Breath-taking century from Wallace results in victory over competition leaders

When Karl Wallace raised his helmet and bat in the air to acknowledge the applause from his team mates beyond the boundary he had just completed a breath-taking century, a maiden one for him and the first one since Achindra Molamure’s against Westlake Boys High, just over a year ago. Big scores have been hard to come by for the current outfit but the quality of Wallace’s century, also against the competition leaders, will remain memorable for many a year. The last time that I (Mahendra Naidoo, First XI Manager) can recall an innings of this class was the one from Mitch Murray at Gillette in 2014 – a faultless one.

Earlier Wallace had an average day behind the stumps as he missed a regulation stumping to give the dangerous opener Tayden Smit a reprieve. The unlucky bowler was Justin Nori. The keeper also conceded four byes during the first innings. Most players at this level would have sulked and dropped their shoulders for the rest of the day – but not Wallace. He saw this as an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, to dominate the opposition bowling, to dig his team out the inevitable hole that it always finds itself in, to send a warning to the rest of the competition. His century came off 96 balls and included 13 boundaries, two of them majestically clearing the ropes. He dominated every bowler that he faced. He swept, he pulled, he drove, he charged, he bludgeoned, he punched, he lofted mightily, he was all class. When he was dismissed playing a tired stroke to the leg-side he was utterly dejected, as he understood that at 199/8 in the 46^th over, 11 runs adrift, the job was not done.

Nevertheless, if Wallace was the leading act, then he had an understudy. When Jack Priddy was dismissed at the end of the 37^th over, the season’s underperformer but capable batter James Wilson joined our hero in the middle to search for 69 runs – time was not an issue as the RRR was in good health, thanks to Wallace shifting gears in the 19^th over, twelve overs after the loss of opener, Tom Lindberg. Wallace and Wilson added a mesmerising 58 runs in 7.3 overs. When Wallace was dismissed, Wilson was handed the responsibility of searching for 11 runs in the company of Justin Nori and Samar Singh who made his debut yesterday against St Peter’s. Wilson, by now was in the zone and had a plan. He just needed the last two batters to survive and he’d look after the rest. He lost Nori two balls later to a perfect yorker from the impressive St Kent’s opener, Oscar Anderson (brother of ex-King’s opening bowler Louis Anderson). Anderson, sensing victory a ball away, steamed into Singh with the final ball of the 46^th over. Singh, dealt with it like a top-order batsmen as he defended confidently. No sign of nerves! Wilson played out the 47^th over with a boundary and a single of the fifth ball with Singh showing solid defence again to bring the over to an end – 6 runs required. Anderson to bowl the 48^th over. Wilson took a single off the first ball, Singh steered the next to third man for an easy run. With four runs required for victory that seemed to be slipping away rapidly at one stage, Wilson unfurled his favourite pull shot that pierced the on-side fielders and raced off to the square leg boundary to bring victory with nine balls to spare. His team mates were ecstatic, the parent supporters were jubilant as this victory was the sweetest and toughest yet, this season.

Earlier, when St Kent’s won the toss and chose to bat another 250 plus score was envisaged as they’ve often scored a glut of runs this season, mainly through Smit and Patel. Josh Olliver and Jonty Willis, who’ve both come into form recently, began well to keep the opening batters in check. Some streaky runs edged uppishly through third man boosted their run rate and they got through the first spell with the score on 33 for no loss. Nick Tapper brought himself on for three overs but mainly used the spin of Nori, Nelson and Singh through the middle session. The spinners caused a fair bit of trouble for the opening batters and the dot balls began to cause tension. This led to the run out of Bainbridge in the 24^th over with the hosts looking comfortable at 91/1. The other danger man Rikesh Patel, who already scored two centuries in recent weeks joined Smit. Smit wasn’t looking comfortable against spin. He was given a lifer earlier and did not enjoy being stifled. Something had to give, and he decided to take on Nelson in the 26^th over but was beaten in flight to be superbly bowled with the scoreboard showing 109/2. A lot was expected from Patel if St Kent’s were to reach a score of 250 and King’s responded with accurate bowling and sound fielding resulting in pressure that led to another run out – 142/3 in the 34^th over. Patel, still there! Danger not averted yet!

Boundaries were not coming fast enough for Patel, especially, as he loves to dominate attacks. In the 38^th over, with the run rate still being stifled by the King’s pack, Patel decided that he had enough and decided to take on Nori, but the bowler came out on top – Patel bowled for 13 off 25 balls, St Kent’s 160/4 and 250 being mission impossible! Tapper rotated his bowlers effectively with Priddy, Olliver, Nori and the skipper himself bowling the last ten overs. Willis sustained an injury and was unable to get another spell. Olliver had to be used for his full quota of ten overs, for the first time this season and he produced another fine spell of pace bowling whilst claiming two wickets. Liam Denny and Priddy showed calmness under the high ball and took impressive catches in the deep. King’s gave very little away in the outfield and the hosts run rate dropped to the low 4’s during this period.

At 63/1 in the 18^th over the foundation was laid for a resounding victory but the loss of James Nelson who once again looked impressive led to a bit of a collapse until Wilson joined the hero of the day Karl Wallace to eke out a stirring and season defining victory. King’s are now within range of the leading schools as we look towards Term Four, with renewed hope and tons of belief.

King’s win by 1 wicket