King’s College 113/7 (20 overs)
AGS 75 all out in 16.5 overs
Captain of the match Seb Macdonald chose to bat first after winning the toss and it looked like a good decision as openers Nathan Robinson and Achindra Molamure blazed away in carefree fashion. They reached the half century mark in the 9th over with Robinson being the main aggressor. The opening partnership grew to 56 in the 10th over when Molamure was run out. Robinson threw away a rare opportunity to score a half century in this format of cricket when he was caught going for an unnecessary slog. Thereafter the innings lost its way and King’s reached a defendable 113/7 in 20 overs. AGS had come back well and would have been satisfied with the job their bowlers had done in the second half of the innings.
King’s bowled and fielded with a large amount of determination knowing that the target was gettable and that the game plan had to be followed meticulously. Macdonald controlled proceedings impressively but AGS were still in the hunt at the half-way mark after being jolted by two wickets in successive overs at the start. Louis Anderson shattered the stumps in the 4th over and Patrick Maher struck three balls later with a brilliant throw to run out the new batsman with just one stump to aim at. Toby Irvine got through the defences of the other opener and the opposition form batsman to have AGS stuttering at 50/3 in the 10th over, but the job was not yet over as Macdonald had a big role to play.
Macdonald replaced Nick Tapper in the 11th over and bowled in the company of the spinners – Irvine initially who was then replaced by Max Chaplin. Macdonald started off with a wide which was very unusual for him as he is known for his control but this could be put down to nerves brought about by the responsibility of captaining for the first time. He picked up a wicket with the last ball of this over and then conceded six runs in his second over. He would have taken himself out of the attack at this juncture but due to the injury sustained by Maher on the boundary, Macdonald probably thought he would have to continue for one more over before allowing the opening bowlers back into the attack. Maher’s worrying injury had a silver lining though and created an opportunity and this was grabbed by Macdonald who began the 15th over by conceding a single which was then followed by a dot ball and then two more runs. In the 4th ball of the over he dug one in and forced the batsman into a mistimed pull shot which was caught by Muhammad Abbas. The batsman crossed so Macdonald was now bowling to the AGS #4 who was looking untroubled with his score on 22, at a run-a-ball. Macdonald then bowled a well-disguised slower ball, which is a key part of his repertoire and the batsman played it uppishly straight back to the bowler who took a good low catch around knee-height. Could Macdonald secure a rare hat-trick? The next ball was another well-disguised slower ball which the batsman reached forward to but missed the full-length delivery which thudded into his pads in line with the leg-stump. This required a full team celebration out in the middle and the boys thoroughly enjoyed this stupendous moment.
Max Chaplin picked up his maiden wicket and he is showing signs of adapting to the demands of 1st XI cricket whilst complementing the skills of the main spinner, Irvine. King’s fielded close to perfection in this match and three run-outs is an indication of the motivation and intensity that was displayed. Tom Paranthoiene had another brilliant match behind the stumps and continues to provide sound leadership when needed.
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N Robinson |
47 |
A Molamure |
23 |
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|
M Abbas |
8 |
P Maher |
0 |
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K Wallace |
9 |
N Tapper |
6 |
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|
S Macdonald |
0 |
L Anderson |
5 not out |
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|
T Paranthoiene |
4 not out |
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|
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|
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DNB: |
M Chaplin, T Irvine |
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M Abbas |
2-0-14-0 |
L Anderson |
2-0-12-1 |
|
N Tapper |
3-1-13-0 |
T Irvine |
4-0-13-1 |
|
S Macdonald |
3.5-0-13-4 |
M Chaplin |
2-0-1-9 |
King’s win by 38 runs
Full strength MAGS end King’s unbeaten streak
King’s College 69 all out (17.2 overs)
MAGS 70/4 (17.4 overs)
King’s eleven-match unbeaten run in 2020 came to an end against a full strength MAGS team. Tom Paranthoiene won the toss and chose to bat. Nathan Robinson tried to dominate the disciplined MAGS attack and was successful until he tried once too often to clear the boundary and was caught. Muhammad Abbas tried to dig in and anchor the innings but he got himself into a rut by being too cautious which led to his demise for a top score of 21 valuable runs. King’s could not build any momentum as wicket fell regularly. Abbas saw five of his team mates succumb to the wiles of the opposition attack whilst he laboured along with extreme caution. Max Chaplin got his first ever chance to bat and looked good until he was caught in the trap set on the leg-side. King’s was dismissed for an underwhelming score of 69 and the problem was exacerbated by the injury to Patrick Maher, a key bowler under these circumstances.
MAGS approached this target and the King’s attack with deserved respect and ensured that they did not throw caution to the wind. The bowlers were slightly less controlled than in the earlier match, apart from Nick Tapper who managed two maidens and three wickets in his spell of four overs. MAGS reached the required target in the 17th over with a well-deserved six wicket victory. It is expected that these two teams will finish in the top two positions on the table thereby earning a play-off against each other in the finals which will be an away game for King’s.
|
N Robinson |
18 |
A Molamure |
0 |
|
M Abbas |
21 |
K Wallace |
3 |
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N Tapper |
1 |
M Chaplin |
8 |
|
S Macdonald |
2 |
T Paranthoiene |
7 |
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L Anderson |
5 |
P Maher |
0 |
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T Irvine |
0 not out |
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M Abbas |
3-0-9-0 |
L Anderson |
2.4-0-16-1 |
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T Irvine |
2-0-12-0 |
N Tapper |
4-2-6-3 |
|
S Macdonald |
4-0-20-0 |
M Chaplin |
2-0-5-0 |
King’s lose by 6 wickets
