The fabled local rivalry goes back as far as the ages. The first officially recorded local derby can be found in the ancient cave drawings of Lascaux, where Graknor is clearly depicted challenging the cavemen from the neighbouring hillside to try and catch more bison than him. In his victory, the pompous Graknor paraded his catch up and down the valley before being unexpectedly set upon by a roaming Sabre Tooth Tiger. As with most ideas of this ilk, the idea of being a ‘good sport’ and gracious in defeat was founded more on the need for survival than for purely genteel reasons. With the shortage of Sabre Tooth Tigers on these fair isles, even down here in the darkest depths of Somerset, this survival instinct plays out at Kilmington and Stourton thanks to the need to return to a favoured feeding grounds, the Wincanton Tandoori, without being set upon to the feared Wincanton public. Depending on your view on things, local rivalry extends even further back into our illustrious human history. Well beyond even the mythical tales of Lancelot Link hurling unmentionable things at Baron von Butcher in a neighbouring tree on the African savannah, there is scientific speculation that one protozoa leant casually out of his puddle of primordial ooze and made a gesture (remarkable for a single cell organism I think you will agree!) to a fellow protozoa in the next pool and promptly sprouted a second cell in a classic case of one-upmanship for the ages. If, on the other hand, you come from the other side of the fence there is the tale of Adam and Eve who, after being on the scrumpy all afternoon, decided to settle the possibly redundant argument about who should open for the Genesis First II with a knockabout game of cricket (one-hand-one-bounce, over the edge of the Garden of Eden is six and out). That game was going well until Eve aimed an ugly hoik over cow corner and put an apple straight through God’s secret greenhouse (for medicinal reasons only!) and they were promptly ejected from the field of play.
Kilmington and Stourton hosted their closest rivals, Wincanton, on a day with on and off cloud and sunshine. The track looked another flat deck, so when Winci won the toss they elected to bat with their powerhouse offensive unit primed.
Things started quietly enough…Tommy B looked a wee bit wayward but had the wheels to get away with it. Snooky was moving the ball away in the conditions and looking in good rhythm. However, after the first few overs, the Wincanton openers decided to up the tempo. Tommy B has had an awful run lately with bits flying off in all directions since signing a landmark deal with Toyota. Snooky also took a bit of stick but replied with the wicket of Hatcher and then the biggest wicket of them all, the ultimate local rival Brimble. Tommy B left the field to have a foot welded back on and was replaced by The Professor, who was straight on the money. He was joined for an unexpectedly tight spell by El Capitan from the other end and the non-Prius brakes were applied to the big hitting pair of Hurlock and Legg. Skippy nearly had Big Poppa Legg a couple of times before a thankful Spence saw him well caught by Anter in the deep from The Professors bowling. Mark Mitchell has been destroying attacks all season and his entry saw Your Brave Leader™ execute his “one too many overs” plan with not only one bowler, but two! So….it was time for the Skipper to bring on the spinners before his figures were completely wrecked. Wincanton only know one way to play, and they continued to attack. However, it was time for The Destroyer to return to some old form…he captured the two big wickets of Ben Hurlock for a subdued but well constructed 60 and the dangerous Mitchell for 30. From there, Golden Boy and The Destroyer were simply dominant. Wincanton went at them but their spin and control was too much, capturing the last 5 wickets for 22 runs, including yet another stumping to superstar wicketkeeper Rayzzo! Wincanton had seriously faltered. After looking like they might have a total of around 250 they were skittled for 178. What was remarkable in the innings was that each time KSCC gave up a chance on a wicket, the batsman served up another not long after. Very polite indeed!
After an absolutely splendid tea, the KSCC opening pair of the Anternator and El Capitan made their way out to the middle. It was a steady if fairly unspectacular start, with the pair keeping the run-rate within sight. While the Anternator looked well organised, picking of singles to rotate the strike and occasionally unleashing what must be the most formidable lofted drive in Somerset cricket today, the Skipper was busy going nowhere in a hurry at the other end. Besides the odd full faced drive, the switch was stuck firmly in the “CUT” position as the dastardly Wincanton deployed their spinners early. Eventually, something had to happen and El Capitan finally broke his shackles with a lofted drive for 6 and the unusual occurrence of a successfully executed sweep shot for 4. Anternator clubbed his own six and things were looking well in hand with the score passing 100 in the 26th over and plenty of batting to come. And see that batting we did, however briefly, as KSCC executed a spectacular sequence of implosions to lose 4 quick wickets. Ant found himself stranded down the track looking for his 50. Jules was bowled through the gate first ball. The Skipper tried to execute another sweep and was, once again, clean bowled by a spinner with an innocuous nothing ball that must have had Nathan Hauritz salivating for a bowl. Charlie Pelham never looked in and was back in the hutch a few balls later after tamely prodding it to cover and suddenly it was game on with KSCC rocking at 117/4 after a 108 run opening partnership! Thus began the consolidation. I still can’t believe it when I look in the book but there are 8 consecutive singles logged next to Biffer Burles there which might be a personal record. He and a rejuvenated Jon Rowe worked hard to re-establish the innings before Biffer unleashed an artillery shot that sailed well beyond cow corner. He was soon back in the pavilion not long after but the job had been done and order re-established. The Professor then set about finishing the task with some classic stroke play reminiscent of his days of yore. It was with the calmest of legside clips that Rayzzo scored the winning (and his only) runs of the game to take KSCC to a great victory, 181 for 5.
I can’t remember the last time we took 70 points off Wincanton in a season, but then again I can’t remember where I left my passport so that’s no big thing. Whichever way you look at it, it was a good win against a Winci side that looked a little off all day…but we will take ‘em. It also consolidates us in the top half of the table and means that we have finally beaten some decent opposition at home this year! It was a much better effort from the lads after a disappointing few weeks.
Bowling: o m r w
S Churchill 8 0 31 4
F Barton 6.1 0 18 3
S Snook 9 3 33 2
J Rowe 8 3 32 1
Batting:
C Hansen 55
A Williams 48
J Rowe 40*
D Burles 19
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