Kinross v
Huntly - 30th April 2011
Saturday 30th April saw the
start of Kinross’s much anticipated first game in the
Strathmore premier division. The previous Saturday’s
game against Stoneywood/Dyce was rained off so the first
chance to pit the team abilities against premier rivals
was at home against a very strong Huntly side.
The sun was high but a strong
easterly wide kept things on the chilly side. The wicket
looked good and was remarkable dry given the Friday
evening rain. Kinross skipper, John Muncey, kept up his
track record of losing the toss and Kinross were put in
to bat.
Last seasons top scorer James
Ross walked out with his regular partner Chris Sale and
showed great intent hitting the very first delivery of
the new season through the covers for a perfect “4”.
Sadly, that was the only good Kinross shot of the day.
Having taken a single two balls later Chris Sale found
himself on strike and must have wondered what was going
on as the last ball of the over dipped late and took the
bails off. Kinross were 1 for 5 at the end of the first
over. The young Ross ran a couple more singles then
played and missed a couple of wide’ish deliveries before
bottom edging another wider delivery only to be
brilliantly caught behind by the Huntly keeper diving
forward and taking the ball just above the ground.
The crease was then occupied by
captain Muncey and vice captain Simon Lopez. Eight overs
added only 7 runs before Lopez was caught trying to hook
a shorter delivery. Wicketkeeper, Stuart Brand came in
to bat but left shortly afterwards given LBW without
bothering the scoreboard. This brought the up and coming
junior, Fraser Gosse, to the crease. The 14 year old has
recently been training with the Scotland U15 squad and
his winter performances indicate he is a player to
watch. The Muncey/Gosse partnership added 38 runs when
Muncey was bowled on 33. Anthony Drew came in and went
out again so fast that the next batsman, John Ross was
in the toilet after umpiring the first 26 overs of the
game. Ross walked out, scored 4 of the first delivery
and was then bowled two balls later by the Huntly
spinner. With Gosse out a few balls later for 16 the
three remaining batsman failed to add any runs and
Kinross were all out for a very poor 96 runs.
Sadly things did not improve
after tea and the Huntly openers of Thomson and Howard
were never in any danger as they passed the required
total in the 21st over. Howard’s final 4 gave them the
game and his own 50.
Clearly questions have to be
asked about the preparation of the team. At no point did
any Kinross batsman look likely to take the fight to
Huntly. Young Ross appeared to be in far too much of a
hurry to start hitting his famed big boundaries. Only
Muncey and Gosse had any impact on the scoreboard but
they were poorly supported. The fact that Kinross have
lost Peter Ross, their U19 Scotland player, to the SNCL
were he now plays for Heriots may have had a damaging
effect on their preparation. The fielding was sloppy and
the bowling lacked any real positive intent. The first
game in the premier division was always going to be
tough and Kinross should have done a lot better. The
next match sees the team travel to Aberdeen to play last
year’s league winners Mannofield. It is unfortunate that
the first two matches the team will play are against the
two strongest teams in the league but Kinross players
need to get some focus and deliver the individual
performances that saw them win 3 league titles in a row.
Overall a poor start to the 2011
campaign but things can only get better from here.
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