League match
Dorridge 178 for 6 in 20 overs (Ollie Hayley 50 retired, Chris Beaumont-Dark 38)
(Naweed Uddin 4-0-34-0, Rashid Ali 3-0-28-0, Omar Dawood 3-0-17-1, Umar Rehman 4-0-44-1, Luke Baker 3-0-26-2, Jei Diwakar 3-0-23-2)
Kings Heath 124 for 8 in 20 overs (Beaumont-Dark 4-1-17-6)
Hassan Farooq stumped 0 (3 balls)
Naweed Uddin bowled 5 (1 x 4)
Umar Rehman bowled 0 (2 balls)
Ben Rattley bowled 17 (4 x 4)
Luke Baker c&b 36 (7 x 4)
Tom Boyce bowled 0 (1 ball)
Joe Jennings bowled 0 (1 ball)
Rashid Ali run out 0 (0 balls)
Omar Dawood 39 not out (7 x 4)
Jei Diwakar 15 not out (1 x 4)
FOW: 0 0 5 30 30 30 35 75
DORRIDGE WON BY 54 RUNS
Bonus points: Loss 1, Bat 4, Bowl 3
This match, scheduled away at Dorridge with a meet time of 9.30am on a Sunday morning, had all the signs of imminent disaster even before the first ball was bowled. This was the third league match in four days, all in the same week as the district festival. The two Warwickshire boys were unavailable as they were on a coach to Yorkshire, driving through the rain for a county game. The loss of Louie, the captain and opening bowler would be difficult to recover from, but the loss of opening batsman Josh Baker could be disastrous. Thankfully two Under 13s were drafted in as replacements; Jei Diwakar to bowl and Hassan as a batsman, Umar Rehman and Ben Rattley were selected as captain and vice captain. Kings Heath was asked to field first but at the start time only had eight players and no wicket keeper. The absence of manager Jonnie, a calming influence on the side, was keenly felt as the coach had no contact numbers for the missing players. Hassan reluctantly agreed to step in as keeper until Joe Jennings’ arrival after revealing that he kept for his school. The more pressing issue was the absence of the three late fielders. Joe and Omar Dawood eventually turned up at the halfway stage of 10 overs, but Aquib failed to attend at all due to his mother not feeling well. This put pressure on the stand in captain Umar, who had no chance of plugging the gaps with the Dorridge County ‘A’ boys at the crease. Eventually their captain Ollie Hayley had to retire after a rapid fifty one ball after the 10 over mark and Kings Heath managed to sneak a few more wickets. U13 Jei Diwakar bowled superbly in adversity and collected two scalps and effectively secured his place in the Under 14 side until the end of the season. The field placements were reactive, particularly when the spinners were on, and Dorridge closed on an intimidating 178 after scoring at all but nine runs per over.
Dorridge opened the bowling with their County ‘A’ boy who had also opened the batting and had been in the County system since he was 10. The surprising thing was that he was a left arm spinner who bowled round the wicket ‘through the gate’. Umar expressed a strong desire to bat at three so Hassan was the reluctant opening batsman who advanced down the pitch to his third delivery and tried to smite the ball back to Birmingham with his head in the air. He was promptly stumped by their captain and keeper for a duck. Umar took guard and was soon bowled second ball for a duck. The bowler Chris Beaumont-Dark was getting prodigious turn and proving exceptionally difficult to play; however when left hander Ben came to the crease the threat was nullified due to the angle of delivery. Naweed, opening for the first time and batting hero of the previous two matches, was also bowled by the left arm spinner for only five. Thanks to a good partnership from Luke Baker and Ben, Kings Heath had moved from 5 for 3 to 30 for 3. Ben played exceptionally well, using the pace of the ball to manipulate gaps behind square before he was bowled by the quick bowler for 17. At this stage quick recalculations were taking place and 120 was set as the new target which would mean maximum batting points. Tom Boyce was batting at six after not bowling an over with the ball and promptly missed his first delivery and was bowled for a golden duck, Joe Jennings also followed first ball leaving the bowler on a hat-trick. When Rashid was carelessly run out without facing a ball he became Kings Heaths’ fifth duck of the innings, all of those batsmen facing a combined total of seven deliveries. The score was now 35 for 7 and Luke Baker and Omar Dawood continued on to the drinks break at 10 overs with Luke unbeaten on 32. However in the first over after drinks, Luke hit another boundary, his seventh of the innings but then offered two consecutive hard hit caught and bowled chances, the second of which was taken. The bowler in question had hurt his hand in taking the catch but the dismissal still stood and Luke was out a career best 36. With the total on 75 for 8, 10 men Kings Heath were a solitary wicket away from losing the match. However Jei Diwakar and Omar put on a superb unbeaten 49 for the ninth wicket, Omar was given his first opportunity to have a long innings for the U14s, demonstrated impeccable defence and unfurled exceptional drives down the ground. Jei gave commendable support and superb tactical awareness, managing the run chase so that the required total of 120 (maximum batting points) was reached in the 19th over. Omar finished unbeaten on 39 and Jei on 15 not out. Their partnership gradually silenced the crowing Dorridge parents and supporters, along with the over confident Dorridge players. Despite the loss, Kings Heath had rallied from a potentially embarrassing score of 35 for 7 to a respectable 124 for 8; there was no shame in losing to such a strong Dorridge side.
