Kingston on the block

Plato defined time as the moving image of eternity but might have revised his observation had he seen Kingston's innings, a gritty, dull affair lightened later by some good whacks from Chesterman and Ravjeer. Earlier, Gents had reached a patchy 123 against tight bowling and good fielding from this new opposition, with HP Denton retiring hurt after top scoring with 31.

It was good to be back at Victoria RG. The pitch was green and the outfield lush, no surprise after heavy midweek rain, which forced the Friday cancellation of the West XI game scheduled for Barn Elms, where Gents will visit in a fortnight. Batsmen came and went, Khan and Inkollu batting attractively, while Denton was resolute. The over rate was slow and as the game did not start until 2.19pm, a late finish was inevitable.

Kingston's innings started sensationally, deputy 'keeper Khan diving to his right to take a low one-handed catch off Snelling to dismiss Ingham. It would be the only catch of the innings, a decisive statistic. Wickets then fell at frequent intervals, Sanjay Patel's seamers earning him the astonishing analysis of 8-7-1-4. Though chances went down, Kingston only progressed to 28/6 off 16 when the last 20 overs were called. Full credit to the tail then for a resolute and not unattractive stand in which a few boundaries were scored. Sanjay got two in three balls, including loan player Daoud Shanvare, to make it interesting but Kingston's No.10 was a competent player and a draw it was, the first in a completed match for eight years.

Several Gents were clearly unhappy about the game, the case for the prosecution citing Kingston's questionable umpiring, slow over rate and unimaginative batting. Regarding the umpiring, teams have been disputing decisions from the men in white coats since cricket was first played and doubtless The Gents' umpires got a few things wrong here as well. To deal with the over rate, The Gents' innings was to comprise a maximum of two and a half hours' batting. It finished early but no more than 34 overs would have been bowled had it gone the distance, a truly dire rate, even allowing for the injury to HP and a short drinks break. The Gents bowled 36 overs in just over two hours and the previous week, in admittedly cooler weather, Kingston, in a match against Surbiton Imperials infamous for a Hat-trick of lbw's administered by umpire Yu Himm Fung, had managed 41 in two and a half hours. But it was difficult to score quickly with a slow wicket and outfield and even with a sprightlier over rate the final total would not have changed markedly. Regarding Kingston's batting, Chesterman and Ravjeer should be applauded for saving the day. Their stand of 53 was the day's highest. Had they batted higher the contest would have been more entertaining, but it is not this match reporter's place to berate opponent's batting orders. Still, the tradition in such games is to go for the win and if you can't get it, go for the draw. Or to be more pragmatic, at least appear to go for the win before blocking.

The stark facts are, however, that The Gents by dropping too many catches did not do enough to win, and although Kingston had a defensive mindset, they kept to their game plan well, as indeed did The Gents in blocking out similar draws against 12 Angry Men in 1994 and Weasels in 1998 and 1999. Tony Buck reckoned his dour innings in the second of these (Weasels 227, Gents 67/8) to be where he truly learned to play cricket. To conclude, we move from Greek philosophy to English poetry. To see a World in a grain of sand, And Heaven in a wild flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour, wrote William Blake, though the MS refers to 'an hour and twenty overs.' He was no doubt watching a declaration game, whose death knell was tolled here.