Mid-Kent League Match - 46 overs per side

New Ash Green (20 pts) 134 all out (44 overs)
High Halsttow (6 pts) 47 all out (27 overs)
New Ash Green won by 87 runs.

High Halstow had not been bowled out (allegedly) since their 2nd game of the season (against New Ash Green!) and were fresh from scoring over 200 for 4 against Halls the previous week, so the required win and taking of 6 wickets was never going to be an easy task for New Ash Green. However following the 1st XI's failure against Paddock Wood 2 years ago and the 2nd XI's against New Ifield last year New Ash Green were determined not to let another league title slip through their fingers.

Heavy overnight rain caused some early morning worry - a cancelled game now would have been a bitter pill to swallow. However the weather brightened up enough to make a full match playable, and the more interesting wicket that resulted at least meant that the 6 wickets were always likely to be achieved. A lost toss meant that New Ash Green would have to face the dampest conditions, and the early loss of Vic Mayers would have caused some worries. However Andy Payne, looking in good touch at last with 29, and Simon Duke with 15 put on the highest partnership of the match, 42 for the 2nd wicket, carrying New Ash Green to 51-1 in the 15th over, a platform from which a big score could reasonably have been expected. The introduction of Chris Dockwray, bowling a slow medium pace that was ideal to exploit the conditions, turned things around dramatically. Andy Payne went (to 'a lazy shot' - surprise, surprise) and by the end of Dockwray's 5th over he had 5-10 and New Ash Green were 65-6. The spectre of Paddock Wood loomed large, but Matt Meehan, who missed that game and vowed not to leave it up to the rest of the team again, and Andy Stuart, the equally determined captain, saw off the rest of Dockwray's spell (he finished with 2-29 in 12) and carried the score back to respectability. Meehan went for 17, but Stuart batted excellently with support from all the tail, to be last out (for the game's top score of 32) and take the total to 134 in 44 overs. Pete Belsey finished off the tail with 4-33.

134 was a respectable score in the conditions, but by no means a clear winning one, so New Ash Green's nerves were steadied considerably when High Halstow failed to achieve a 3rd consecutive century opening stand in the league, Matt Meehan taking a wicket in the 1st over. After that Halstow's numbers 2 & 3 both reached 10, slowly, but no one else was able to reach double figures, and scoring at less than 2 an over they never looked likely to reach the total, even with 2 extra overs. The crucial 6th wicket was delayed for a number of overs, but once it fell New Ash Green knew they were home and dry. The game ended slightly anti-climatically as Halstow's number 11 didn't come out to bat, as he was carrying an injury and decided it wasn't worth risking it in the quest for 88 for the last wicket! All the bowlers performed well, Meehan taking 2-20 in 8, Cox 1-8 in 7, Hewitt 3-9 in 6 and Sumner 2-7 in 6.

At last, after a number of runners-up positions New Ash Green have won the title, their first since winning division 3 of the then Courier League (now Central League) in 1987. Given that that is the division in which the 3rd XI now plays it would be fair to say that this is a rather more significant title, and having been runners-up for 2 successive years a well deserved one. Performance this season has been much more consistent, without the customary poor performance against one of the middle or lower ranked teams. The season started well then wobbled slightly with losses to Halls and Upchurch. The loss to Halls was mitigated by the excellent performance to fight back from 20-4 to snatch a 2 run win in the first game, and by the spirit shown in fighting to defend 35 on a terrible wicket in the 2nd game. The bonus points resulting from the 7 wickets taken in that game were crucial at the end of the season. The thrashing by Upchurch was rather more of an unmitigated disaster - taking only 1 point in that game was a failure of such proportions that we might have lost the league despite winning more games and losing fewer that anyone else. However the performances since then have been superb. An 8 game winning streak, punctuated by two comfortable victories that ended Herne Bay's title aspirations and the superb fighting win away to Upchurch in a rain reduced match, as well as efficient and nerveless victories against all the 'lesser' teams deserved to end with the success that it has done. Declaring twice during the season, almost unheard of in limited overs cricket, showed the boldness and spirit of the side and has finally got its due reward.

Congratulations to everyone involved, particularly Andy Stuart for his captaincy and efforts in getting sides out. Although there have been a number of excellent individual contributions during the season this would not be the place to pick them out - over the season as a whole so many people have contributed that this has been a real club effort. Just about everyone who has played for the side (even Nigel McCloskey in emergency fill in role) has made a contribution, and it would only be fair if I listed here every single person who has played, which I can't do. Thanks to this the title has been won despite the terrible crop of injuries to regular bowlers, almost all of whom were unfit to bowl at some stage or another in the season. If this sort of spirit can be maintained there is no reason why New Ash Green should not be a force in the Kent League next year, and indeed it would only take the recruitment of one or two quality batsmen to make them very strong contenders for further promotion.

Roll on 2003!

New Ash Green v Lower Halstow II
Sunday 8th September

Kent Village League Match - 40 overs per side, max. 9 per bowler

Lower Halstow ( 0 pts) 128 all out (39.5 overs)
New Ash Green (6 pts) 129-2 (26.1 overs)
New Ash Green won by 8 wickets.

 At last the final game of New Ash Green's four league campaign, and as the rain came down on Saturday and Sunday nights and all day on Monday it looks as if the end has come not a day too soon. After the emotional climax of the first team's season on Saturday the Sunday side weren't going to let the club down and ended the season on a very positive note. Despite very heavy rain and the absence of the groundsman, who sadly neglected to prepare a proper wicket for this match, claiming some such distraction as attending the birth of his son and heir (congratulations to Vaughan and Vicky by the way) enough spirit was shown by those attending to get out the old heavy roller and roll two different used wickets to see which one turned out best. In the end the previous week's wicket, with more grass on than the previous day's. looked less muddy, and with a quick re-marking job the game got under way almost on time.

Lower Halstow won the toss and rather surprisingly chose to bat and brave the worst of the pitch conditions. With plenty of bounce still in the wicket under the soft top layer Matt Scanlan and Andy Mayers were a tough proposition, but the Halstow batsmen played stoically and survived for the most part, picking up the odd run here and there even when New Ash Green reached the stage of having 3 slips and 2 gullies to Mayers. Eventually he made the breakthrough when Keith Bushell at third slip, much to his own surprise, parried an edge in the air and caught the rebound. Mayers took another with an edge down the legside to the keeper and ended up with 2-20 in his opening 7 overs. Lower Halstow's batsmen continued steadily but unspectacularly, taking only 17 runs off 7 overs from Dominic Adolphe, but despite a foolish attempt to take on Paul Sumner's arm from the boundary costing them another wicket they reached 83-3 with 14 overs remaining before attempting to accelerate. Another foolish run out and a couple of wickets for Paul Sumner and Keith Bushell prevented any significant increase in the run rate, and when Matt Scanlan returned to take two wickets at the end, finishing with 2-16 in 8 overs, New Ash Green were in with a chance of picking up the bonus point for getting the opposition all out. Young Sam Wilson was entrusted with the final over, and after softening up the batsman with a beamer called as a no-ball he induced an edge to slip, snapped up by Charles Duguid, to bring in Lower Halstow no. 11 Barry Lineker with 2 balls left. Lineker is even more well known for his reverse sweep than Matthew Quantrill, and tried it first ball to a ball that was well outside leg stump. He managed to pull it to cover and called a single, but Keith Bushell returned the ball to the keeper to comfortably make the third run out of the innings and gain New Ash Green the bonus point.

Although the wicket was still doing a bit the only real problem for the New Ash Green batsmen was the steep bounce as they set off in pursuit of their modest target. Matthew Quantrill started with a few powerful shots before settling into a backseat role as Dominic Adolphe after a few early swishes started to make better contact. He hit a few big shots, including a huge straight six before being bowled by Ricky Clayton for 25 to end an opening partnership of 41. Darren Phillips, struggling with the combined after-effects of his birthday and the previous night's victory celebrations, didn't look entirely with it as he made 18, but Vic Mayers kept Quantrill company with ease, and as the target approached Quantrill, realising he was in danger of running out of runs without reaching 50, played a flurry of straight drives to reach that mark before getting the winning run with a mis-hit that was the closest he came to giving a chance, Vic Mayers was 28* and 61 were added for the 3rd wicket, bringing New Ash Green maximum points again and securing them 4th place in the league, which may yet be enough to gain promotion if as many teams drop out of the league as did last year, when 4 were promoted from this division.

So ended New Ash Green's most comprehensive league season. Coincidentally the same batsman faced the last ball as faced the first, and in between more than 50 people have played for one league side or another. The results in all leagues have been positive, with pride of place going to the first team, but none of the teams finished in the bottom half of their league, and all were in position to challenge for promotion at some point, with only the seconds definitely missing out. The Sunday side still has some way to go to reach the levels of the Saturday side, and it may take a while to change the culture of the club to include Sunday cricket again, but there is definitely a more positive attitude on Sundays from previous seasons. If in many ways it is a shame that it has needed league cricket to do this it is perhaps a sign of the times, but the Sunday league games seem to have been a success, played in the right sort of spirit and giving games to those who want them. Similarly the advent of the 3rd XI has ensured that everyone who wants a game of cricket can get one and that there is a large pool of occasional players getting some cricket to provide back-up for the more regular players in the top two sides. The continuing success of the Colts section and the efforts to integrate those players into the club are the key to the future, but hopefully this season's first XI promotion will help to attract new players to the club and enable us to maintain all 3 XI's on a Saturday next year.