2018 Kiwi County Tour #2
No dramas.
Although most of the Kiwi County Tour cuzzies in action recently didn't contribute to wins, we are seeing some solid performances from the lads. If a quiet round of KCT cricket involves the majority of the lads putting up a 40+ score or taking 2+ wickets, I'll be bloody chuffed as the KCT conductor, especially when we have Matt Henry hogging the spotlight in blasting away opposition batting line ups.
Northamptonshire vs Warwickshire (Div Two)
Doug Bracewell vs Jeetan Patel
Despite the shenanigans from Matt Henry, Doug Bracewell is still putting together a delightful account of himself as he continues to chip in with wickets for Northamptonshire. Douglas came up against the Kiwi County Tour jefe Lord Jeetz and Warwickshire - captained by Lord Jeetz - won by an innings and 48 runs and in his only innings with the ball, Doug took 3w @ 3.74rpo in 27 overs.
Unfortunately, after Northamptonshire were rolled for 147, Doug's 3w came as Warwickshire reached 413 all out. 218 in their second innings wasn't enough to keep Northamptonshire in the game, with Jeetan Patel taking 2w in either innings (2w @ 2.66rpo in 12ov, 2w @ 2.09rpo in 31ov).
Doug put up scores of 4 and 15*, while Jeetz chimed in with a handy 20 off 26 balls to help push Warwickshire over 400 runs in their innings.
Kent vs Durham (Div Two)
Matt Henry
After chowing down on a hefty portion of fish n chips courtesy of Doug Bracewell last week, Matt Henry again takes the honours in the seamer battle between the two. Henry dominated with the ball for Kent in their win over Durham, taking 12 wickets for the match, with 5w in the first innings to help skittle Durham for 91 followed by 7w in the second dig to dismiss Durham for 170.
In-between those efforts with the ball, Henry could only manage a duck. When you're taking 12 of 20 wickets, your runs don't really matter and Henry is now safely perched at the top of the wicket-taking rankings in Division Two; 19w @ 7.52avg/2.68rpo.
The next best wicket-taker in Div Two has 13 wickets, while the best bowler in Division One is Harry Gurney; 14w @ 12.50avg/2.38rpo.
In his 4inns thus far, Henry has taken 3w, 4w, 5 and 7w. Enjoy some wicket-taking beauty from everyone's favourite fringe Blackcaps Battler...
Gloucestershire vs Glamorgan (Div Two)
Kieran Noema-Barnett
For those who know of Kieran Noema-Barnett, but aren't quite aware of what he's up to on the KCT, his performance in Gloucestershire's 6w loss to Glamorgan is a fair reflection of his baseline contributions. Noema-Barnett hit 46 in Glucs' first innings as they were all out for 236 and in 7ov, Noema-Barnett conceded 6rpo without a wicket as Glamorgan reached 526/9dec.
Gloucs were then all out for 372 with 12 runs from Noema-Barnett and Glamorgan strolled to victory in chasing 83 runs to win. I feel like that's a baseline performance from Noema-Barnett because it includes a solid contribution with the bat and in most games, Noema-Barnett finds a way to score a couple runs or take a wicket or two. There's nothing crazy in his performances though and he is rarely a star performer in an innings with either bat or ball.
If Gloucs are playing well and winning or at least drawing games, Noema-Barnett does something to help out. Noema-Barnett isn't going to stop Gloucs from losing, or go bonkers with some x-factor to change the course of a game. It may not look like much, but 46 runs and not much else is nice from Noema-Barnett, baseline nice.
Yorkshire vs Nottinghamshire (Div Two)
Ross Taylor
There weren't many wins to celebrate on the KCT bus with Ross Taylor also suffering defeat as Yorkshire defeated Nottinghameshire by 164 runs. In response to Yorkshire's 256 in the first innings, Taylor did manage 57 to save Notts some embarrassment and push them up to 188 all out, putting his first notable score on the board of this season.
Yorkshire then scored 334 and set Notts a target of 408 to win, Taylor hit 30 and couldn't help Notts come within a sniff of victory as Notts were all out for 238. Despite the result, scores of 57 and 30 does mark a slight return to form for Taylor after his long-form lean patch that I highlighted last week.
One funky note about Taylor's 4inns thus far is that only two batsmen who have more runs than Taylor (Taylor's 16th in runs) have higher strike-rates than Taylor's 73.28sr. Of those 16 batsmen, Taylor is one of five batsmen with a strike-rate over 70.
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Peace and love 27.