Seconds pull off a stunning last ball win as Clarke takes 3 wickets in the final over.
Saturday 21st. May
Two remarkable games with close finishes. The 1st. XI falling two runs short whilst the 2nd. XI produced a stunning final over, last ball win where 3 wickets fell in 6 balls to give them victory. The 3rd. XI were well beaten in their match.
1st XI
Kenilworth v. Leamington 2’s
WCCL Division 1 – 50 overs a side – Win/Lose/Draw format
KENILWORTH LOST BY 2 RUNS
Leamington 2’s 223-7 (50 overs) (24 points) beat Kenilworth 221-10 (48.4 overs) (6 points) by 2 runs.
The Town 1st. XI suffered the heartache of a two run defeat as they were bowled out for 221 with 8 balls of the match remaining chasing down the Leamington 2’s score of 223-7 in a very close match that both sides had the chance of winning.
Leamington had found themselves on 66-5 before Jack Hawkes and Dan Williams then shared in a crucial 133 runs 6th. wicket partnership. Hawkes went onto make a fine 91 (10 x 4, 1 x 6) and Williams 60 (8 x 4) as Connor Shingler took 2-34, Stuart Cope 2-41, Joe Atkinson 2-48 and Steve Rhodes 1-26 for the Town side.
Atkinson who hit 70 and Cope 57 shared in a century 1st. wicket partnership to start the run chase off for Kenilworth. After their departure, there was a mid order wobble as the Leamington bowlers took control but the Town tail fought back to within the sight of victory as Henry Curran hit 14 and it was number 10, Jack Howard, who nearly saw the side home as he made a fine 31 but was last man out. The pair both fell to Aditya Gokhale who handed Leamington the very narrow win with his 2-45 after James Vaughan had earlier taken 4-32, Jason Butler 2-32 and Sukhjeet Ahira the other wicket to fall as the Town side fell two runs short.
2nd. XI
Kenilworth v. Attleborough 1’s
WCCL Division 7 East – 50 overs a side – Win/Lose/Draw format
KENILWORTH WON BY 20 RUNS
Kenilworth 183-9 (50 overs) (24 points) beat Attleborough 163-10 (50 overs) (6 points) by 20 runs.
Kenilworth’s Ben Clarke took 3 wickets in the final over to give the Town side a stunning 20 run win over Attleborough with his third coming on the last ball of the match to send the side and the home crowd into raptures. Attleborough had looked in no trouble at 154-4 chasing the Town’s 183-9 but lost their last 6 wickets in the space of 20 balls to be bowled out for 163 as Clarke and Sam Leach ripped through the tail with the ball, aided by a sharp run out from Charlie Stranks – one of two for the visitors to suffer. Leach took 2-23, whilst Clarke ended on 3-24 with an incredible treble wicket maiden last over. He, too, had earlier ran out a batsman whilst Tom Skinner had taken a fine 3-34 from his 12 overs.
The Town’s score had been reached thanks to Stranks hitting 62 (5 x 4) and Adie Sellar 47 (2 x 4) with Danny Boneham chipping with 13, Dan Horner 12 and Clarke, an unbeaten 11. In reply, Attleborough’s mid order of Bourton made 30, Anwar 33 and Barker 35 – whom Stranks crucially ran out that set Kenilworth up for the memorable final ball win as the Attleborough side fell apart against the bowling accuracy of Leach and Clarke. A great game of cricket.
3rd. XI
Kenilworth v. Coventry Blues
CHL Division 4 North – 40 overs a side – Win/Lose format
KENILWORTH LOST BY 114 RUNS
Coventry Blues 251-5 (40 overs) (22 points) beat Kenilworth 137-10 (40 overs) (4 points) by 114 runs.
Coventry Blues proved far too strong for the Town 3’s as they racked up 251-5 in their 40 overs and then bowled Kenilworth out for 137 in reply. Lineesh hit 71, Jobin 61, Rajan 51 not out and Raj 44 in the Blues’ total despite the best efforts of Town’s Tarun Ahuja who took a fine 4-33 from his spell and Nick Moore taking the other wicket to fall. In reply, Dhruv Vyas shone with the bat for Kenilworth making a delightful 63 (8 x 4, 2 x 6) and Steve Kelley 33 (3 x 4) with Dan Hone making 17 (2 x 4) but they were the only batsmen to reach double figures as the others were unable to cope with accuracy of Kandy 4-25, Jose 3-32, Elippatta 2-19 and Sudhakaran 1-29 always finding runs hard to come by and the side were bowled out on the final ball of the match for 137 and a very long way away from the target score.
