Bad weekend as KVCC suffer double defeat

A three-wicket defeat at home to West Bromwich Dartmouth on Saturday, followed-up by an eight-wicket loss at Wellington on Bank Holiday Monday saw them slip to third from bottom.

On Saturday, KVCC hardly missed batsmen Matt Pardoe and Neil Pinner, who were both preparing for Worcestershire’s County Championship clash against Nottinghamshire, as they made 250 all out at Chester Road.

The hosts lost the toss and were put into bat and they struggled to cope with Dartmouth dangerman Ateeq Javid, who took four wickets.

Opening batsmen Craig Wood and Jon Smith scored just 24 runs when Smith (7) was trapped lbw by Imran Khan.

The score had reached 62 when Andrew Kimberlin (20) was caught by Kadeer Ali, giving Khan his second wicket.

A stand of 41 between Wood and James Ralph looked set for better things, but the former, having scored 43, gave Ali his second catch with Jeet Raval the bowler as KVCC fell to 103-3 in the 24th over.

The number five batsman was skipper Jonathan Wright and he and Ralph soon increased the scoring rate. Both looked in great form with frequent balls dispatched to the boundary, with the captain smashing a six which cleared the pavilion.

In 15 overs they added 85 runs, but an ill-judged single cost Wright his wicket. He had scored 33, four boundaries and a six, when he was run out.

KVCC, having looked set for a big score, never really got going again. At 211, Ralph (93) paid for his over confidence when he was denied a century after he was caught by Javid off Raval. He had batted for 79 minutes and hit 15 fours.

KVCC’s last five wickets produced only 39 runs when it looked as if they would possibly reach around the 280 mark.

Chris Pyke was caught by Ruki DeSilva off Javid for 11, and Chris Whelan (6) became the bowler’s second scalp when he was caught by Kadeer Ali.

Richard Kimberlin started well by hitting a six and a four, but Javid claimed his third wicket when he trapped him lbw for 10.

Teenager Ryan Derrick scored four but was out caught and bowled by Raval, Gareth Williams was caught by Ali for nine off Javid, while Mark Mansell was two not out as the home side made 250 all out. Javid had taken 4-51, Raval 3-67, but Imran Khan had superb figures of 11-7-16-2.

In reply, the home side’s innings opened with a wicket in the first over, when Worcestershire pace bowler Chris Whelan had Guriq Randhawa clean bowled for a duck.

However, this did not cause West Bromwich any problems as they were soon into their stride. They had 51 runs to their name by the 12th over but then lost their second wicket when Ali was bowled by Williams for 22.

Opener Raval and number four Javid continued the onslaught and by the time former had reached his century it looked all over.

He was eventually out for 114 in the 38th over, bowled by Williams, after striking 14 fours to guide Dartmouth to 203-3.

The game swung back in KVCC’s favour when DeSilva was out to a good catch by Derrick off the bowling of Williams having scored three.

Ralph took three wickets to get KVCC back into the game, as the visitors slipped from 209-4 to 245-7 with just three overs left, bowling Hiran Dhoolab for two and having Amir Farooque (4) and Khan (5) caught by Wood.

However, Javid’s innings of 85 ensured the Black Country side made 251-7 and condemned KVCC to defeat.

Ralph took 3-24 from his 6.4 overs, Gareth Williams 3-56 from 15 and Whelan 1-74.

Monday’s clash in Shropshire was the only Premier Division clash to survive the rain as KVCC slipped to defeat at Wellington.

Put into bat first, only Wood (45 off 51 balls) and Andrew Kimberlin (29) were able to get into double figures as KVCC were kept to 120-6 in a reduced 27 overs.

Wellington’s reply was halted as Williams had Steve Lamb (18) and Adam Byram (1) caught by Smith and Richard Kimberlin respectively.

However, Bilal Shafayat (64) and Wendell Wagner (31) guided the home team to 122-2 inside 25 overs.

Third from bottom KVCC take on the side directly above them in the table on Saturday at Moseley (noon start).