On
a typically belting Ley Hill track the home side allowed their visitors to get
off to a solid start, with the top three batsmen all passing 30. "Spinner" Paul
Green (right) gained a rare lbw decision to despatch opener Tony Rossiter for
38, even though appealing for decisions doubtless goes against his sense of fair
play. The evergreen Keith Richardson chipped in with three wickets to bring his
season's haul to 17 at a rate of one wicket every 15 balls. The club is running
out of superlatives to describe this hero of Ley Hill - it is also still waiting
for him to buy a round at the bar.
Richardson
also proved that there is hope for fielders everywhere by pouching a catch off
aging paceman Brian Puddephatt, but The Lee used their fine start to post a fair
total of 198 for 6 from their 45 overs. The target was well within the sights of
Hill's tyro batting line-up, but Graham Harrison and Steve Jones both fell
cheaply. Wicket-keeper Paul Humphreys (left), smarting from four ducks in a row
and some savage criticism on this website, answered the boo boys with a fine
fifty, and repaired the innings with skipper Chris Jones, who made 34. But their
dismissals sparked an all too familiar collapse, and the innings quickly
subsided. Paul Green was overcome by a promotion up the order to number ten, and
fell first ball, and Tim Kaye followed, run out, to end the chase 36 runs short
on 162. A disappointing result, but the team do at least have an early chance
for revenge: one of several quirks of the fixture list means that they play each
other a fortnight after this meeting. The Lee: 198 for 6 (Richardson 3 for 31)
Ley Hill: 162 all out (Humphreys 53, C Jones 34)
Ley Hill lost by 36 runs
Man of the match: Paul Humphreys, bouncing back from recent disappointments with a superb half-century
Clown of the match: Kashif Shakoor: 3 overs for 30 and 8 with the bat is not the form of the class all-rounder that we know Kash to be