2018 Kiwi County Tour #3
Still making a living playing cricket.
We've got a full round of County Championship games and only two kiwi cuzzies on the bus this week. Everyone else ditched the boys, leaving Ross Taylor and Kieran Noema-Barnett to share some quality time together with yours truly, regular Kiwi County Tour readers will know that I leave these weeks where there are only a couple lads on the bus, just as much as a I love a jam-packed KCT bus.
I always say it's like that day at school, when there is a trip away or something that pulls most of your class out of school for that day and there are only 5-10 students left. The teacher kicks back, everything's chill and the good vibes flow, even better when Ross Taylor's there and he's hitting another fifty.
Worcestershire vs Nottinghamshire
Ross Taylor
To start the KCT, I highlighted Taylor's lean patch and given how amazing Taylor is, a streak of 4inns without any sort of notable score can be considered a lean patch. After than first game for Notts, which featured his 5th innings in a row with a sub-25 score, Taylor has gone on to bang out 57, 30 and 50 in his next 3inns.
Taylor only had to bat once as Notts strolled to a win by an innings and 41 runs over Worcestershire, with Notts skittling Worcs for 110 in the first innings. Batting in his standard #4 spot, Taylor hit 50, steering Notts to 300/9dec and their bowlers then sealed the win by rolling Worcs for 149 in the second innings.
There was no play on the first two days, making this even more impressive for Notts as they dismissed Worcs twice in two days and did enough with the bat to advance the game in limited time.
Sussex vs Gloucestershire
Kieran Noema-Barnett
Kieran Noema-Barnett put in another solid shift for Gloucs in their draw against Sussex, which could have been a win for Gloucs had the final day not been rained off. Gloucs bowlers dismissed Sussex for 145 in the first dig and Noema-Barnett chipped in with 31 as Gloucs were themselves dismissed for 183 in reply.
That was the second highest score of the innings for Gloucs (other joker hit 37) and Noema-Barnett came in at #8, before a cheeky 3-over stint with the ball saw him snare a wicket. Sussex opener Luke Wells had his poles knocked over by Noema-Barnett in the 16th over and Sussex were eventually all-out for 204, setting Gloucs a target of 167.
At the end of day three, Gloucs were 108/6 with Noema-Barnett on 6* and you would have been fairly confident that Gloucs could have scored the required runs with 4w in hand. Nonetheless, this is another typical Noema-Barnett performance in which he doesn't do anything outlandish, yet he does contribute with runs and a wicket; not big runs but enough runs to bump their total up and not a lethal spell of bowling, but good enough to do his job.
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Peace and love 27.