29/07/01: The Old Leightonians were unable to complete the 'home and away double' over Kingsclere in a thrilling finish.
At the end of one of the hottest days of the year, the Hampshire side managed to scrape the winning runs home with three balls to spare.
Batting first, the OLCC were rocked when the top-order was quickly skittled out, John Acland-Hood out first ball of the match to a sharply rising delivery. Tom Gillmor then restored the balance with a characteristic quick-fire 62, hitting out hard before finally being caught near the boundary. A thoughtful 65* from David Pollard brought the Old Leightonians to a very respectable 220 all out on a fairly easy wicket, despite some early bounce.
In the field, Richard Price held a stunning early catch at second slip off Michael Thomas to dismiss one Kingsclere opener, before Robert Stein gleefully accepted the chance of taking his first wicket in several years, superbly caught by the President. Stein continued with his very-well flighted but straight bowling and was rewarded with three wickets courtesy of a stumping and sharp caught and bowled.
At one stage
Kingsclere were easing accumulating runs, courtesy of Will Green batting with
a runner (31), and a succession of OLCC push-over fours. The OLCC managed to
fight back, with David Bibby's superb run-out ensuring a close finish, but it
all came a bit too late.
Captain Richard Price, speaking after the game, proceeded to stun onlookers
by blaming 'celebrity' pitch-side reporter Judith Chalmers for the loss of a
thrilling match. Chalmers had been rumoured to step-in to the side again at
short-notice, but speaking exclusively to the website, Chalmers quickly denied
the rumours "I was never down to play at any point for this fixture, despite
kindly being asked on several occasions."
"I do like to look to the positive things in life though, and take these
badly thought out and patently false comments as testiment to how much I was
missed on the field of play today - and really appreciate it." He then
retorted "It is unfortunate Richard didnt look to the other elements in
the game such as field placements, bowling changes and ground fielding before
making this statement. No reasonable person would accept this slur, though it
came after a hot day in the sun - Richard did play well, and held a superb catch."
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