Fixtures and Results

Date

Opposition

H/A

Result

Kinoulton score

Opposition Score

Pts

01/05/10

08/05/10

15/05/10

22/05/10

29/05/10

05/06/10

12/06/10

19/06/10

26/06/10

03/07/10

10/07/10

17/07/10

24/07/10

31/07/10

07/08/10

14/08/10

21/08/10

28/08/10

Beeston & Tot Syc III

Long Eaton III

Bingham II

Nottm Uni Cas III

Gedling Col IV

Long Eaton III

Poplars

Edingley II

Thrumpton III

Beeston Tot Syc III

East Leake II

Bingham II

Notts Uni Casuals III

Gedling Colliery IV

Sutton Bonington II

Poplars

Old Dalby

Win

Abandoned

win

lost

win

lost

won

lost

won

cancelled

111-8

n/a

222-9

184-2

102 a o

82-1

102-9

130 ao

134-3

184-6

238-8

115 ao

134-6

81 ao

103-6

113-2

unfit

115-2

n/a

103 a o

180-5

193-4

80 a o

103

131-1

133 ao

181

139-7

97 ao

132 ao

112 ao

99 ao

109-9

grounds

14th August; It was third against fourth as we entertained Sutton Bonnington IIs on a very damp Bertie Special which appeared to be closer to the car park than the square. A nearly unchanged squad turned up, which has been a rarity so far this season. The morning rain had cleared, with a slight chance of more during the afternoon. Dave won another toss and, yet again, we fielded first.

This decision was immediately justified, with three wickets falling in the first three overs, two to Mo, one to Lyndon. Mo picked up his third wicket after some needless swinging from the S.B no. 5, so, with them four down for not very many, we had visions of getting to the bar quickly. This proved to be our downfall as we failed to be ruthless in our approach, possibly not helped by a total of 14 wides being sent down, much to the disgust of skipper and keeper. The introduction of Adam to the attack didn’t provide any wickets, although his fielding efforts did keep some of the team amused as he leaped out of the way of the ball when stood at short mid-off. For once Bertie also failed to take a wicket, although he would give Graeme Swann a run for his money with some viciously spinning off-cutters. With a need to wrap up their innings, Lyndon was re-introduced, and he along with Umran tried their very best, but could only reduce S.B to nine wickets at the end of their 40 overs, their total being 109.

The Kinoulton reply took a very sedate start, with just 8 runs coming from the first 4 overs. However, in the fifth, Neil got a juicy half volley and his eyes lit up, yet unfortunately they were fixed upon the brightening sky and, with his feet planted, this inevitably led to the furniture being rearranged. The skipper then joined Tom at the crease, playing his finest knock of the season (an innings which included the running of two 3s!!) and eventually hitting the winning runs with a majestic straight drive. The second wicket partnership of 96 between Dave and Tom was definitely a match winning one, and should’ve seen us home, but Tom fell going for glory with just 5 more runs needed for victory. However, his 67 from 85 balls was measured (15 balls to even get off the mark) and went a long way to swinging the outcome in our favour. The other not out batsman was Maj, who seemingly decided he was invincible by going out to bat without pads or gloves.

By getting to the target after 27 overs, we managed to get full batting points, and only our inability to take the final S.B wicket prevented a faultless afternoon of cricket.

One disappointment was the lack of team photo as promised by Lyndon; Dave and Simon had done their hair, Neil had washed his whites, Mo had polished the bats & Maj had trimmed his beard, yet all this effort was pointless as there was no camera on show. Lyndon did however redeem himself slightly by performing a one-man fashion show of the entire Kinoulton kit range, with his unique opinion on each item.

After the disappointing loss of last week, the selection committee spent several days and nights locked in a darkened room before coming up with this weeks team selection. Umran promoted to the Sunday XI, junior Starr axed for being too tall, Frenchy and Paul earning promotions from the first team, and Kinoulton’s Youth Policy leading to a recall for skipper Dave.

Yet another interesting looking pitch led to the skipper asking G.C to bat first, even with the howler that was last weeks run chase still fresh in everyone’s minds.

Knowing that the G.C top three held the key to their innings, Mo and Lyndon set about knocking them over as soon as possible. Mo set the ball rolling, removing their skipper for just 5 with a plum LBW. This brought the infamous Blocker to the crease to bat with the in form Jennings. They were no match for Bertie though as he removed both of them, leaving G.C struggling at 48 for 3. Luckily, they never managed to press on and were bowled out for 99, with Lyndon somehow taking 5 wickets (“jug of Coke it is then”). With the reputation of now being a demon bowler and wickets under his belt, Frenchy could only manage to take 1, although his bowling is now a thousand times better than his first game of the season. Our fielding once again set the tone, especially with Simon’s consistent throws from the ‘deep’, however Neil did put down another catch (admittedly it was very difficult), yet this then turned into being a dolly along with another 4 or 5 that, in the eyes of some, should have been snapped up. The score book also says that Frenchy dropped a dolly too, but he was later let off this through his athleticism in the field.

The run chase started in the usual manor with Tom and Neil looking a class above, helped by some wayward bowling. Tom fell in the 8th over, but with the score at this point being 35, we looked fully in control for maximum points. The arrival of our travelling support club, fresh from the first defeat of the season at Meadow Lane, brought with it the start of a nervy collapse. Paul replaced Tom but was sent back without scoring off the bowling of the impressive Brown. Needing runs, Maj entered and looked back to form until he got over excited, hitting it straight back to the bowler when on 18. Enter Mo. First ball….6. Then a quiet period, a change of bats, a 4, and then out. However, with the score on 86, and the skipper making his way out to the middle, we all began to creep closer to the pub. But in typical Kinoulton style, the collapse followed. Dave was caught without scoring, using the excuse of not being able to see the ball, followed swiftly by Simon, who was once again triggered for his fourth duck of the season. Does 5 equal a jug???? Realising he was running out of recognised batsmen, Neil (34 n.o) exploded into life with 2 boundaries, the second being a huge 6, to take us past the victory target inside 28 overs. Although it wasn’t a full points victory, it was a victory nonetheless, with promotion still a very realistic target. And with places in the team at a premium, the selection committee will be working overtime to come up with a winning team for next week.

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The manicured grounds of Grove Farm greeted the team this week with our match winning streak being put on the line. Any attempts made during the week by Izzy to have Tom back in the team worked, though this did lead to her omission from the side this week with the returns of Davies Snr and Stu. On an interesting looking track, with bad weather forecast by Michael ‘Cowlard’ Fish, the skipper had no hesitation to ask Unity to bat first upon winning the toss.

The task at hand couldn’t have started much better with Jack removing one of the young openers in the first over as he extracted alarming bounce from out of nowhere. However, wickets were then hard to come by after some stubborn resistance for the second wicket. Mo once again bowled a tight line, always keeping the batsman thinking. Runs started flowing until the introduction of Bertie and Lyndon to the attack, between then only 40 runs scored from their 18 overs. The skipper managed to introduce a new ball to the game, the slow-mo bouncer, which ended up being fairly effective. With them bowled out it was up to Jack and Umran to clean up the tail, the latter of which was fairly expensive but still picked up three wickets. There was a noticeable improvement in the standard of fielding this week, although there was a mishap or two from Neil, neither of which were easy. At the end of the 36 overs, we felt that bowling Unity out for 112 was a brilliant effort, leaving us with a very achievable target.

In reply, our innings couldn’t have had a worse start as Neil departed without scoring in the third over. Stu managed to hang around but was eventually bowled by a shooter with the score on 32. This then started a major collapse, leading to us being bowled out for just 81. For a change, Mo scored fewer runs than the number of bats bought with him. The only highlight was a grafted 52 from the returning Tom, yet that still wasn’t enough. With Unity giving away 9 extras, it worked out that the other 10 batsman only averaged 2 runs each. Even though the bounce was very indifferent at times, this was still a shocking performance with the bat which, when coupled with some abysmal running, meant we never even came close. With the opposition fielding a young, immobile and inexperienced team, we really should have done better.Thanks again go to David for umpiring the entire game with great accuracy (the DRS never came into use) and to the Unity tea ladies who put on a marvellous spread that would rival Lyndon’s best efforts any day (and at a fraction of the price).

On winning the toss and coming off the back of three victories on the trot, Kinoulton took to the field with great confidence. Unfortunately, Michael seemed not to share this confidence and bowled an over I’m sure he’d like to forget! The eleven ball over was eventful and one of his wides made the infamous opening Ashes ball by Steve Harmison look good! Burty, fielding at square leg, had his head in his hands and wondered why he spent so much time preparing the wicket when Michael seemed intent on bowling on the one next to it. Michael was keen to be withdrawn from the attack, though David rightly told him to carry on and to his credit he bowled his next three overs with much greater accuracy.

At the other end Mo bowled his normal medium pace, with Neil standing up to him. This was not to Mo’s liking and he asked Neil to stand back. Neil, being the gentleman he is, agreed to this. I know many others who would have told him to sod off. The Bingham batsman looked indifferent, apart from the very impressive Clarke who scored 74 out of a total of 132. We did make it easy for him, dropping him three times. The rest of their score card read 0,1,1,0,6,14,10,0,1,0. In short, we should have bowled them out for well under 100.

In reply Neil and David played very steadily and after 20 overs we stood at 63 for 0. We looked in a great position to start accelerating and with wickets in hand Neil attempted to do this and promptly lost his middle stump. We quickly went from 70 for 0 to 73 for 4. The middle order had failed magnificently, with 3,4 and 5 all getting ducks. Lyndon arrived at the crease with the game very much in the balance though with plenty of overs in hand it was time to consolidate. The skipper and vice skipper steadily brought Kinoulton back into the game, picking up the odd boundary and a smattering of singles and twos. With the 50 partnership approaching David decided to call a risky two and picked Bingham’s best fielder and was easily run out.

At 118 for 5, we still looked favourites, though with Umran departing for one the nerves could have easily resurfaced. Lyndon, decided to take the game to Bingham and hit the useful Grange (a promising spinner - though he would benefit from learning the LBW rule and a little less chirp!) for eight and Kinoulton within sight of their target. Simon showed Jack how to do it and smashed only the second ball he faced for four and victory.

We remain third, though with crucial games coming up against the two top teams the consensus in the bar was we need to improve our fielding, particularly our catching if we are to achieve a promotion place. Many doubted we could maintain our winning streak without Davies (Tom that is, NOT Andy!), who with Neil has scored the majority of our runs. However, we have won all four games without them so you might as well play Golf Tom! Though with Issy pining for you I’m sure she’ll have a word with the skipper and you’ll get the nod…….!

It is often said the sign of a good side is one that wins even when it plays badly, well, if that is true ‘we ain’t a bad side then’. Dave lost yet another toss on arguably the worst ground in the league to lose the toss at. Unsurprisingly, we were asked to bat and with two very steady opening bowlers scoring was extremely difficult. The bounce was low and few shots were hit off the square. Dave, uncharacteristically, lost his patience in the 12th over. He had just scored a beautiful four (sorry, that should read streaky four) receiving sarcastic applause from his team mates when a few balls later he actually tried to hit the ball with some anger and promptly missed it and was bowled. The batsman that followed played in a similar vain, giving their wickets away cheaply – few could argue they got a good ball. Lyndon managed to actually get into double figures for the first time this season, though ran out of partners as we reached 115, using only 35 of our allotted 40 overs. In reply; East Leake started solidly reaching 31 of their first 15 overs, though crucially didn’t lose their first wicket until the 16th over. They continued to creep towards their target, though with wickets in hand the game seemed to be slipping away. Our fielding at times was indifferent, with Adam and Mo letting a crucial chance drop between them. This lack of communication is something we must address and is evident too in our batting with the calling for running at times awful. At 95 for 5 East Leake looked in control until Dave made a stunning bowling change, bringing Burt back on (fortunately he hadn’t stiffened up!) from the ‘other end’. He promptly took 4 wickets. Special mention must go to his potential hat-trick ball, which was appalling! At the other end Adam also took two wickets and somehow East Leake collapsed to 99 all out. Somehow we had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, and the reaction of our players at the end showed that we had ‘gotten away with it’. Another 17 points means that we continue to push for promotion and look forward to facing a resurgent Bingham on Saturday. N Oxby Ct Bradley 23 D Richards Bowled Cowdell 6 M Hussain Ct Cowdell 12 M Alsakaf Bowled Bradley 23 S Starr Run Out 0 U Hussain Bowled Lloyd 14 M Marsh Bowled Lloyd 3 L Cowlard Not Out 14 J Morris Bowled Newcome 1 A France Bowled Newcome 4 B Marriott Bowled Newcome 0 Extra 14 Total 115 Bowler Overs Maidens Runs Wickets M Umar 5 0 14 0 B Marriot 8 0 16 4 M Marsh 9 1 21 2 L Cowlard 10 1 29 1 M Hussain 2 1 10 0 A France 1.1 0 1 2

S Fox Caught Arnold 36 A Wiles Caught Wright 19 M Hussain Caught Smith 39 M Umar Caught Arnold 56 M Towle Caught Arnold 40 S Starr LBW Arnold 2 N Oxby Bowled Arnold 0 U Hussain Not Out 10 A France Bowled Arnold 6 M Marsh Not Out 0 B Marriott DNB - - Extra 30 Total 238 Bowler Overs Maidens Runs Wickets M Marsh 7 1 15 0 B Marriott 12 4 16 3 U Hussain 7 2 31 0 A France 7 1 18 2 A Wiles 5 0 22 0 M Towle 4 0 8 1 M Umar 3 0 15 1

The delights of Clifton Playing Fields saw Kinoulton attain back-to-back wins over Thrumpton III. Thrumpton, fielding arguably a weaker team than the week before, won the toss and elected to bat. Our bowling and fielding was woeful, easily our worst performance of the season. We dropped simple chances (most notably Adam who has clearly been taking lessons from his dad!). Too many of our bowlers bowled wide of the stumps and although we can make excuses about the outfield being bumpy, it would have probably helped if we used our hands to stop the ball! Sideshow was by far our best bowler taking four wickets by doing something many of the other bowlers didn’t do – bowl straight. Lyndon bowled in tandem with Mark and although wicketless, only went for 17 runs off his nine overs and together, they brought a little control to the game. Thrumpton eventually reached 181 off their 45 overs.

In reply, our batsman regularly threw their wickets away. Two, three and four scored just six runs between them and the Thrumpton total looked a long way off. Stuart stuck around for a bit and limped to 12, failing to middle anything! Mo scored a quick and very useful 21 and Adam at the end of our innings looked very comfortable on his way to 16 not out. Fortunately for us we had ‘The Ox’, who singly handedly won us the game. Neil batted beautifully and deservedly scored his maiden century. Neil made it look simple, scoring off the bad balls and defending the good balls, something many of us good learn from!

Summer once again graced Kinoulton with its presence, with the sun beating down upon a road once again perfectly prepared by Bertie, although he was moaning about finding a hair clip on the wicket(…..Izzy’s maybe???). Looking to make amends for last weeks toss, Lyndon proceeded to lose it, with Thrumpton deciding to put themselves in, undoubtedly the correct choice.

The top order soon asserted the decision, punishing anything short or loose. Runs were easy to come by, thanks mainly to the lightning outfield. Michael bowled a short burst first up, and bowled with great heart, but failed to replicate the same purchase out of the wicket as last week. At the other end, Mo toiled away in the baking sun, picking up two wickets for his troubles. There was a surprise bowl for Tom at first change, and I’m not sure if he or Davies Snr was most shocked. The game looked to be running away from the home side as Thrumpton amassed a century in total for the first three wickets. But then Kinoulton fought their way back admirably, bowling them out for 133. Bertie bowled his trusty, flat-out wicket to wicket, picking up 3 wickets, and at one point was on a hat-trick, yet you wouldn’t have known as the troops were sent out to patrol the straight boundaries. Lyndon nearly doubled his season wicket count with his first 5-wicket haul of the year, with echoes of “he could’ve bowled better and taken none…” The fielding was once again very strong, with even Davies Snr holding on to a couple of chances for a change. There was, of course, the usual slight mishap from France Snr, who managed to shell another “dolly”, letting off their highest scorer who managed to make his way to 51, completely unnoticed by anyone at the ground. Also, the new technique of using your face to stop the ball was fully implemented by Davies Snr and Mo, one of which was just happy to stop it, the other being highly concerned about spoiling his ‘Bollywood good looks’ and newly acquired facial hair (said to be a spitting image of one George Michael). All in all, restricting them to 130 odd was a very good effort by the lads.

The Kinoulton reply took a rather sedate turn this week, as Neil and Tom were kept in check by some tight bowling. However, as usual, they kept plodding along with runs coming at the required rate. They looked like staying until the end, until the heat caught up with Tom, deciding the best way forward was to get it over soon or get out. The latter was, of course, the only conclusion, as he departed for 42. Neil eventually fell a few overs later, for the same score, this done out of kindness as to not upset Tom for outscoring him again. Maj chipped in once again with a breezy 22, although the running was left to be desired. Seeing us over the line were Umran (1 n.o) and Mo (10 n.o), who struggled prior to arriving at the crease with choosing the right bat for the occasion, with a possible 5 candidates available for filling the role. This meant a 7 wicket victory with 4 overs left to spare.

A special mention goes out for the tea this week, expertly prepared by Lyndon, and even though the cakes weren’t up to homemade W.I standards, the club is still solvent which is bonus. Any leftovers were soon snapped up by Frenchy, who decided to help himself to anything he could find after arriving from his (“more”) important tennis match.

Thanks go out to Lyndon for the tea and to Dave for once again umpiring admirably for the whole game.

This win brought us a further 18 points, and extends our unbeaten run to 2 games.

Finally, a quick note on James Buckley. The former Kinoulton stumper played against his old side for the first time this week, and was immediately put under pressure as he came into bat, making his way back to the rabbit hutch shortly after for a third ball duck, courtesy of Lyndon. James soon got his own back, somehow taking the catch to dismiss Neil, but this was the only one out of many chances that were offered.

After last week’s disappointment Kinoulton bounced back with a good win over Edingley, taking 19 points. Every player contributed; Tom, Neil and Maj all scored runs, Michael, Mo, Burty, Lyndon, Uman and Adam all bowled well, Andy kept wicket immaculately and Simon did a great tea - the best bit being Mrs Starr’s great Victoria Sponge cake, it was unequivocally WI standard. What such a talented lady is doing with Simon is beyond comprehension!

Having won the toss and electing to field, Lyndon returned to the changing room to be confronted to a barrage of abuse – the consensus being “bloody idiot”. We had yet another opening attack with Michael and Mo being the new pair. Both bowled with great control and pace, particularly Michael who managed to extract some bounce out of the pitch. After a wayward (11 ball) first over Adam showed great character and richly deserved his two wickets. All in all of our bowlers demonstrated great control and restricted Edingley to 130 runs from their 45 overs.

In reply Tom and Neil played beautifully, scoring at a good rate throughout. We did not lose our first wicket until we had amassed 109 runs and we cruised to the target with 14 overs and nine wickets to spare.

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After last weeks fine win, Kinoulton came down to earth with a huge bump, gaining just two points. After some confusion with 12 players turning up and after many offers from senior players to drop out, young Jack was the unfortunate one to miss out, and apologies go to him. After losing yet another toss Kinoulton were asked to bat and on seeing Poplars opening bowlers it soon became apparent why. The evergreen Thompson bowled his normal line and length and went for just 15 runs off his 9 overs, whilst at the other end Poplars new signing Vinay, went for just 11 off his 10 overs, taking three wickets too. He bowled with pace and he is clearly far too good for this league. Many batsmen played and missed, you could just hear the legendary Richie Benaud saying “…they’re not good enough to get near it!”

Kinoulton stumbled to a measly 102 from their 40 overs. Tom’s run of scores came to an end with a duck, losing his leg stump. Izzy joined Tom in the duck house, though at least she entertained the crowd by skipping whilst completing a run! Neil top scored with 17 and U Hussain with his own unique style scored 16 not out. In reply Poplars wobbled and their top scorer Thompson offered a number of chances, though we just didn’t hang onto them. It was later confirmed that Simon had spoken to a certain Mr Green and given him a pre-match motivational speech…… Daddy Davies kept wicket and looked good behind the stumps until the ball got to him! In the end Poplars reached their target with 13 overs to spare.

Another barmy day began with the skipper dropping himself in an attempt to even up the sides, after failing a late fitness test. The majority of the team arrived on time; however the remaining members followed SatNav Starr’s directions, and eventually arrived at the correct pitch having crossed several international borders along with a couple of time zones. This lateness meant I have no idea how the toss went, but would assume we lost after being greeted by V.C Cowlard with “unfortunately we’re fielding”. In front of us was a very dry and grassy track, with boundaries so short and an outfield so quick that fielding in the deep was the same as saving one.

As it turns out, losing the toss wasn’t such a bad result. The introduction of Mohammed Yusif to the team proved a worthwhile selection, finishing with figures of 8-1-34-6, bringing with him the ability to take wickets with bad deliveries. At the other end, Umran showed promise again with the new ball, dismissing the dangerous Picker on 21. The constant fall of wickets slowed the run rate down drastically, with L.E III going at around 5 an over for the first few. Cleaning up the tail was Bertie, who only took the one wicket this week, and Izzy, who took 2 wickets from just 8 balls bowled, the first of which was her first ball. This first wicket came with a cry of “oh dear” as it was released, enough to put off the young batsman and cleaning up his middle peg. This came on the back of leaving a very easy chance off of Mohammed, claiming “the sun was “in the sky”. All in all, another very solid fielding performance, with Neil and Tom both taking 2 catches each, the Ox also taking a stumping for the final wicket after the batsman decided to take a crater out of the pitch, just conveniently on a length. There were, however, calls that Daddy Davies could have done more to take a, what turned into being, “very simple” chance when stood at slip, and, obviously disgruntled to have lost out on taking the new ball, Bertie proceeded to act as disinterested as possible by constantly chatting to the square leg umpire.
L.E III were finally all out for 80, from just 18.2 overs.

The response came in double quick time for the Kinoulton top order. Neil was promoted to opening once again in the absence of Dave, and looked to have re-found his touch before becoming the only wicket to fall. He had managed to make a well constructed 13 before looping an easy catch up off of the bowling of a young girl who a was quicker and more accurate of Izzy, who also came without all the complaining. The two not out batsman definitely seemed in a hurry to get the game over and done with as soon as possible, with something about there being a bus to catch. Tom finished with 47* (from 49 balls), and it would have been a sure fire 50 had Majid (19* from just 12 balls) not hogged the strike at the end to allow himself the glory of hitting the winning runs. This did though maintain Tom’s near perfect record when it comes to jug avoidance, with that being the second of the season so far.
Unfortunately, this meant that V.C Cowlard, down to come in at 4, didn’t get a bat or a bowl on his return to the team, but nevertheless somehow managed to lead form the front.

The convincing victory gives Kinoulton their second maximum points haul of the season, leaving them in 5th in the table.

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29th May vs Gedling; After last weeks glorious sunshine, focus turned this week onto staying dry and, for certain members of the team, making sure their hair wasn’t too frizzy with the increased humidity. With the start delayed, needlessly in the opinions of some, both teams kept themselves entertained in the confines of the clubhouse. At 2:30pm, an official pitch inspection took place, and all parties agreed that there was no time like the present and set a start time of 3:00pm. The covers were eventually removed, along with the flock of ducks, to show a wicket that, in many ways, looked none too dissimilar to the M1.

At the toss, Dave produced the double-headed coin for its first outing of the season, with their skipper calling heads and still losing. Dave showed no hesitation in asking Gedling to bat first, with the intention of making the cloud cover work to Kinoulton’s advantage, and at first, it appeared to be working well, with Bertie and Umran both bowling opening maidens. Bertie managed to bowl his 8 overs straight through with two early wickets to show for it, mainly because of the weekly ritual that is the Deep Heat application. However, Gedling clawed their way back into it, with a touch of help for their number 3 Chris Brown, who smashed his way to 117 not out, which included 3 massive 6s, one of which rearranged the roof on the clubhouse. The Kinoulton Chief Medical Advisor, Dr. S. Starr, was kept busy with Daddy France and Tom sustaining finger injuries. Both Izzy and Adam impressed with the ball again (“well that’s better than last weeks start anyway”), yet neither managed to make a break through, unlike Tom, who was able to strike with a ball described as being “shocking” and “so bad”. It was also notable that Daddy Davies didn’t require the Teflon fingers this week, although he should probably have lent them to Daddy France. On the whole, the fielding performance had bettered any of the previous efforts this season, with all players giving “110” with constant swooping from those close in.

In reply, the once “road” seemed to turn into a dirt track, with wickets tumbling at a steady rate, though some were seen to be more unlucky than others. The newly formed Kinoulton Veterinarian Service was soon called into action as the skipper pull up lame when on 4 with a strained fetlock and retired to the treatment room. The in-form Neil failed, with the volcano failing to erupt this week. The arrival to the crease of Dr. Starr also bought with it the return of the ducks, with the MD departing first ball. The two main contributions came from Daddy France, who looked very good for his 19, and, the top scorer, wides, which gave Kinoulton a handy return of 28. There was also the small matter of Izzy making it into double figures for the first time this season, helped by the encouragement shown from the first team who arrived back at the ground early for the second week on the trot, striking three boundaries, then proceeding to tell near enough everyone in the village about it when she eventually got out. Kinoulton were eventually bowled out for 102, a reasonable effort but well behind their capabilities.

There is also a final mention for this weeks tea, which managed to be constructed without actually buying the whole of ASDA or bankrupting the club & being equally as good, with half the village turning out to sample the homemade cakes provided by Mummy Davies.

The hottest day of the year saw Kinoulton lose the toss yet again, and were promptly asked to bowl. To compound matters, the Notts Unity scorer failed to notice that we had bowled 47 overs. In all fairness the scorer was a young lad and under challenging circumstances did a great job - it’s a shame that some of the more senior players on the opposition failed to support him.Unity started very brightly with the young openers punishing anything short or wide. I cannot say how many they put on for the first wicket as the scorebook is a little sketchy in places. Eventually U Hussain made the breakthrough with a smart catch from Daddy France at point. Daddy Davies; please take note of the catching process.

After a rapid start from Unity, Kinoulton slowly began to reign them in. Lyndon took his first wicket of the season, getting the very promising Adam Fox out for 48. Adam France, making his season debut, bowled his first two overs like a man who had not picked up a cricket ball in nine months! Although Burt had spent the previous days sweating and grafting over preparing a fantastic playing surface, Adam decided not to make any use of it. Great Support came from his Dad (“Get Neil a tin hat”) and saw Adam eventually pitch a ball, and Adam must take great credit in the way he quickly sorted out his line and length. He picked up two wickets and this would have been three if Andy could have held onto what Tom described as a relatively simple chance. Maj took his first Kinoulton wicket, trapping Adi Fox for 16.

After some debate at the tea interval, a revised figure of 180 was agreed upon with the last two overs been erased from history. This meant Tom lost out on his wicket, to the great delight of Izzy.

In reply Tom hit the first ball of the innings for a cracking cover drive for four, and he never really looked in any danger as he raced to 42 before being caught. At the other end Dave meandered along with a text book supportive role. Eventually the heat got too much and he seemed relieved when he got out so that he could have a rest! Neil batted beautifully again, and like Tom looks in great form. At 148 for 2, Maj arrived at the crease and promptly began hitting the Unity bowlers around the park as he raced to 22 in just a few overs. Kinoulton reached the target with 7 overs to spare and having amassed 18 points this week and 20 last the season looks to moving in the right direction….

The afternoon started with the stand-in skipper arriving late (this was due to poor directional advice from David, and atrocious signage). The skipper went on to contribute very little to the game, even losing the toss. Thankfully for Kinoulton, the rest of the team played some superb cricket and we recorded our first win of the season, gaining maximum points!

Having been put into bat, the opening pair of Neil and Tom took the Bingham attack apart from the first over, particularly Tom, who played aggressively from the onset. Fortunately, Tom bats nothing like his Dad, though to be fair to Andy, his umpiring was exemplary. Talking of umpires, thanks must go to Burt who umpired for over 40 overs and managed to only wind up half of the opposition!

Both openers recorded half centuries, Tom’s being his maiden one. The first wicket did not fall until we had reached 108. M Hussain chipped in with another useful score of 28. Bingham helped Kinoulton to reach 222 with bowling 28 wides. Extras ended up being our second top scorer with 53. Bingham’s opening bowler, D Cosgrove, a former Kinoulton ‘prodigy’ went for 64 of his allotted overs, and scored a golden duck.

In reply, Bingham started well and with nothing to lose, played their shots. Once Burt had bowled the dangerous Clark for 24, the first of his four wickets, Kinoulton looked in total control. Despite being up until the small hours texting a (boy)friend, Izzy once again bowled with great control and accuracy, taking two wickets for just 13 runs. The other bowler to star, U Hussain, bowled with good pace and took his first wickets for the club. Tom capped off a memorable day by taking a wicket in his only over.

2010 RUNNERS UP

PROMOTED!!!

WELL DONE TO ALL THE PLAYERS, YOU DESERVE IT FOR YOUR COMMITMENT DURING THE SEASON, SAYS CAPTAIN DAVID RICHARDS

Beeston & Tot Syc III