Double-century opening stand could be a first

IN ITS 78-year history, Division One of the evening league has yielded relatively few centuries. There is just not the time at the wicket and the grand total will be a couple of dozen at best.

But on Friday, the KGV faithful witnessed two, both from the same team and, more impressively, the two openers.

In the week when bouncebackability has been added to the Collins English dictionary, Rovers showed a great deal of it by hammering Deloitte.

Cracks were beginning to show in the Rovers' camp as they suffered two heavy defeats at the hands of Optimists and then Cobo, but the 96-run victory over Dave Clark's side saw them put their recent troubles behind them.

Rovers captains old and new, alias Richard Headington and Tim Duke, opened the batting and they proceeded to put 219 unbroken runs on the scoreboard.

Headington scored 103 and Duke 109 as they took advantage of a poor Deloitte bowling attack.

'I'm pleased to have reached my first ever evening league century,' said Headington.

'It was also nice to be a part of a double-century stand with Dukey. That must be a first.'

The veteran was the faster of the two to get to thre figures, as he got there in the 19th over.

Headington punished anything short and with Duke looked to expose quick singles as the field stepped back to try to stop the big shots.

Duke's ton included five sixes and he got to three figures with a huge six off Pete Inniss in the last over of the innings.

Faced with a mountain to climb, Deloitte never looked as if they were in the running.

Openers Neil Fitchet and Simon Huxtable were both bowled cheaply by Stuart Bisson and he went on to take four wickets in his spell.

His new-ball partner Matt Hallett was unlucky not to take any wickets as the young swing bowler produced a number of cracking deliveries that warranted some reward.

The burden of the job at hand for Deloittes fell onto Clark's shoulders coming in at three.

The stylish left-hander pushed the ball well round the field and his best shot was when he hit island off-spinner Aaron Scoones for a massive six over square leg.

But he was undone by Scoones a couple of balls later as he played over the top of a pitched up delivery and was bowled.

His 35 runs put some pride back into his team, but the rest of his fellow batsmen failed to cause any damage and the game fizzled out.

In the Carey Olsen Championship, title-favourites Optimists needed just 10 men to beat Mavericks.

For a team that can be described as having an embarrassment of riches when it comes to selecting an 11, it was a surprise to see them two short at KGV on Saturday for their first hour in the field against the league whipping boys.

Not present were Ami Banerjee, Tim de Putron, Mike Kinder, GH Smit, Jamie Chambers and Andre van Rooyen. Mavericks must have thought that they had a chance to pull off a surprise victory and certainly gave it a good go.

Batting first, they set 180, but this turned out not to be a problem for Optis 10 men or not, as they made it home by losing only one wicket.

Andy Biggins' 82 was the key in the successful chase.

'It was a potential banana skin for us,' said Biggins.

'We were without a handful of key players. It was a very good performance.'

After losing their first wicket for 22 runs, that of Martin Gray to Stephen Queripel, Mavericks' number three Justin Walker took his time to get himself settled.

With Paul Wakeford, who came in when Mavericks were 50 for three, they played very sensibly, content to place the ball into the gaps and take singles and twos.

Disappointingly Walker, who was on 36, got himself out to Mark Clapham's leg spin, his slog being straight down Biggins' throat at deep mid-wicket.

Biggins was the only fielder on the leg side boundary and Walker knew that he blown a chance to get a big score.

Wakeford stepped forward and batted very positively while still looking for the quick singles. He eventually fell one short of his 50, out lbw to Biggins.

There was some question as to whether Wakeford had hit the ball with his bat and he looked visibly frustrated as he walked back to the pavilion.

In reply to Mavericks' 180, Optis got off to a good start as Clapham and Biggins were content to see off their best bowler, Dave Hearse. The island manager went for just 17 runs off his nine overs.

Clapham was the first to go when on 27 courtesy of Wayne Martel, again another close lbw decision.

Captain Mark Jefferies joined Biggins at the crease and together they batted patiently to see their team home.

The skipper batted very well for his 56 after a slow start but as Biggins explained they were not bothered about the aesthetics of their innings.

'It was a case of getting the job done,' he said.

'We'd seen off the new ball and the opening bowlers. We looked to keep wickets in hand and we did that very well.'