Saturday 5th May 2007, the Kingfishers second string fell agonizingly short of another memorable win in Division 7, losing by a couple of wickets to a strong SMRH 4 side.

Put into bat by the opposition, it was a case of déjà vu, as a combination of a pitch with some variable bounce, some good tight bowling, an excellent wicket keeper who stood up for most of the game to all types of bowling and in so doing took two stumpings, and some indifferent shot selection by some of the Kingfisher batsmen, saw the Kingfishers only muster a paltry 119, on the same pitch that they played on last week. Useful contributions from Richard Wilcock top scoring with 23 and Hodgson and Bell with 17 but no-one else in double figures.  Not a great day with the bat, as Brocklehurst, bowling medium slow loopy deliveries, ended up with figures of 6 for 22 off his 9 overs, mostly catches. In all honesty he was not the best bowler either side had but he proved to be the most effective.

With a fast outfield defending this total would be a difficult task. And so it proved, as the SMRH top order batsman tore into the Kingfishers bowling racing towards the lowly target at the expense of some of our best bowlers from the previous week. A lot more attacking than DAFS were, the ball found plenty of space as edges flew over the infield, or was dispatched to the boundary as the SMRH batsmen took advantage of some loose bowling. But the Kingfisher bowlers kept plugging away to their credit and were beginning to make significant inroads into the SMRH batting, with some excellent catching (2 for Bell and 2 for Wilcock) backing up some good bowling, and what looked like a long tail gave the Kingfishers a slim hope of victory. However it was too little too late as SMRH’s tail end saw them safely home with 20 overs to spare. Sohaib Asghar finished with figures of 3 for 13 off his 5 overs as pick of the bowlers, and skipper Hammersley taking 3 for 31.

A disappointing day for the Kingfishers, who would have been looking to build on last week close win against DAFS, but in all fairness the batting had let them down. Lessons must be learnt quickly if the Kingfishers second string are to make an impact in division 7, as they go on their travels for the first time this season - heading to Musselburgh next weekend.