17-05-2008 - Away - HCP - Kiddlington vs Finch

Cheets Prosper

Finch travelled to Kidlington on a cold and inhospitable day when a day in the pub sat around the open fire would have seemed like a much better option. Wet as it was both Captains, to their credit, decided to play and the umpires seemed equally committed. It was stand-in skipper Bloyce who won the toss and while this was important it would, by no means, guarentee a positive result. There was some hard cricket to be played in hard conditions with a hard wind and occassion hard rain. The only soft thing around was the wicket which seemed to suffer more during a wet week - this could well have been down to not being covered and, if that is the case, will surely repeat itself again potentially costing Kiddlington more rain affected or cancelled games.

Kiddlington opener Dave Taylor was given a repreive early on but went on to a fine hard hitting 70. Sam 'Chav' Cheetham certainly felt the full force of a strike from Taylor but the first of his 3 cathes would be his finest, if not most painful. In truth Taylor's team mates did nothing to help him until nine and ten chipped in with some precious runs to get the score to 170 all out. Bloyce (3-46) did well but it was the burley Bucks all rounder Russell Lane (4-25) who shone with a great spell that reduced the Kidlington middle order to dust. A useful 3-29 from Finches other 'wide man' Harper closed out the innings and led way to rain at the tea interval. Given the tempretures it was with slight suprise that the players commenced the second innings without a blanket covering of snow. But start they did and Kidlington were soon into the Finch openers with Lane (7) and Patterson (3) early victims. Matt Jones (30) looked like he had settled in just as he was adjudged stumped. The young Welshman was not happy with the decision but it did clear the way for a match winning partnership from Sam Cheetham (62*) and Steve Bloyce (50). The pair batted maturely and punished the bad ball while defending the good deliveries. Bloyce departed and Woodruffe (9*) helped 'Chav man' Cheets finish the job with plenty of overs to spare. A man-of-the-Match display from Cheetham but, in truth, it could have equally gone to Lane or Bloyce for their contributions.

Statistics

Finchampstead won the toss and elected to bat
Result	Win
Score
Finchampstead CC Scored 171 for 4 in 49
Kiddlington Scored 170 for 10 in 51.4

Player Performance - Batsmen

Player	How out	Runs	Catch	Stump
Steve Bloyce	Caught	50	0	0
Russell Lane	Caught	7	1	0
Scott Patterson	Caught	3	0	0
Sam Cheetham	Not Out	62	3	0
Matt Jones	Stumped	30	0	0
Nick Woodroffe	Not Out	9	0	0

Player Performance - Bowlers

Player	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Steve Bloyce	14	4	46	3
Russell Lane	12	4	25	4
Matt Harper	9.4	1	29	3
James Cowie	3	0	9	0
Anthony Parson	13	1	52	0