League match
Knowle and Dorridge 133 for 3 in 20 overs
(Louie Turpie 3-0-27-0, Rashid Ali 4-0-18-1, Naweed Uddin 4-0-18-1, Omar Dawood 4-0-32-1, Umar Rehman 4-0-21-0, Luke Baker 1-0-15-0)
Kings Heath 136 for 6 in 18.4 overs
Louie Turpie run out 0 (2 balls)
Josh Baker 9
Umar Rehman 31
Ben Rattley 14
Naweed Uddin 39 not out
Luke Baker 4
Joe Jennings 14
Rashid Ali 5 not out
Did not bat: Omar Dawood, Aquib Khan, Arjan Gihar
KINGS HEATH WON BY 4 WICKETS
Bonus points: Win 4, Bat 4, Bowl 1
This was the second league match in two days, following an exhausting week at the district festival. Knowle & Dorridge batted first, and their openers proved exceptionally well coached in their judgement of quick singles. They were able to keep the scoreboard moving whilst playing technically correct shots. Kings Heath were not able to create many wicket taking chances. Only two Knowle & Dorridge wickets fell until their captain was dismissed on the final ball of the innings – caught at midwicket by Josh Baker. It was particularly interesting that Knowle & Dorridge had only lost three wickets but their score was fairly low with so many batting resources left unused. This was partly down to the fact the batsmen appeared over coached and were reluctant to play an ugly shot in pursuit of quick runs. They refused to play any other way than technically correct and their scoring areas could be predicted. The Kings Heath bowlers should be commended for showing great ability to adapt to this situation. Knowle & Dorridge had only one ‘big’ over, when Luke Baker was brought on to bowl with a short leg side boundary and only one fielder on the boundary. 15 runs were conceded from the over and pushed their eventual score up to 133.
Skipper Louie Turpie and Josh Baker: both newly appointed Warwickshire U15 ‘B’ players strolled to the crease to open the batting. 24 hours earlier Louie had scored 42 runs during the defeat to Harborne and had the confidence to lead from the front again. However on the second ball of the innings disaster struck, Louie hitting the ball directly at square leg and calling for a single, both batters stranded helplessly in the centre of the pitch as the stumps were broken. After a short debate over which batter should be dismissed, Louie was correctly given out as he was closer to the stumps as they were broken. Kings Heath was 4 for 1 after the first over and with the required rate 6.84 there was significant pressure on both sides. However the second over changed the mentality of the match and flipped it in its head. To the delight of the watching Kings Heath team and supporters the second over conceded 26 runs, primarily from extras; namely no-balls and wides that the keeper missed and went for more runs. The scorers were having a nightmare keeping up, but it should be noted that the umpire calling the wides and no-balls was the Knowle & Dorridge coach. Amongst the chaos Josh Baker hit two balls that were within reach to the cover boundary for four before hitting a simple catch to the cover point fielder to conclude a hectic over. Josh was obviously gutted especially with the knowledge that a fifty was possible especially given the ease which he scored his nine runs. However Ben and Umar were at the crease and the run rate, although still steep, had been reduced to under a run per ball. A solid partnership took place before Ben fell for a useful 14. This brought Naweed to the crease, fresh from his unbeaten 50 the previous day. The subsequent partnership kept Kings Heath up with the required run rate until Umar fell for a well constructed 31. During the partnership Umar had slashed at a wide ball outside off which flew at catchable height through the area where second slip would normally stand and collected a single to deep third man. This was a 20 over game so there were no slips as most fielders were in front of square protecting the boundaries, as Umar reached the non strikers’ end he apologised to the Kings Heath coach who was the standing umpire. When asked why he was apologising he replied that it was a bad shot; the surprised coach made it clear that the Kings Heath batters should learn from Knowle & Dorridge; their reluctance to improvise or play anything other than technically perfect shots cost them lots of several runs during their innings, which in turn could cost them the match. The brief discussion made it clear that scoring runs through gaps in the opposition field is a legitimate tactic, and if the shot has brought a run then nobody will complain; batman improvisation will frustrate bowler and captain alike. Luke Baker made four and seemingly disinterested keeper Joe Jennings scored a quick 14 from bottom handed slogs before his dismissal. Rashid joined Naweed and was commendably restrained – normally he just slogs – and had the ability to recognise that Naweed was the set batsman and therefore gave him most of the strike. The 17th over was when Naweed decided to go ‘big’; Knowle & Dorridge had taken 15 off an over during their innings and now was the time for Kings Heath to take theirs. Naweed hit a perfectly timed six over midwicket into the tennis courts which brought personal pleasure and enjoyment to the whole Kings Heath team. The shot effectively secured the match and the opposition heads dropped. However it wasn’t until the fourth ball of the 19th over that Naweed clipped a full ball off middle stump to the midwicket boundary to complete victory and finish unbeaten on 39. The Kings Heath innings was not technically perfect by any means but the players demonstrated an effective method for scoring runs.
