Knebworth Park CC began their 2014 campaign with a thrilling victory in their warm-up game against Division 2 side Watford Town.
The KPCC team were raring to go after positive winter preparation under new captain, Charlie Randall, and coach, Karun Jethi. Randall got his first call of the day right by winning the toss and electing to bat on a cold and overcast April day. This gave openers Phil Simpson and Danny Digweed, making his return to the cricket field after a number of years away, the chance to make their mark early on in the season.
Both batsmen were watchful early on as they familiarised themselves with the conditions on the new and improved square, which had undergone extensive work over the winter and been carefully nutured under the watchful eye of new head groundsman Ross Courtney.
Digweed survived an early close LBW call but otherwise both players looked untroubled by the Watford attack. Simpson gradually became more expansive and waited for the loose ball to put away, while Digweed remained solid at the other end.
The partnership was brought to a premature end in the 14th over with the score on 40, as a break down in communication led to Simpson being run out for 24 with the pair attempting an unlikely third run after Simpson was denied a certain boundary by the heavy outfield.
This brought in another returning player, Parth Patel, who was looking to make a big impact in his first game back for the Park. After a watchful start, Patel played for turn while facing the Watford spinner but it did not arrive and he was bowled offering no shot.
The next man in was John Roseberry, who looked the most comfortable of the KPCC batsmen. He struck the ball cleanly from the start of his innings and quickly passed the score of Digweed, who was also becoming more expansive. Roseberry began to exploit the short boundary and to pick up the pace of the KPCC innings after a solid foundation had been built.
He hit some excellent shots and managed to clear the pavillion with a beautifully timed drive over the top. Having lost partner Digweed for 41, Roseberry contined to push forward and looked well set to start the season with three figures. However, his innings came to and end on 89 having been stumped after a smart piece of work by the Watford keeper.
This left Adam Sergeant to keep the scoreboard ticking over and after struggling with his timing early on, he took advantage of some loose bowling in the penultimate over to reach his 50 with four consecutive maximums. Park finished their innings having scored 247-5 from 45 overs, which had exceeded the targets set before the game.
Watford began their reply patiently following a tight opening spell from captain Charlie Randall and James Leather. KPCC had to wait until the 12th over to make a breakthrough after Randall had Shahid caught behind by Benji Cowell. His opening partner Hussain then switched gears and was fortunate to survive some reckless shots which flew over the slips and raced to the boundary. Park’s job in containing his scoring was hindered following injury to Sayf Khan, who limped off the field during his third over leaving KPCC a man down.
At this point, spinners Luke Chapman and Parth Patel were introduced to the attack. On a pitch that offered little turn and with a short boundary to defend the Watford batsmen took a positive approach against the two young spinners and there was an initial flurry of boundaries.
However, KPCC fought back well, with Chapman in particular executing his plans well to finish with figures of 2-27 from his 9 overs.
Hussain was still going strong and punished all Park bowlers for some loose deliveries. Shaun Robinson picked up 3 wickets but was initially unable to remove Hussain who targetted the short leg-side boundary.
Robinson eventually did get the wicket Park needed with Hussain caught for 93, but Watford remained very much in the game and some indiscipline from Leather in his final 2 overs offered them a chance to get over the line. However, Parth Patel was reintroduced into the attack and kept his nerve to take a couple of crucial wickets, bowling out the final over.Some composed work by Benji Cowell finished off the game with only two balls remaining as he ran out the Watford no 11 to give KPCC a three-run victory.
After the game captain Randall was happy to have made a winning start and was particulary pleased with his side’s fielding performance which was a vast improvement from the previous season’s efforts. Park take on Ickleford next week in their final warm-up game before the leage kicks off against Hoddesdon on May 3.
