King’s School XI

Match Report

After the sunshine and cricketing success in Menorca, the Stragglers came back to earth (and a very cold earth at 11C) with a bang at Kings.  Losing the toss and sent out to field under grey skies and with rain threatening, the Straggler opening pair, Hugo and Seb, kept it very tight indeed, with a couple of false shots safely held – after 8 overs Kings were 26 for 2 and struggling to find runs.  However, the grip was loosened and a couple of catches (one very hard to Toby, who retired briefly for ice treatment) went to ground.  Rahman (79) and Gidoomal (50) picked the bad balls, easing the run rate up and eventually putting on 129 for the third wicket.  Hamish MacLeod eventually prised out the latter (caught on the boundary, Australian style by Hugo, which is hard when the ball is toe high).  Hugo then returned for his final pair of overs, and, with two sharp yorkers in succession, bowled his second hat-trick ball of the day – again kept out.  The run flow eased a little, and Hamish picked up Rahman, a running boundary catch by Theo, but Kings had done enough to turn a slow start into a very respectable 196 for 7 from 30 overs.

The Stragglers cruised to 50 with few alarms, Jasper crunching through a poorly defended leg side and breaking Hugo’s bat in the process. Theo was then undone by Rahman’s first very sharp ball, but we were up with the rate and plenty of batting to come.  However, with Jasper gone for 51, the middle order subsided meekly, losing wickets in pairs and not helped by Hugo doing a full-blown “Boycott” and running out both Hamish (who he lapped running a 2) and the Chairman.  Skipper Patch, who had hoped not to have to emulate Colin Cowdrey and bat with an arm in plaster (well, Patch had two broken fingers taped together), was required to join Hugo for the last push, but too much was needed from the final overs, eventually falling 24 runs short.