Knockers Vs Dartford

Lose :: Played on Sunday 12th June 2022

Dartford
227-7

Knockers
117-7

Match Report

Knockers arrived to a Dartford’s 2nd ground set just off the M25 and arrived with some curiosity as to what the Dartford “Development” XI would actually look like. Having lost the toss, Knockers were put into bowl on what could be described as a slight mismatch (They were stacked with 5 div 1 – 1st XI players) and a very flat pitch.

Hector opened up with Luke, with Hector bowling some lovely lines and taking 2 early wickets that brought some much needed confidence to the Knockers side. Luke bowled well and found his length after a few overs and bowled a tidy spell. The opposition were strong and punished short deliveries, which on a flat deck with small boundaries was inevitable.

After the 2 wickets, this brought their Indian overseas to the crease who showed his class against the Spin twins Akhil (1 wicket) and Seb. Slightly overpitched balls were dispatched and good balls were respected with both bowling good spells even though their figures don’t necessarily do them justice. The opposition’s first teamers showed their ability albeit with Jai trying to sledge as much as he could from behind the sticks.

Throughout these spells, Knockers’ efforts in the field were tremendous with plenty of slides by Ivor, Hector and Chris Bogie. Starman, decided to bring himself on to try and break the partnerships. This came with much success and with him taking 4 poles. HE used his flight, guile and spin to deceive the batsmen beautifully through the air. Ivor came on at the end for a couple of overs of seam to try and close the innings. Although, their number 9 impressively scooped Ivor for 4 twice in the same over to get Dartford to an impressive 227-7 after their 35 overs.

After a delightful match tea and a check of the test match score, Finn and Jai strolled out to bat on what can only be described as a tough outing for knockers. Finn started off with a couple of beautiful boundaries including a punch through the covers for 4. Although, he was then caught for 15 after a promising start. For the first time in a Knockers shirt together Papa Shah and Jai batted together. Both were patient and left the ball well. Dartford bowled good channels with few loose deliveries, Jai picking up on these and punishing them well with a flick through the leg side and a straight drive past the bowler the pick of the lot. Papa Shah struggled and was eventually beaten for pace as was Chris who swiftly followed Papa S back to the pavilion.

This brought the Prof to the crease, who was also beaten for pace and was caught swiftly after arriving. Seb supported Jai well and the 2 rotated strike well and accumulated some runs with both agreeing to take time and enjoy it given the soaring run rate. Jai continued being patient, playing his shots and rotating the strike when possible and brought up his slowest 50 for Knockers. But Dartford were a strong side who bowled with pace, seam and skill. Seb was unfortunately caught trying to up the rate. Luke stroked a lovely boundary before being bowled by a ball that turned sharply, Ivor unfortunately didn’t trouble the scorers. Akhil and Jai batted out the last couple of overs of the game, with Jai attempting to reverse sweep a ball from outside leg stump. Knockers fell well short of Dartford’s total although team effort in the field cannot be faulted. A good day’s cricket was had against a strong team. On to the next one Knockers

JS

 

Batting

Batsman	How Out	4s	6s	Runs
Jai Shah	not out	0	0	54
Finn Kinsler O'Sullivan	caught	0	0	15
Vinit Shah	bowled	0	0	3
Chris Bogie	bowled	0	0	1
John Mitchell	caught	0	0	1
Seb Horner	caught	0	0	16
Luke Stevens	bowled	0	0	6
Ivor Green	bowled	0	0	0
Akhil Anand	not out	0	0	1
David Bowen	dnb	0	0	0
Hector Agnew	dnb	0	0	0

 

Bowling

Bowler	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts
Hector Agnew	7.0	1	25	2
Luke Stevens	6.0	0	39	0
Akhil Anand	7.0	0	55	1
Seb Horner	7.0	0	50	0
David Bowen	6.0	0	30	4
Ivor Green	2.0	0	14	0