Its a tie!
In the absence of Shedley VC Mark had to stand in for the toss and as a result KMCC won it and elected to bat. Two early wickets and a horrendously slow start later and the KMCC were staring down the barrel at 11-2 off 10 overs a mini revival then ensued as the score was pushed up to 70-2 with 20 overs remaining and the chance of a decent total. However that was pretty much it and wickets steadily fell from then on the score making its final resting place at 120 all out(Harford-Cross,62).
Surely the Ripley batting line up would have no problem with such an apparently low target to chase and indeed they got off to a good start but Fraser, from the top end at last, was causing trouble with late inswing that undid many of the upper order and although the scoreboard was constantly ticking over wickets were falling too. Raistrick toiling up the hill should have had several wickets to his name however he made the unfortunate error of swinging the ball away and counting on the fielders to catch it (They didn't!). Despite a valiant fight it appeared that Ripley had enough left in the tank as they reached 112-6 - nine runs required and plenty of overs. Despite the loss of one further batsman a lusty blow saw the scores tied at 120-7. Game over? - NO. Yet another devilish inswinger from Fraser removed the no.9 and a maiden by Raistrick piled on the pressure. Duncan then pinned the no.10 back on his stumps to make it 120-9 and the no.11 on strike. Two balls later Duncan got it right again removing this time the off stump (finishing on 8-54) and KMCC celebrated as if the match had been won. A peeved Ripley headed home to ponder what could (should?) have been.