BRIAN Gittins looks back at Kidderminster Victoria’s season in the Birmingham and District League Premier.

IT WAS a moderate season that saw the first XI in the lower half of the table for most of the year.

Six matches were won, with five draws. seven losses and four matches abandoned.

Three wins in the last six matches left us in eighth place.

The new format, with half the games played in the 50 overs style and the rest in the old longer form is under review.

Personally, I prefer the old type that has existed since the league started in 1888.

The highest score of the season was at home against Knowle and Dorridge.

We scored 332-7, but failed to bowl them out as they finished on 217-7. The result was a winning draw for KVCC.

Regrettably, we scored under 200 runs in 13 of the games, while 17 players featured in the 22 league matches.

The two highest stands were against Brockhampton (127) between Richard Kimberlin (47) and Michael Hill (68) and 119 against Knowle and Dorridge between Craig Wood (63) and Neil Pinner (76).

The best batsmen were Michael Hill (558), Craig Wood (504), Matt Pardoe (381), Neil Pinner (380), Richard Kimberlin (227) and Zac Turley (210).

There were no century-makers – the highest scorers were Hill (91), Pardoe (85), Wood (83) and Pinner (76).

The most prolific wicket-takers were Gareth Williams (29), Michael Hill (28) and Connor Smith (21).

Hill’s best figures were 5-19, with Williams (5-36), skipper Jonathan Wright (5-82), Smith (4-27), Richard Kimberlin (4-29) and Pardoe (4-38).

Wicketkeeper Tom Kimberlin took 12 catches.

Matters were not helped when Pinner had his arm broken when playing for Leicestershire 2nd XI. He only played in ten league matches and was sadly missed.

The Seconds fared much better, winning the title in the Birmingham League 2nd XI Division One. They won half of their 22 matches, captained by Mark Mansell.

Top batsmen were Henry Wright (416), Andy Kimberlin (350), Steve Yarsley (261), Mark Mansell (225) and Matt Brace (222).

Leading bowlers were Andy Logan and Andy Kimberlin (19 wickets each), Mark Mansell (18), Henry Wright (16), Jack Beadsworth (15), Gomez Vincent (13) and Steve Yarsley (12).