King’s overpower St Kentigern College

When Seb Macdonald, the skipper, brought himself into the attack in the 44^th over, instead of the pace spearhead Muhammad Abbas it looked like a gamble that could backfire. Abbas was hindered by soreness in his legs and with St Kent’s teetering on 118/7 it seemed needless to risk the left-arm pacer who always bowled the death overs. With the big hitting Ross Khurana at the crease a target in excess of 160 runs would not have been dismissed by some observers. Macdonald steeled himself for this challenge and won the mini-battle as he varied his deliveries by cramping up the burly #8 batsman who was itching to deposit anything within his zone beyond the long-on boundary. Every time Khurana shuffled in his crease, ready to pull the trigger, Macdonald would respond with a ball that was out of firing range. In the final over Macdonald knew that Khurana would go for broke so he posted Patrick Maher at cow corner and it proved to be a master stroke as the St Kent’s boundary hitter was caught miscuing a pull shot. Macdonald, was further rewarded as he claimed the final two wickets for a rare hat-trick just has he did against AGS in November last year. Earlier, the King’s opening attack of Abbas and Louis Anderson bowled with super control and zip to restrict St Kent’s to a mere 20 runs in ten overs of wonderful seam bowling, for the loss of one wicket. Nick Tapper and Macdonald then joined the attack and the stranglehold continued as the run-rate dropped further and another wicket fell with the assistance of the keeper Tom Paranthoiene.

The spinners, Toby Irvine and Max Chaplin operated in the middle overs and they were interspersed with the pace of Patrick Maher and Anderson just to keep the batsmen on the hop and not get too settled. Maher was more expensive than the rest of the bowlers but something always happens when he has the ball in his hand, mainly due to his unpredictability and rapid pace. This accounted for the other St Kent’s opening batsman who was there for almost half the innings whilst scoring at a snail’s pace. Karl Wallace juggled a brilliant catch in the outfield as the ball from Maher was hurriedly pulled and was looking to safely land in between fielders until a sprinting Wallace stretched out both hands, with the ball popping out as he was losing balance but was alert enough to safely grasp it the second time around to secure the third wicket for a paltry 52 runs in the 25^th over. Chaplin continues to be a thorn in the side of opposition batsmen as he always picks up wickets in spite of this being his first full season in the premier competition. This time he snaffled the wicket of the St Kent’s top scorer just as he was threatening to dominate. Chaplin had him caught by the ever-present Maher at slip for 41 (51 balls), which included 5 boundaries. The King’s fielding was near perfect today as Maher, Wallace and Achindra Molamure stood out.

In pursuit of 145 runs for victory King’s lost two quick wickets when opener Harry Sinclair was trapped in front off the 3^rd ball and Josh Olliver nicked to the keeper in the 5^th over after making a promising start. The score was now 9/2 and this lifted St Kent’s and gave them new-found belief. Molamure was joined by the vastly experienced Abbas and the rebuild took effect. These two displayed a lot of patience mixed with a fair bit of guile as they clinically constructed a century partnership off 139 balls before Abbas was lured into an expansive stroke and was caught miscuing to short third-man. The match was not yet safe but at 109/3 in the 27^th over, and loads of batting to come, victory was highly anticipated. Molamure, who had reached his long-overdue half-century by then began toying with the bowling and looked like he would walk off unbeaten before he gifted his wicket away for a brilliant 77 runs. He had done a sterling job for his team and now left it to others to find the remaining runs which was achieved in the 38^th over leaving King’s one of only two unbeaten teams in the competition.

Next week promises to be an absolute humdinger as King’s travel to the unbeaten MAGS in a top-of-the-table clash.

King’s win by 5 wickets