B’HAM LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION KIDDERMINSTER v WOLVERHAMPTON JULY 1st 2017

KCC 235-7 (55 overs) WOLVERHAMPTON 236-6 (48.5 overs)

WOLVERHAMPTON WON BY 4 wkts (20 pts) KCC (5 pts)

Report submitted by Brian Gittins

Wolverhampton won the toss and invited KCC to bat. On a good wicket KCC struggled to get started, scoring only 20 runs off the first ten overs and 17 to reach 50 by which time they had lost their first wicket.

Charlie Stainforth (28) was caught by Simon Lycett bowled Johhaness Bothma.

The score reached 101 when Andy Kimberlin (32) fell to a catch by Tom Fell off the bowling of Matt Kleinveldt.

Skipper Neil Pinner came in at number 3 and together with Connor Smith added 36 runs. Smith had scored 9 when he was caught by keeper Will Nield, giving Kleinveldt his second wicket.

Pinner was in good form as was his partner Richard Kimberlin. It ended when Pinner (66) was out leg before to Aneesh Kapil. Pinner had hit nine 4s.

Liam Weston, next man in was out for 1 caught Nield bowled Kapil. Kimberlin was scoring at a good rate but lost another partner, Pat Brown (9) bowled Kapil. The score stood at 189 with only five overs remaining.

Kimberlin was batting confidently, but with his score on 70, he was caught behind with Bothma the bowler. Kimberlin had scored 70 which included six 4s and four 6s.

The innings ended with George Scrimshaw (9) and Tom Kimberlin (0) the not out batsmen.

Kapil took 3-52, Kleinveldt 2-35 and Bothma 2-59. Wolverhampton made a better start the Kidderminster, scoring 60 off the first ten overs. Then on 63 they lost their first wicket when Brown had Amrit Singh (40) caught by Weston.

Kidderminster struck again, taking two more wickets, leaving the visitors reeling at 65-3. Ramon Jaswal (0) was bowled by Brown, who struck again to remove his fellow County player Tom Fell (1) with a catch by Pinner. All this came by the 15th over.

However, things would soon change. We then witnessed a stand of 129 between Kapil and Kleinveldt that changed the game completely. Kapil had scored 75 with nine 4s and a 6.

Three runs later Brown bowled Hammond for 2. Wolverhampton required 39 runs for victory but lost another wicket. Gomez Vincent’s spin finally got him a second wicket when Scrimshaw caught another County player Twohig for 5.

Meanwhile, Kleinveldt (86) was scoring the runs required. Partnering him was Nield (10). Kleiveldt had struck thirteen fours.

Brown took 4-73 and Vincent 2-34. Scrimshaw still coming back from injury bowled 4 overs for 29 runs. The other bowlers, Smith, Weston, Stainforth and Pinner were reasonably economical. We are still close to the bottom of the table, but hopefully with the return of some more experienced players this week we can improve when we visit Dorridge at 12 noon.