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A stroll in the park
By Moundstander June 20 2003
Confidence couldn’t have been high amongst players or supporters following the previous night’s collapse at Hove, and yet the home team pulled of an impressive victory- making it two out of two in three days, at Old Deer Park.
However, over the first eleven balls of the match the prospect of a Middx victory looked about as unlikely as a Tory victory in a Cuban general election- as Kent raced to 24 with a stream of boundaries. The fight back then started, with Bloomfield capturing the crucial wicket of Symonds; Alleyne taking the catch behind the stumps- indeed the “Vulture” looked keen throughout, but all the batsmen managed to keep their back foot grounded. Keegan then bowled Trego two balls later and the ‘sex were back with a vengeance. Kent never managed a defining partnership and finished on 161 for 8.

In reply, we never really looked in trouble- thanks to the excellent start given by Straussie and Weekes, with the skipper marching on another 50 in this competition (earning him the man of the match award) before Symonds bowled him in the 13th over. After Weekes, Keegan kept the momentum going with 23 off 10 before making way for Owais Shah, who was also in mood to answer his detractors, by staying to the end with 40 to his name, including two 6’s, as the Crusaders got home with 7 wickets and 16 balls to spare.

One feature was the controlled lobbed shots into the gaps- played well by both sides, but we saw little innovation from the bowlers although (thankfully) no balls and wides were kept to a minimum. Altogether, 180 of the runs came in boundaries: but there was no darts style Master of Ceremonies to inform us of that at the closing presentation- indeed, the razzamataz was kept to a minimum.

The weather held, despite a brief overcast spell, and the majority in an estimated crowd of around 3,000 were pleased with the result.

All-in-all, a welcome victory and, for the optimists amongst us, the faintest of hopes of qualification for Trent Bridge have been re-kindled; now where’s my pocket calculator, to do the Net Run Rate permutations?


Kent Innings
Trego b Keegan 11
Symonds c Alleyne b Bloomfield 13
Tredwell c Cook b Bloomfield 34
Ealham c Strauss b Noffke 10
Blewett c Noffke b S J Cook 15 12 2 0
Walker b Noffke 35
Jones c Noffke b Cook 12
Fulton c Shah b Noffke 12
Carberry not out 8
Sheriyar not out 4
Extras

Total (20.0 overs for 8 wickets) 161

Middlesex Innings
Weekes c Jones b Tredwell 29
Strauss b Symonds 60
Keegan b Symonds 23
Shah not out 40
Joyce not out 7
Extras 6

Total (17.2 overs for 3 wickets) 165


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