The hottest day of the year saw the Civil Service travel to the picturesque Percy Main cricket club to take on bogey team Kingstonians. A match duration of 16 overs per side was decided on as it was agreed that the rain would hold off and the light would stay favourable.
Waite opened the bowling, his first ball alluding the gangly Dejaegar at mid off and going for 4. His opening partner Laing was treated a similar way by the impressive looking Kinsgtonian opener before Laing bowled him with a slow full toss. The Civil Service thought this was a key wicket and Waite and Laing soon got into a decent rhythm, limiting the batsmen to singles on a good wicket and a lightening outfield. The pressure soon told with Waite dismissing their number 3 who played on attempting a forcing shot off the back foot.
Waite and Laing bowled out their spells for an excellent 28 and 17 respectively. They were replaced by the back-from-injury Malcolm and the under used Dejaeger and both settled into a goove. Runs continued to come at a steady pace, however, with some quite dreadful outfielding in combination with a large outfield allowing some easy 2s and 3s. Despite this, Dejaegar bagged a wicket as Kingstonians looked to step up a gear.
After 15 overs, the Civil Service were quite happy with the 104 they had conceded but a monumental effort from Kingstonians saw them take 20 off Dejaegar’s last over and the Civil Service were left chasing 125 for victory, albeit on a batter friendly wicket.
Scott and Miller opened the batting and Scott found his straps almost immediately, with Miller happy to stay in and try and give the swashbuckling South African as much of the strike as possible. Kingstonains had little answer as Scott dealt mainly in boundaries, cutting and pulling anything short and drivng anything full. Slowly, Miller also began to come to the party and the opening bowlers were seen off with the Civil Servive well in charge of the game.
A change of bowling did little to help the opposition’s cause and Scott moved into ruthless mode as he hit the change bowler for 5 brutal 4s in his first over, moving to a fine 50 in the process. The Civil Service won by 10 wickets at a canter in the 13th over with Scott finishing on a man of the match winning 68 and Miller on 44.
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