On Sunday 20th May, Saltwood traveled to Woodchurch CC for their first KVL game of the season. Due to lack of an Umpire Saltwood forfeited the toss and the Woodchurch captain had no hesitation in choosing to have a bat. Due to an unnamed players extensive lateness, Saltwood started the game with only 10 men. Harry Wren and Jack Gooding opened the bowling. The Woodchurch openers took full advantage of some loose bowling and exposed the gaps of the missing fielder and found themselves 25-0 off 3 overs. With the arrival of the 11th man came some changes in the bowling attack which stemmed the flow of runs and there became a constant loss of wickets. Woodchurch were eventually all out for 147. Wickets were shared between bowlers:
Jack Gooding 3, Harry Wren 2, Ben Allon 2, Tom Bean 1
However it was the spin twins of Ryan hall and Harry Stafford (2 wickets) who were most impressive with the ball in hand. Both showing great control and maturity in tough spinning conditions.
After a tea that will be hard pushed to be beaten this year, Saltwood began the run chase. Unfortunately Arthur leaver fell early to a caught and bowled chance but then came a 50 run partnership between stalwart Jeremy Russell and young Harry Stafford (27). A steady flow of wickets saw Saltwood 82-6 at drinks. Enter Jack Gooding!!!
It was clear that Jack had other places to be and in true IPL style he dismantled the opposition bowlers and finished the game within 7 more overs, Scoring a fabulous 57* from 27 balls including 8 sixes. Tom Carr played a sensible innings at the other end and ended 15 not out. A fantastic start to the KVL season and a game where all had an opportunity to impact the game with bat or ball.
2 special mentions for the day: Tom Bean’s sumptuous on-drive and a fantastic wicket-keeping effort by Chris Fox in difficult conditions.
