Erith cancelled this game, and as New Ash Green were struggling for numbers (again) they did not try for a bureau fixture.

New Ash Green v Meopham
Sunday 29th September 2002

Friendly Match

Meopham 207-4 declared
New Ash Green 177-4
Draw.

The last two matches between these two sides, in Meopham cricket week, have followed a similar script – against a weakened NAG bowling attack Meopham have scored over 200, New Ash Green have started slowly, Matthew Quantrill and Darren Phillips have made a big partnership with Quantrill getting 100, both have got out before the end and New Ash Green have won the game. For most of the match both teams followed the script, but in the end New Ash Green couldn’t quite complete the hat-trick.

Given that New Ash Green fielded 3 under 13’s and an 8 year old, the captains agreed that Meopham should bat first to avoid the risk of a very short game in the perfect conditions. The pitch was as hard as it has been all season, and with neither side having the sort of pace bowling that might have crumbled the surface and caused problems, the pitch was as true as any this year. In an interesting aside in the weekend after the 30th anniversary of New Ash Green’s first ever match Meopham opened the batting with Alan Lewis Ranwell who had actually played for Ash against New Ash Green in that first match! Both Matthew Pennell and Robin Wills, opening the bowling for New Ash Green, produced early chances, ranging from easy to medium which were all spurned, and not by the junior members of the side either! Eventually the first bowling change brought on Alan Cottrell in his supposedly final match before retirement, and he immediately induced an edge to slip that was easy enough for Mike Cooke to take the catch. Cottrell continued for 6 excellent overs, taking 2-7, a fitting finish to his career, while at the other end young Sam Wilson also bowled an excellent spell, taking 1-11 in 4 overs, and would have bowled a much longer spell if it weren’t for the restriction on overs for a bowler his age. Graham Poole was slightly less consistent, but picked up a wicket with his last ball when the hard hitting Andy Roxburgh made the mistake of hitting it hard but straight at Matthew Quantrill. Oliver Harding also bowled some beautiful balls, getting a lot of turn, but his figures were spoiled by some slack boundary fielding. With Meopham well set to attack 8 year old Ben Cooke came on to bowl, and bowled 3 overs in which all but about 3 balls were of a good length and reasonable line. He went for 38 runs, but this could have been less with better support from his fielders, and given that Meopham had wickets in hand and were attacking for the declaration this was an extraordinary spell for such a young bowler. Having reached 207 Meopham declared ten minutes early after 37 overs, but had the fielding been tighter and chances been taken New Ash Green might actually have kept them to an even lower score, a great reflection on a youthful bowling attack and enthusiastic fielding.

Given that this was his final match Alan Cottrell was given the number 1 batting spot, and after a couple of overs in which his only ambition was to survive he started to swing his heavyweight bat. Unfortunately for a while the bat failed to connect with the ball, but eventually he made contact and blazed the ball over the cover fielders for 4. He added one more run before being given out LBW to a ball that seemed to be clearly going over the top, perhaps a suitably ironic end to his batting career, though he did look to be absolutely plumb the ball before, when a big appeal was turned down by young Graham Poole. That ended a 1st wicket stand of 35, and Mike Cooke followed a couple of balls later for 0, but Matthew Quantrill and Darren Phillips then set about their traditional big partnership against Meopham. Both struggled to really time the ball at first, and after the slow start they were left needing around 150 off the 20 overs. They picked up the rate, Quantrill in particular looking to score wherever possible, but they could never quite get on top of the rate, consistently getting 1 or 2 less than were needed each over and so falling slowly further and further behind. Neither of them gave a real chance until they had put on 120 for the third wicket and Quantrill had reached 106, when he was stumped charging a ball that didn’t bounce, but by that time there were only 3 overs remaining and the game was clearly a draw. There was time left for Robin Wills to take advantage of the fielders closing in by chipping 2 over the infield then hitting a straight one bounce 4 before he was caught, and Sam Wilson to hit the last ball of the match for 4 and end up 8*, with Phillips finishing on 45*.

A valiant effort by New Ash Green ensured that this was not a dull draw, but in the end the wicket was too good to allow the bowlers to break through even when the batsmen were throwing everything at the ball, and the New Ash Green batting line up too thin to manage to chase so many. Nonetheless almost everyone got a reasonable game, and all seemed to have enjoyed it, in beautiful weather. So it turned out to be an excellent end to the season, and proved again that as long as the colts section remains as strong and is given support New Ash Green still have plenty of potential to rise even further than they have managed this season.