Hampton Hill 6th XI tied with Kingstonian
A young 6XI side tied vs Kingstonian with an incredible finale after a largely commendable team performance.
Skipper Blair wanted to bowl first and twas mutually agreed that the Hill were to bowl first on what seemed to be an interesting deck to bat on. Andrew and Tommy opened the bowling, Tommy taking 3 in his first spell, with a good Ben Porter catch, with Blair deserving of a wicket himself, after having numerous snicks, and shots which landed just short of the field.
The first Change brought on Louis McCartney (0-21 off 5) and Zeeshan (0-21 off 5). Louis was severely unlucky, with an LBW shout turned down which Blair, Mid off, said was so plum it belonged in the fruit aisle! Zeeshanbowled some good pace but was again unlucky! The standard of fielding was set by Dan Beadle attempting to slide tackle the ball as if he were a Centre Half playing for England at Wembley! We had Kingstonian 61-3 at drinks.
Then came on the young duo of Dan Beadle and Will Exworth. Both bowled superbly, showing how much talent we have coming through the Ranks here at the Hill. Beadle (4-22 off 6) bowled In areas untouchable for the KIS Batsmen. 2 catches by Gavin behind the stumps from Beadles bowling. A huge shout out to Gav also who kept brilliantly behind the sticks! Will and Felix also both took catches for him in what was an impeccable fielding performance. The Ex took a wicket towards the end of his spell, a nice C&B.
Felix (0-10 off 4) followed Will, and bowled very economically not giving much away. Blair (0-17 off 8) also came back on and continued where he left off with some very good tight bowling, in beautiful areas just unfortunately no reward.
Tommy (3-12 off 6) was brought back on at the death, as was Will Ex for one more over. He took the rest of the tail with him after another good grab by Felix and another C&B. Will finishing with awesome figures of (3-21 off 4.4). The Ex had 3 catches, so that sounds like a Jug to me!
A splendid performance in the field by the Hill, left Kingstonian 135 all out. All the colts were very mature and assured in the field with good fielding performances including many catches. This was well Led by Andrew as well as Gav, Nish, Zeeshan and Louis providing experience to guide the colts through our 40 overs.
Now onto the batting. Gavin and Nish opened up for the Hill. Nish was the first to fall, chipping one up and Gavin soon followed, with 1 and 1 0 respectively. This brought Ben Porter to the Crease, along with Ben Blackshire - who had put the ball through the washing machine every time he went to shine it during our innings. Blackshire hit a few lusty blows for 4 over Mid Off and Mid On, and looked in good nick before being caught for 1 1 .
Ben Porter and No.5 Louis, steadied the ship lasting 12 overs batting together, with Louis McCartney playing some lovely shots and Ports also playing with confidence. Both of them ticking the score along nicely. Louis fell to a swinging ball for a well made 14 in a vital innings to keep the runs coming.
Dan Beadle was the next man in, and continued where Louis left off, pushing I s and 2s. Ben Porter batted sublimely, giving yet another example of why the future of the club is so bright! He eventually went for a beautiful 34 off a ball that kept extremely low! Cue a standing ovation from the team as well as plenty of fistbumps given out by the Kingstonian team, who consequently had been chuntering away to Porter, but didn't let it affect his game one bit!
Blair then departed soon after, and despite the run rate remaining relatively low, Wickets were starting to become an issue. Beadle followed after looking in good touch finding a nice boundary, but then lifted the ball up in the air for a catch at mid-on.
Felix Rance came in and gave us a great showing of sensible batting by mainly playing the ball along the floor and building a partnership with Will Exworth. With the run rate just over 3 an over, these 2 took us very close to the finishing line with maturity beyond their years putting on 18 together, which at the time felt like 40. Zeeshan came, in and edged us closer to the finish line leaving us with 3 needed from the final over.
The tension was palpable, 3 to win, 2 Wickets left. Zeeshan on strike, survived a very close LBW shout but then succumbed to the second in the second ball of the over. Tommy Rance came in as the last batsman, and then successfully missed his first 3 deliveries leaving 3 off 1 ball. The bowler delivered and Tommy finally getting bat on ball squirted it down to Third Man, Felix who'd backed up a long way down easily ran the first, before Tommy dropped his bat at the turning! Unbelievable scenes as he then dives back for the second and the game finishes as a tie!
A shout out must go to Felix for an awesome 1 6 not out during a game wherebatting was difficult on a minefield of a track. In the batting, Ben Porter, Dan Beadle also have well deserved credit for batting sensibly on a track that was difficult to bat on.
This young Hill side performed admirably and were all vocal, backing each other brilliantly and deserved to leave with a result, albeit a tie! A good allround team performance.
Thanks are also due to Neal Blackshire for scoring as well!
Written by Tommy Rance
