The Kingston Crows A Grade took on Slab Road at home last Saturday. With both teams equal on the ladder and neither being able to be displaced from the top two it meant the winner would earn the right to host the Second Semi Final. 

Winning the toss the Crows batted first and appeared to be traveling comfortably when they reached 41 without loss. That changed rapidly however when we were 3/46, 4/60 and 5/91. At that stage with our best batsmen back in the Club Rooms it appeared that we would struggle to make a competitive score. Jason Wicks batting at No.6 saved the day with 55 having good partnerships for the 6^th wicket with Andrew Henley 22 and for the 7^th wicket with Mal Godfrey 43. With Nick Townsend and Robert Chapman adding an unbroken 31 for the 9^th wicket off 3 overs we reached 8/229. 94 runs were added in the final 10 overs that enabled us to reach a total far more than it was envisaged earlier in the day. 

Slab Road’s opening batsman, Justin Jarrett, smashed 17 off the 2^nd over of their innings but the resultant bowling change saw Dale Punshon claim his wicket with his first delivery. At 1/51 after 11 overs the “Roadies” appeared well place but a run of wickets to Punshon and the vital wicket of Damien Coad by Andrew Henley saw the Crows gain the ascendancy. Nick Townsend returned to the attack after his “expensive” first over and destroyed any chance of a late order comeback as Slab Road was dismissed for 114 in the 37^th over. Dale Punshon took 4/23 off 10, Townsend 3/32 off 8 (or 3/15 off 7) and Dan Elliott took 2/20 in his 8^th over. 

After Round 17 our B grade held top spot on the ladder but dropped to 3^rd after their defeat to the Southern Tigers in Round 18. In Round 19 they traveled to Kettering to take on the bottom team knowing a win would cement their position in 3^rd spot and give them a chance of finishing second. By virtue of Slab Road defeating Longley that would have occurred except for one important fact; we didn’t beat Kettering. 

In another poor batting performance we could only muster 151 which included a hat trick to Kettering’s Scott Wheatley. Gareth Percey 29, Ash Woodhead 24 and Jason Jones 20 were the leading run scorers. 

Kettering overhauled our score for the loss of 8 wickets although we staged a great fight back after the “Crickets” had reached 3/124 and then have them 8/141 but we couldn’t make any further inroads. Jason Jones was again the leading wicket taker with 3/47 and Chris Tomlin took 2/15 off 10 overs. 

C grade also traveled to Kettering on Sunday to play their final game of the season. We bowled first and Kettering scored 8/200 off their 50 overs. Malcolm Scriber with 2/34 was our only multiple wicket taker and incredibly there were 4 run outs. 

In reply the lads tried hard but fell well short making 121. Manning Parkinson finished the season off well making 32 and Marcus Newman made 26 and the team looked well placed with the score 1/62 prior to Marcus’s dismissal. 

On Friday night the Under 15s held their End of Season Function. Congratulations to Scott Dare on winning the “Kelly Grace” Medal as the Crows best player for the season. This followed on from his achievement in winning the George “Toot” Carr medal for the best player in the HCCA Under 15 competition. Well done to all other trophy winners and a big thanks to everyone who played during the year. A big thank you to Leonard and Vicki Woodhead for taking control of the team this season. In addition thanks to the parents who helped out in any small way during the season.