10:00am Friday 27th June 2003
By Gazette News Desk
ATTACK-MINDED Kendal destroyed Darwen in the space of a dozen balls for a 16-run victory over the current league leaders in the Thwaites Smooth Cup.
It was the first time that coloured kits had been used at this level at Shap Road and Kendal rose to the occasion by impressing with both bat and ball.
The first part of the plan was to see off Darwen’s formidable opening bowling partnership of West Indian professional Keith Semple and Andrew Mercer.
Not losing any wickets was uppermost and openers Simon Little (37) and Martin South (48) gave Kendal an excellent start by put 89 on the board in 17 overs before the visitors achieved the breakthrough.
Even though Terry Hunte went cheaply for two as Kendal stuttered at 102-3, they recovered well with Kevin Howarth (44) and Kabir Khan (38 not out), in particuar, providing a rapid flow of runs to end the innings as they reached 223 for six off the allotted 40 overs.
The second part of the plan was much more of a gamble. Because Terry Hunte was not fit enough to bowl, they called up Steve Cooper to try his occasional off-spin for the first time this season.
He took off the cream of the batting, taking the first three in the order including Semple as Darwen was reduced to 85 for three.
The Cordingley factor came into operation as the brother Gareth and James, together with Chris Lowe, both got in the runs to set up an exciting finish.
Darwen wanted 20 to win off the last three overs, but Richard Ellwood had Gareth Cordingley and Mercer both stumped and there was a run-out all in the same over.
And the mighty collapse continued with Khan taking three more scalps in the next over as the visitors’ last six wickets fell for just three runs.
In the end, Darwen finished well short at 207 all out with Khan taking 3-34, Cooper 3-39 and Ellwood 2-37 in a remarkable match.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk