only succeeding in accomplishing a pair! In strode our talisman Patidar who looked a million dollars from ball one. The run rate was below par though, with only 30 on the board after 10. Wickets in hand is a wonderful thing, so no need to panic just yet. Tiks knocked over when he looked set, in strides Morls putting together a solid stand with Mohsin, 2 for 70 at drinks. Still behind the required rate but still well in it. ‘Mohsin be there at the end ' were the Captains mid innings orders. Not to be, both him and Morls out shortly after drinks, Mohsin finishing on 53. Well done mate, but needed a ton from you today! A bit of fiddling with the order was required, elevating the big guns to get us back to the required run rate. Andrew Bester (21) for the second week running displaying some brilliant power hitting and things were looking good with Don also impressing with some big strokes. Wickets continued to fall however, with 100 needed off the last 10. Dave Elliott and Fidel batted bravely, 26 and 25 respectively keeping  us in with a sniff of victory - we just needed one or 2 big overs and we'd get there. It didn't quite happen however, eventually reaching 192 with a couple of balls remaining and Bob unable to bat due to his injury.

Again a very disappointing result - positives, our comeback after drinks when things could have gone extremely pair shaped. On the down side, once again far too many wides, nearly 4 extra overs gifted to the opposition (Witherers bowled less than half that number!!) And once again our batting - lack of solid partnerships and putting too much pressure on the lower order seeing us again unable to reach 200.

With a social game on Monday, let's go out and have some fun, enjoy ourselves and find some form for the remainder of the season.

 

Dave

 

Go the Tak!!