Saturday 12^th June and Sunday 13th June 2004

New Ash Green v Roan & Lambethans
Saturday 12th June 2004

Kent League Match - 100 Overs

Roan & Lambethans (4 points) 191-7 (50 overs)
New Ash Green (16 points) 194-4 (46.3 overs)
New Ash Green won by 6 wickets.

It was wildlife day at the Manor Field, but for a change the animals on display were not the ducks in the New Ash Green batting line up. In an incident reminiscent of England’s recent tour of Bangladesh a snake basking in the long grass first of all startled Andy Cox during the warm up and then prevented Vic Mayers from chasing the ball during the match. In the first instance it was debatable which beat a hastier retreat, the snake or Coxy, but having returned to its basking point later the snake kept Vic from retrieving the ball, requiring Matthew Quantrill in snake proof keeping gloves (and a veteran of snake bites!) to run all the way to the boundary from the stumps to recover it. Later in the day a fox trotted out of the same grass and made its way across the pitch from cow corner to long off, fortunately not pursued by a back of hounds and 30 galloping horses.

Meantime back on the field New Ash Green were forfeiting the toss, having lost their umpire to a late call up from the second XI, while Roan & Lambethans were having difficulty finding the ground, visiting both Ash and New Ash Green on their way. Their captain was one of the first to arrive and chose to bat first, with a suspicion that the opening partnership was selected more for being present than batting skill. Montgomery and Barron somehow weathered an early barrage from Andy Stuart and Andy Cox who beat the bat numerous times, but couldn’t make the breakthrough. Shots in the air were just out of fielder’s reach and nothing seemed to be going New Ash Green’s way. James Hewitt and Micky Sumner were equally unsuccessful before eventually, when 81 had been put on for the first wicket, Graham Hobbs made the breakthrough, snapping up both openers. His success in getting turn and bounce persuaded Andy Cox to return and bowl some spin as well, which (after an expensive first over!) successfully prevented the batting side from accelerating from the solid base they had build. Hobbs took 3-44 and Cox ended up with 2-55 from 15 overs, 21 of them from his first and last overs of spin, his initial 7 over spell having cost just 13 runs and seen innumerable balls pass the edge of the bat. James Hewitt chipped in with 1 wicket at the end, taking 1-24 in 8 overs, and as the pitch played very well aside from a few low bounces early on when it was still a touch damp New Ash Green were pleased to keep the total down to as few as 191 and to at least guarantee themselves 3 times as many points as the previous two weeks combined total!

However their ambitions were not limited to bonus points, and as Andy Cox and Matthew Quantrill set off very securely the win looked very realistic. They had added 53 in apparent comfort before Quantrill carelessly feathered one to slip for 19, but Cox and Vic Mayers then added 37 more for the second wicket, with the required run rate never rising above 5 an over. After Mayers had gone for 12 Marc Klus added a forceful 17 before Cox and he were out in fairly close order, Cox making 65, the first first team 50 of the season. With plenty of supposed batting to come the target should still have been well within reach, but after the previous two weeks performances the nerves were tingling in the New Ash Green camp. Simon Duke, however, was looking anything but nervous, and after a slightly shaky start Chris Yue was soon looking equally confident. Five an over off the last 12 looked gettable – 13 from the next over made it more than easily attainable, and with Duke timing his sweep shots particularly well they hit the spinner Barron out of the attack when he had been causing all the batsmen problems. The return of the opening bowlers barely slowed the run rate and the pair took their unbroken stand to 75 as they cruised home with 3.3 overs to spare. Duke notched up a well deserved 52* with the winning boundary and Yue ended up with 23* and was beginning to look very comfortable.

A solid and needed win, but more importantly a game in which the batting began to click a bit and all the batsmen made at least some contribution – a crucial factor in building sufficient totals in this league, which has been missing for the last two weeks.

Click HERE for full scorecard from KCL site

Click HERE for latest league table.

Roan & Lambethans II v New Ash Green II
Saturday 5th June 2004

Kent League Match - 100 Overs

New Ash Green II (5 points) 159-7 (50 overs)
Roan & Lambethans II (16 points) 160-8 (41.1 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 2 wickets.

Despite two withdrawals the day before the game (big thanks to Alan Carter and Dan Lewsey for stepping in), the 11 players selected to play looked, on paper, like they would have a very good chance of victory over a middle of the table Roan and Lambethans side. Around 1 hour before the start of the game, this hope faded dramatically as 3 of the selected team failed to show up - or notify anyone that they would be unable to play. Understandably, it proved impossible to make up this shortfall in players at such short notice, but another big thanks to Keith Bushell (who happily gave up his 1st team umpiring duties to
run round a field with just 9 players!!!) - which just about made a 'proper' game
realistic. Nonetheless a very hard game was now anticipated.

With no umpire New Ash Green forfeited the toss and were asked to bat first. In the circumstances (and with our batting track record not exactly encouraging), the skipper’s instructions were to do everything possible to ensure we completed our 50 overs - if we did this, it was highly probable we would
get a score that we could attempt to defend. Pete Burke and Matt Scanlan opened the
batting and, with the instructions clear in the mind (because Captain Burke kept telling Scanlan at the end of each over!) they looked very comfortable against the opening bowlers, with Burke in particular looking in good touch hitting several well timed boundaries. When the first change bowler came on (a reasonably
gentle off spinner) Scanlan attempted to hit his loosener through the infield but only succeeded in hitting a relatively simple catch to mid wicket. Dan Lewsey came in at 3 and hung around for a while as Burke took control of the scoring. Lewsey did eventually fall for a duck, which brought Paul Sumner (and the key partnership of the innings) in. While the team score was somewhere in the 60's Burke reached
his well deserved and chanceless (though this was soon to change!) half century. This seemed to act as a spur to Sumner who promptly decided to wallop the bowling to all parts, scoring an excellent 48 off 57 balls. Their partnership totalled 73, leaving New Ash Green on 126 for 3 and a total of over 175 in
sight.

By this point, Burke had become the more subdued partner and was struggling to get the better of the spinners that had been brought on - so keen was he to match Sumner's big hitting he was dropped 3 times in the deep after he reached his 50 (none of the chances were easy, but to have all 3 dropped was fortunate indeed). Unfortunately it wasn't 4th time lucky as Burke quickly followed Sumner backto
the pavilion, both were then quickly followed by Alan Carter (0) and Blair Wilson (2). This left New Ash Green on 130 for 6 (8 down effectively) - and looking down the barrel of a score that would have been disappointing considering the position they had been in. Credit therefore has to go to Oliver Harding (a
very secure, patient 14*), Keith Bushell (11) and Matt Bushe (2*) who ensured we got past 150 (a 2nd batting point) and most importantly ensured we met the skipper’s target of seeing the overs out.

Though 159 was not too bad in the circumstances, New Ash Green knew they would have to pull out all the stops in the field to have a chance of victory. Burke and Sumner opened the bowling, but did not get any luck in their opening spells. The early breakthrough came from the most unlikely of sources - with Burke swooping round from mid off to pick up (cleanly!) and hit the stumps directly to run out opener and star batsman Khan for just 4, leaving the hosts 12 for 1. After the rest of the team recovered from seeing him produce two good bits of fielding in the space of 3 seconds, they quickly realised this was an
important wicket if an unlikely victory was to be achieved. Although the next pair put on 41, New Ash Green always felt in with a chance. A double breakthrough was then achieved by Sumner who managed to get the number 3 batsman to edge one to Harding (O not J!!!) behind the stumps - and then shortly
after clean bowled the other opener. 56 for 3 quickly became 69 for 4 when Bushell took a wicket in his first over, following tidy if unspectacular spells from Burke and Lewsey. The fifth wicket pair then put on 37 to leave the home side feeling more comfortable, but another first over wicket, this time from Blair Wilson left Roan and Lambethans on a nervy 106 for 5. However they quickly regained their composure and looked to have victory in sight when at 148 for 5 (and with New Ash Green skipper Burke having just left the field to attend a prior engagement - but not until he was sure a result was certain), New Ash
Green went wicket crazy. Stand in skipper Matt Scanlan (brought on by Burke before he left) took 2 wickets and Sumner came back to take his third to leave the hosts on 155 for 8 - still needing another 5 for victory. It was not quite to be - however all 9 New Ash Green players should take great credit and heart from the performance they put in - nearly securing what would have been a spectacular and unlikely victory. The attitude of all was first class – and they stuck to the task well in the field despite the difficulties of covering for 2 men in the hot weather.

Click HERE for full scorecard from KCL site.

Click HERE for latest league table.

Littlebourne II v New Ash Green
Sunday 13th June 2004

Kent Village League Match – 40 overs per side

Match cancelled…not entirely clear why…but suffice to say the Great God Football seems to have had something to do with it. The only good thing I can say is that it seems to have affected both sides, not just us. The football didn’t even start till 7.45!!! And we wonder why there is so much obesity in the country …..mutter …mutter ….grumble …..grumble ……etc ……etc …… ad infinitum.

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