Bolton’s off-spin leaves Purley reeling

KIDMORE END ran out winners by 40 runs at the Goosecroft Ground against hosts PURLEY in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.

Skipper Manpreet Singh, taking command of his first Saturday fixture as team captain, won the toss and elected to bat.

Kidmore got off to a fast start with debutant Abhinav Mittal racing to 27 before he went for one shot too many and was caught at mid-on off the bowling of Coggs. The opening stand was not a large one, due to Singh falling early, and when the second wicket fell the score was 42-2 from the opening 10 overs.

A second debutant, Matt Bolton, veered between classy shots and false shots, but with the help of Leach, steadied the ship and guided Kidmore to 91-3. Leach scored 38 from 55, including a pull shot that would have been six on a less breezy day. Bolton was also dismissed for 38.

The Purley veteran seamer then exploited the slightly inconsistent wicket well and picked up three wickets for 26 runs.

Logan Turner and Gregor Hearn then built an undefeated partnership that was based around quick singles and fierce punishment of the errant bowling from back-up bowlers.

The sixth wicket pairing put on 115 in the remaining 18 overs of the innings. This was an impressive showing from the duo as Turner scored 59 and Hearn was one short of his 50. The partnership involved minimal risk and scored 115 from just 103 balls. Kidmore finished on 232-5 from 40 overs.

Fielding second was bleak. The wind was strong, the sun went missing and the temperature dropped but Kidmore defended their total competently. The fielding was not always what a team would desire, but the weather conditions explained a lot of this and there were moments of brilliance in the field, including a one-handed catch plucked from the air by Bolton and two stumpings by Jake Leach.

Purley also provided stout middle order resistance with a fine fifth-wicket stand of 91. Barret, 44, and James Leach, 51, of Purley batted well and punished loose deliveries well. However, throughout most of the innings Kidmore End were in the driving seat.

The opening pair of Frost and Amol Tyagi bowled well, back in partnership for the first time in a year. Frost was stingy with an economy rate of 2.75 from eight overs, whereas Tyagi picked up two wickets bowling one batter and breaking the bails.

Atif Nasim picked up a wicket, with his left arm spin; however, Mayank Kedia’s left arm spin was more successful, as he bowled beautifully to take 4-28, mixing up his pace deceptively.

Jeff Sheldon bowled for the first time this season and finally Matt Bolton’s off spin, picked up three wickets and finished off the game for Kidmore.