As the dust settled on another Huncote victory, the crowd were left to reflect on the feast of cricket they had witnessed.  Huncote made two changes from last weeks win at Wigston with Khawaja and Carl Spencer back in the team.  Skipper Tim Kirby, fresh from some pre match coin practice, won the toss and elected to bat on a sweltering day.  Westonians are a strong side and handed the new ball to Paul Wagstaff, and it is good to see Mr Wagstaff back after a lengthy injury lay off.  The young quick bowler appeared to have lost little of his pace and soon had the ball zipping through.

Some helpful extras and some lovely shots from Ian Crossley saw the home side racing along at 4 an over, and when Frank Hubbard started to add some lusty blows things were looking good.  The Mercury photographer looked on as the Huncote partnership reached 86, Crossley the main stay.  Hubbard was first to go, caught after skying high into the air off the bowling of Williams.  Brewin was sent in to keep the pace going, and played a brisk but short innings of 8 before the impressive Pradeep had him bowled.

Carl Spencer came in as Crossley passed 50 for the first time this year and looked dominant.  Spencer hit a few lusty blows but the duel spin of Pradeep and Lewin was tidy.  Crossley started to struggle in the heat and looked to hit out with overs running down, but both he and Carl Spencer got out in quick succession to Lewin.  With overs running out, batsmen looked for quick runs, but Pradeep was very accurate, and Lewin added the flight and guile.  Tim Kirby was stumped, Schutz fell LBW, and Khawaja ran himself out.  Wright came back into the attack as Dyke fell on the slog in the penultimate over as did Pete Kirby in the last.  Wayne Smith played a nice shot for two and Mitch Hubbard was run out of the last ball of the innings, Ellis too sharp for a run to the keeper, and Conehead the Duck to Mr Hubbard.  177 a decent score, but not unattainable.

Huncote opened with the usual Dyke/Smith combination, and Dyke was soon in the act thanks to a sharp catch at first slip by Mark Schutz, Ishmail the man to go.  Norton came in and looked steady as Gosai at the other end rode his luck.  Westonians going at a steady rate when Tim Kirby snuck one through Norton’s defences.  This brought the big hitting Deza to the crease, who never looked like defending.  A big 6 and some lusty fours saw Tim Kirby out of the attack, Wayne Smith’s figures got damaged, and Westonians well past the run rate.

Huncote opted for some slow bowling, and it worked in the first over as Gosai went to far back off the bowling of Pete Kirby.  Wagstaff came in and played a nice square drive before being trapped in front by Kirby for 9.  Pradeep, the bowling hero for the visitors, came to the crease and was soon heading back caught behind off the bowling of Smith for 4.  With the experienced Ellis at the crease, and the destructive Deza approaching 50 things were well in the balance.  Pete Kirby got one to spin to the big hitter and he could only glove into the air giving Frank Hubbard an easy catch behind. 

The change in pace had worked and Dyke was cleverly bought back into the attack by home captain Tim Kirby.  He accounted for the dangerous Meman caught behind, and now it was a matter of time before Westonians succumbed to defeat.  Smith polished off the tail with Williams, Wright and Lewin all falling without troubling the scorings.  Another decent win to Huncote against a strong side, and next week a visit to another powerful team, Leicester Caribbeans.

MOM has to go to Ian Crossley who batted superbly in the heat to set up the win.

Man of the Match- Ian Crossley

Copyright Huncote CC 2005 Designed by Loser Designworks