We won our first-round match in the Cricket World Trophy with a six-wicket win at King’s Canterbury, bowling the home side out for 120 and then knocking off the runs with almost 16 overs in hand.

On an overcast day and after negotiating many miles of southern England’s finest motorways, Henry Watkinson won the toss, a crucial call given the cloud cover and dampness in the pitch. Matt Crump struck in the fourth over and then Alex Craven ran out Traill with a good pick-up and direct hit, albeit off a run that never was. OKCs wobbled and then fell apart, slipping to 41 for 5. By the time the conditions became more batsman-friendly, the innings was on the slide.

Wacher and Williams revived hopes with a sixth-wicket stand of 61 but Brown ended that and the rest of the innings simply fell away as Watkinson and Alan Cope gave a superb display of how to bowl at the tail. On a pitch getting easier by the hour, 120 was not enough.

Tom Crump fell for a duck in the second over and Rob Jones soon followed, but an jitters were soothed by the contrasting styles of Johnny Gates and Abeed Janmohamed. Gates set out his stall to play the anchor innings while Janmohamed, who also started slowly, cut loose. From 91 for 2 we slipped to 105 for 4, Rick Johnson the victim of a poor leg-before decision, but it was no more than late consolation for King’s.