Last Over heartbreak for Brown Caps against Kent

24 June 2009

Surrey Brown Caps fell to a heartbreaking defeat at the death of a hard fought local derby with the Kent Spitfires in front of over 15,000 people at the Brit Oval.

Following a dramatic decision to award the Brown Caps six penalty runs with one over remaining, Chris Adams’ men needed eight off the last six balls with just one wicket remaining and despite a boundary from Andre Nel, they fell agonisingly short, losing by just one run.

After winning the toss and batting first, Kent got off to a good start with Robert Key and Joe Denly keen to exploit the six powerplay overs. However, Denly was dismissed early, Andre Nel taking the vital wicket as the young batsman tried to clear mid on and was taken by Grant Elliott, playing his first game back at the Brit Oval after his mid-season break.

He was replaced at the crease by Martin van Jaarsveld, Surrey’s nemesis last season and the South African set about quickly building a platform for the Spitfires to build a big total. The all-rounder hit the ball to all parts of the ground, hitting some big blows off both Jade Dernbach and Chris Schofield as he raced to his 54 from just 32 balls before being caught by Elliott off the bowling of Afzaal with the score on 107.

Captain Key continued to score quickly and was joined by the dangerous Darren Stevens who was soon trapped LBW by Elliott after scoring just five before the skipper followed him off for 44, Elliott’s third catch of the innings, this time off Spriegel.

The big hitting all-round duo of Justin Kemp and former Surrey favourite Azhar Mahmood staged a mini recovery but only scored at a run a ball as the Brown Caps successfully applied the brakes to a Kent innings that was looking well set for a big total.

When both fell to Chris Schofield, Ryan McLaren and Geraint Jones were unable to produce the grandstand finish needed and Kent ended on 168/6, a good total but a lesser one than they had earlier threatened.

In contrast to Kent’s excellent start, Surrey lost two key wickets early on when both Scott Newman and Mark Ramprakash edged behind, Ramprakash falling for a golden duck to a straight caught behind and Newman unlucky to see van Jaarsveld on hand to pouch Geraint Jones’ dropped catch.

However, James Benning – promoted to open the innings – and Usman Afzaal formed a potent partnership and scored rapidly, hitting the ball heavily all around the ground and taking 68 off the vital first six overs, with a large proportion of them coming from a hapless opening spell from Robbie Joseph.

The pair continued to score quickly, even with the field setback, and had taken the total to 99 when Benning attempted a powerful late cut off Darren Stevens and was well caught by a diving Simon Cook at short third man for 38 from 31 balls.

Stewart Walters joined Afzaal and was unable to immediately score quickly, taking four off eight balls before being well stumped by Geraint Jones off a wide from James Tredwell. Next in was Grant Elliott who struck the ball well before being bowled by Tredwell for two with the score on 117.

Matthew Spriegel then joined Afzaal and the two big left handers complemented each other well, taking the score along to 134, with Spriegel in particular striking a couple of lusty blows for four and six.

However, ever conscious of the need for quick runs, Spriegel advanced too far back up the track looking for a second after an Afzaal straight drive and was unable to get back before a powerful thudding throw from Darren Stevens ran him out at the non-striker’s end for 13.

Gary Wilson came to the crease and played energetically before Kent took the key wicket of Afzaal, yorked by Azhar Mahmood for a well made 62 from 41 balls.

Wilson was joined by Schofield and the two played very well together, rotating the strike and scoring quickly before the Irishman was excellently run out by Simon Cook trying to push for a very tight second run.

The Brown Caps needed 21 off the last two, an ask made easier by a clomping four from Andre Nel off the second ball of Azhar Mahmood’s final set of six. The rest of the over was a tight line and length and Schofield was bowled off the final ball, trying desperately to force the score along.

However, with the Spitfires looking almost home and dry, the umpires dramatically awarded six penalty runs to the Brown Caps because of a slow Kent over rate and the amount needed was suddenly a much more manageable eight.

After another Nel boundary, down to third man, and a scampered single, the ask was suddenly just three off the last four balls. That became two off three when the two quick bowlers ran a single with the ball barely leaving the cut strip and – with the entire ground barely able to stand the tension – Dernbach vainly pushed the ball to mid wicket and flew down to the other end, only for Justin Kemp to remove the bails and win the match for the visitors by the narrowest possible margin.

Surrey Brown Caps are back in action tomorrow night against the Essex Eagles at the Brit Oval. The game starts at 5.30pm and tickets will still be available on the day.