Friendly Match

New Ash Green 218-9 (48 overs)
Linton Park 218-7 (41 overs)
Draw.

Six weeks of almost uninterrupted sunshine and dry weather naturally came to an end as the first weekend of the season loomed, but in the end the worst of the forecast rain stayed away and although morning rain meant an under-prepared and green  wicket the surface was still a lot better than most year's 'first match' wickets. Linton Park convinced NAG captain Pete Burke that they had little batting and that the game would be better if they bowled first, and so gave themselves the first use of the still very damp green surface.

New Ash Green's first ever overseas player, Kevin Ginn, thus had the opportunity to face the first ball of the season, and immediately scored the first run of the season. Matthew Quantrill did manage the first boundary of the season, but from there on it was very much Ginn's show. Although never completely coming to terms with the very English conditions, and being let off in the 20's by a bad drop at square leg, Ginn's clear quality as a batsman showed as he hit anything remotely loose to the boundaries, including a remarkable seven 6's, equalling the most known to have been scored in one NAGCC innings before. The Linton Park skipper John Harris, bowling slow spin, came closest to causing Ginn trouble, beating him a few times, but still anything loose was punished, and it was only once Ginn started taking outrageous risks that the end came as he was bowled stepping away to off to try and smash another over square leg. This ended a first wicket partnership of 127 of which Ginn contributed 98 even though Matthew Quantrill had hit a six of his own at the other end.

After this rapid start the innings tailed away somewhat. Quantrill, lacking the Australian's power, found the going more difficult than Ginn, but managed to scrape his way to 52 before being stumped slogging and Rob Jansen made a steady 30 before being run out by a direct hit, the only other batsman to make double figures. The return of opening bowler Ian Brattle, who had been notably unsuccessful against the opening batsmen, produced several wickets with some wicked lifters that batsmen found hard to cope with even at a relatively gentle pace. Matt Scanlan did manage a huge straight six, but when the ninth wicket fell one ball before tea NAG had only lifted their total to 217. Pete Burke was given plenty of stick for insisting on going out and facing the last ball, but the single that he scored off it was later to prove invaluable, and in retrospect it looked like inspired captaincy!

The claim that Linton Park lacked batting looked very suspect after the first few overs of their innings. Pete Burke and Matt Scanlan were both struggling for rhythm and opener Steve Morrison was particularly hard on anything short. The score rattled along at over 10 and over, with Scanlan being forced out of the attack after only 2 overs. To add injury to insult he was shortly afterwards forced off the field with a severely bruised, possibly broken, hand after failing to catch a very hard cover drive from Morrison. In the meantime Kevin Ginn had replaced Scanlan, and he too was struggling. His bowling, though competent enough by NAG standards, is not in the same class as his batting and as he failed to find his length early on there was no initial reduction in the scoring rate. Gradually, though, both he and Pete Burke found the right line and length, and the scoring rate slowed considerably. A number of hard chances were missed off both batsmen, but eventually one from Chris Thirkell found its way to the (relatively) safe hands of Vaughan John to end a stand of 91 for the first wicket. There was, though, no immediate let up in the standard of the batting, but with the bowling tidier all round and the conditions still fairly helpful to the bowlers despite the drying effects of several hours sunshine and wind Linton Park were no longer cruising home. Marc Klus eventually removed Morrison for 70 with a superb inswinger, but Mark Christmas at number 4 continued to show that Linton Park were not that short of batting with an excellent 42. Nonetheless some 5 1/2 an over were needed from the last 20 and for the most part this rate was pretty much maintained. Every time NAG seemed to be getting on top Linton Park would have a good over, and although another couple of wickets fell as Ginn (3-41 in 9) and Burke returned there were still enough wickets in hand to make the batting side seem firm favourites.

With just 15 runs needed off the last 4 overs and the batsmen seemingly comfortably using the pace of the ball to nudge runs around New Ash Green took a brave gamble by bringing on 13 year old Sam Wilson and the spin of Andy Payne for the last four overs. Sam responded to the faith shown in him magnificently, giving away just 4 runs in his 2 overs, and Payne also did an excellent job in his first over, so that as he started the last over 7 runs were still needed with 4 wickets in hand. Three dot balls swung the balance New Ash Green's way, but the next was carted high and handsome over mid off. The long boundary and the still damp ground meant that what had looked a certain 4 was recovered by Paul Rourk, and he produced a superb throw to keep the batsmen to 2 after they had been slow to start running. The next ball, though, was straight driven back past Payne for a superb 4, making the scores level as the last ball was bowled. With all the fielders now in to save one the batsman went for a big shot and missed. His partner decided to run anyway, but with Matthew Quantrill having safely gathered the ball behind the stumps the striker didn't bother, allowing Quantrill to run to the other end and complete the run out, ensuring the scores finished level and the game was drawn.

So a disappointing dull draw to start the season with….

New Ash Green v Lower Halstow
Sunday 27th April 2003

Perhaps it was the weather forecast that put people off, but it seems that having struggled to raise 11 in the first place a number of people then dropped out (Matt Scanlan at least legitimately with a broken finger) and replacements could not be found. The weather was still holding off as start time approached, but disappointingly the game was cancelled, which seems a great shame at this time of year.