Saturday 22nd May and Sunday 23rd May2004
Wye v New Ash Green
Saturday 22nd May 2004
Kent League
Match - 100 Overs
New Ash Green
(12 points) 211-7 (50 overs)
Wye (6 points) 194-6 (50 overs)
New Ash Green winning draw.
New Ash Green travelled to Wye, one of the
pre-season promotion favourites, on the back of an unconvincing win against Old
Elthamians, knowing that they would have to put in a
much improved performance just to be competitive. Losing the toss and being
invited to bat on the very green wicket, which saw Bexley bowled out for 43 the
week before, was not the start NAG were looking for. However, Cox and Klus set their stall out and played themselves in without
alarm against the pace of Australian Matt Barnes.
Having seen off the opening bowlers, the
opening pair began to pick up the pace as confidence grew in the NAG ranks
and Wye, expecting a similar procession of wickets that they enjoyed the week,
before soon become frustrated as the NAG
openers seized the initiative.
Having reached the half way stage still with
few alarms, the openers pushed on and repeated the feat from the corresponding
fixture last year by posting over 100 for the opening wicket. Cox(46) was the first to fall, holing out to cover with the
score at 104. Burke joined Klus but they only managed
a further 16 runs before Klus was cleaned up for 39.
Vaughan John looked in good touch as he ventured to the crease for the first
time this year, while Burke looking understandably rusty struggled with
his footwork but managed 14 before playing all around a straight one. NAG's mid inning woes continued as John was next to fall
with Noden taking an acrobatic catch, then Vic Mayers was bowled second ball leaving NAG at 142-5 and in
some trouble having looked set for a huge score just a few overs earlier.
With the overs running
out just as quickly as wickets, Andy Mayers tried to
seize the initiative by hitting two delightful boundaries off the returning
Barnes. Duke at the other end, seemingly inspired by his partner’s efforts,
started finding the gaps and the boundary as the pair started to run the
Wye fielders ragged with their aggressive running. Mayers
fell to a low one, Payne soon went lbw but Yue (11*)
looked very assured and together with the now rampant Duke they ran and hit the
ball with great intelligence, Duke (44*) in particular finding the boundary
with regularity as NAG reached 211-7 from their 50 overs.
Wye, with the free scoring Barnes at the top of
the order, would have backed themselves to reach 212,
particularly after a lively opening burst from Chris Yue
and Andy Cox went without reward, though Yue was
unlucky to see a comfortable chance go down in the slip cordon. Wye
started to pick up the pace as the opening pair reached 78 before Hewitt made
the all important breakthrough just before the half way point. With Vic Mayers getting in on the act just an over later, the game
was back in the balance, though when Barnes was dropped on the boundary edge
following a superb spell of bowling by Mayers
(6-0-30-1), setting the Aussie up for the hook - it looked as if NAG's chances of a positive result might be slipping away.
Yue returned with
immediate success, but Noden joined Barnes and pushed
the visitors to 154-3 and in sight of victory. Then two wickets in successive
overs swung the balance of the game, Yue dispatched Noden (20) and Cox
bowled Wise (0). Some disciplined bowling backed up by inspired fielding meant
that Barnes was unable to get the ball away to the boundary and NAG were able
to stop him farming the strike and squeeze the run rate up over by over. Chris Yue (15-4-49-3) picked up another wicket and left Wye
needing an unlikely 25 off the final Andy Cox (14-0-47-1)over.
Wye closed 194-6 with Barnes unbeaten on 84, leaving NAG with a well deserved winning
draw and 12 points from a brilliant team effort.
Click HERE for full scorecard from KCL site
Click HERE for latest league table.
New Ash Green II v Wye II
Saturday 22nd May 2004
Kent League
Match - 100 Overs
Wye II (20
points) 163-7 (50 overs)
New Ash Green II (4 points) 138 all out (45.5 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 25 runs.
Another gutsy performance by an under strength
New Ash Green side offered tantalising glimpses of victory but ended up in
comfortable defeat. A few more players were available this week, but the side
still consisted of more third XI than second XI regulars. Once again without an
umpire, Keith Bushell again being pushed into service
as a player, New Ash Green forfeited the toss and were
slightly surprised to be asked to field first on a pitch which, while harder
than last week, was still hardly flat and dry.
Opening with Robin Wills and Paul Sumner a few
questions were posed of the opening batsmen, Sumner in particular posing
problems. His high action gets occasional steep bounce on any pitch, even at
his relatively modest pace, and this, together with his ability to move the
ball around, left the batsmen full of doubt as to how to play him. Wills beat
the bat a few times, but couldn’t make the breakthrough and was replaced by Dan
Lewsey, who’s slow pace and accuracy also gave the
batsmen little to attack. Sumner picked up the first two wickets and at the
drinks break after 25 overs Wye had crept to 39-2.
Sumner picked up another, and finished his spell with figures of 15-7-25-3,
while Lewsey ended up with 0-27 from 13 overs, 15 of the runs he conceded coming in his last 2 overs. However the
pitch seemed to be playing more easily as the innings went on, and Wye skipper
Bruce Campbell started swinging the bat in an attempt to lift the run rate. He
had made 25 before being controversially run out by Graham Poole –
controversial because he and his partner were together in the middle of the
wicket when the stumps were broken, and there was some debate as to which of
them was out. His partner did follow 2 balls later and New Ash Green thought they
were through the batting as no.8 bat Brian Hamley
looked very unsure for his first few balls. However he survived those, and he
and James Ripley started to launch an end of innings onslaught that contrasted
sharply to the slow scoring at the start of the innings. Although Ripley was
out in the last over Hamley ended up with 43* from
just 30 balls, and his innings took the score well beyond anything that had
seemed likely for most of the match.
Nonetheless the ease with which those runs had
been scored showed that the wicket was not as full of demons as it had
initially seemed, and with everyone in the side at least capable of batting New
Ash Green still had hopes of chasing the total. They needed a solid start,
though, and were to be disappointed when Rob Jansen played down the wrong line
to his third ball and was bowled. From here on New Ash Green didn’t exactly
collapse, but couldn’t build a solid partnership. Each time they seems to be
getting going another wicket went down, and it wasn’t until the 6th
wicket went down and Matthew Scanlan joined Matthew Quantrill that a substantial stand gave them hope. Sadly up
until then New Ash Green were up with the run rate, but all the batsmen (with
the exception of Blair Wilson who was unfortunate to be given out caught behind
from his pad) were careless in giving their wickets away. Scanlan,
however, stayed for a bit longer, and with Quantrill
playing the solid anchor role, punctuated by pulls and on drives from short or
over-pitched balls, they put on 51 for the 7th wicket. They were
still very much up with the required run rate and the game was just beginning
to tilt New Ash Green’s way when Scanlan swung too
hard at one from Bruce Campbell and was bowled for 22. Paul Sumner carried on
where Scanlan had left off, and had made 15 before
holing out on the boundary. At that point New Ash Green were
136-7 needing exactly 4 an over from the last 7 overs.
Sumner’s demise left the burden of getting the runs very much on Quantrill’s shoulders, but in the same over he got one that
stayed low and was LBW for 56. After that it was only a matter of time, and
that time was 5 balls – Graham Poole also being beaten by one that also seemed
to stay low.
It was a tame end to a valiant chase. New Ash Green
were always up with the required rate, but just lost
wickets too frequently and too carelessly. Still they were in the game for most
of the match, and though it promises to be a long hard season one or two more
players being available will give them a reasonable chance of avoiding the
drop.
Click HERE for full scorecard from KCL site.
Click HERE for latest league table.
New Ash Green v High Halstow
Sunday 23rd May 2004
Friendly Match
-
New Ash Green
High Halstow
New Ash Green .
Report and
result awaited. Any volunteers??