Saturday 28th August and Sunday 29th
August 2004
New Ash Green v Catford
& Cyphers
Saturday 28th August 2004
Kent League
Match - 80 Overs (reduced due to delayed start)
Catford & Cyphers (20 points) 178
all out (40 overs)
New Ash Green (4 points) 73 all out (27.5 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 105 runs.
Although
it would have taken a freak set of results in other matches to see New Ash
Green relegated there were still some nerves amongst the squad going into a
final game against one of the table topping sides. Shorn of overseas players
they did have a virtually full strength home grown squad to select from, but
could still not expect a lot in the way of points from the match. Heavy rain on
Friday, coupled with wind which had managed to blow the cover off the wicket at
some point, left the playing conditions marginal at best. When Cyphers arrived it was decided after some debate to roll
the wicket and leave it an hour to see how it came up. The result of the
rolling suggested that the cover had not blown off until after the worst of the
rain as the wicket seemed to hold together well, and although the bowler’s run
ups in particular still seemed very muddy a start was eventually made about an
hour and a quarter late.
Cyphers won the toss, and were faced with a
difficult decision. They still needed 4 points to be certain of promotion, but
a 20 point win would give them an additional chance of winning the league,
meaning that Catford Wanderers would have to win to
finish ahead of them. The risk of being skittled on a
wet wicket and ending up with no points must have been in their mind, but
obviously having done their homework on New Ash Green’s form they decided to go
for the league win and assume they were bound to pick up enough points to
guarantee promotion.
In
the end the pitch produced very few demons. A few balls kept low and quite a
few moved sharply off the seam, but for the most part it was an even pitch of slowish pace. The biggest difficulty for the bowlers was
the slippery run ups, which meant that none seemed able to bowl flat out, and
Andy Cox did slip at the end of his 6th over, straining his ankle
and limping throughout the rest of the innings. In doing so he picked up his
second freak wicket, the full toss resulting from the slip being flicked to
square leg where it was held by Rob Boss. The first had been even more freakish
when Cyphers skipper Dennis Chambers had played a
drive and missed, then stood holding his position with his foot raised just
outside the crease. Despite having been warned by a similar incident in the
previous over he didn’t look round as Matthew Quantrill
lobbed the ball gently back onto the stumps to have him stumped for 11. James
Hewitt replaced the hobbling Cox and also picked up two bad ball wickets, the
first a very short leg side ball which was top edged for Rob Boss to again take
the catch and the second a long hop outside off stump, which did at least have
the merit of moving a bit further away from the batsman causing him to guide
his cut shot straight to Simon Duke at point. When Hewitt picked up a third
wicket with one that lifted and took the glove on its way to slip Cyphers were 70-5 and the nightmare scenario of missing
promotion was looming. The lower order, though, were less careless against the
bad ball, or perhaps received fewer of them, with a number of solid
contributions. Donovan Lindo at number eight was top
scorer with 39* but three others reached the 20’s and all seemed capable of
taking advantage of any opportunity to score. James Hewitt picked up 3-36 in 11
overs and Andy Mayers took
3-51 in 8, all his wickets coming to leg side catches when batsmen seemed to
get through their shots too early. In the end the 9th wicket pair
took Cyphers past the 160 needed for the guaranteed 4th
bonus point that ensured promotion and celebrated by attacking extravagantly,
leading to some big hits and two stumpings for
Matthew Quantrill off Andy Cox’s final over. Cox
returned to bowl spin off a short ‘limp up’ and ended up with the best figures
of 4-40.
Each
side therefore ended up with 4 points, which meant Cyphers
had achieved their main objective and New Ash Green had almost achieved theirs,
though a truly freakish set of results in other matches could still have seen
them go down. They now needed to focus on reaching the first batting bonus
point (at 100 in the reduced match) to absolutely guarantee safety. They
started brightly enough with Matthew Quantrill
picking up runs quickly from the somewhat erratic Steve Husbands, but at the
other end Steve Lynton was a different prospect. Marc Klus
survived his first two overs, but Quantrill
was bowled for 10 the second time he faced Lynton, and although Andy Payne
managed to hole out off Husbands it was Lynton who continued to work his way
through the middle order. Klus survived 12 overs, but made only 7 and it began to look as if Quantrill’s 10 might end up as top score. At 36-7 things
looked very bleak, but as so often this season the tail managed to wag a bit,
although, as almost every other time, in a lost cause. Lynton remained
difficult throughout, combining a high degree of accuracy with movement off the
seam, bowling through his 13 overs for figures of
13-6-18-6, but the various replacements at the other end were not so
threatening and Andy Stuart managed a few excellent shots including his
favourite drive over extra cover for 6 in making 26* before the 9th
wicket fell on 73. Vic Mayers was struggling with his
shoulder injury and although the score had been getting close enough to 100 to
have him tempted he elected not to bat and so the league season came to a close
with another batting failure and heavy defeat, and results still awaited from
other grounds to confirm safety. Cyphers by now knew
that their gamble had been in vain, Catford Wanderers
win at Wye confirming them as champions by 1 point. New Ash Green, joined by
several members of the triumphant 2nd XI, had a few drinks and
eventually went out for a meal, but Simon Duke, who had been most nervous about
the possibility of relegation, couldn’t stand the strain all evening – a late
night text confirmed that he had headed straight for the internet on arriving
home and discovered that other results had indeed gone our way, Macknade in particular having obviously showed no interest
in anything other than a draw against Old Elthamians,
leaving their most aggressive batsman down the order and making just over 100
in 50 overs chasing 196!
One
final thought for the day.
Quote
of the Day: Opposition player: “With respect, mate, you’re probably the oldest
player on your team.”
Who
was he talking to?
Was
it the nearly geriatric Vic Mayers? (in his late 40’s)
Or the rapidly greying Matthew Quantrill? (39)
Or
even the more slim-line than in the past, but not exactly svelte, Andy Payne?
(33)
No,
it was none of the above.
Step
forward the recently turned 30 James Hewitt!
Never
mind James. We all know you’re young at heart…..
Click HERE for full scorecard from KCL site
Click HERE for latest league table.
Bromley Town II v New Ash Green II
Saturday 28th August 2004
Kent League
Match - 100 Overs
New Ash Green
II (20 points) 112-9 (50 overs)
Bromley Town II (4 points) 56 all out (25.5 overs)
New Ash Green won by 56 runs.
Too Late! A turning point at last, but too
late. No match report yet received, but in what I assume were not easy batting
conditions New Ash Green ground their way through 50 overs
with Matt Scanlan batting 85 balls for 31, Alan
Carter 51 balls for 5( which included one 4, so presumably he faced 49 dot
balls!) and Oliver Harding 69 balls for 14. Chris Hoddinott
speeded things up slightly with 22 in 55 balls and Kieran Hoddinott
hit a six in the last over to make 10 in just 7 balls! In response
Click HERE for full scorecard from KCL site.
Click HERE for latest league table.
Family Fun Day
Sunday 29th August 2004
The Family Fun Day in its second year lived up to the success of
its first incarnation despite the recent very poor weather. The day itself was mostly
dry, with only a few light showers, never enough to prevent the various
activities continuing. Most of those present took part in the (roughly) six a
side cricket, with age range of participants varying from 4 to somewhere in the
40s or 50s. The contest was won by James Oliver’s team, despite the fact that
they managed to lose their first game when playing with 7 against a side which
only had 6, of whom two were 4 years old! In the meantime barbecue, bouncy
castle, paddling pool and various other impromptu games kept the various ages
amused, and the egg throwing once again proved excessively popular to small
boys with a full 4 dozen eggs being used up. Simon Duke and Graham Hampsheir took the title with an impressive 33 throws early
on, surviving all challenges, including the attempt by Alan Carter to use a
boiled egg (the fact that it was still hot was something of a giveaway) and a
spirited defence of the title from Matthew Quantrill
and Shane Hampsheir who scored 26 with the last egg.
Many of the colts showed superb catching techniques in achieving some high
scores, and one or two entertained the crowd greatly with spectacular
splatters, with Harry perhaps taking the prize for missing a long throw with
his hands and taking the egg square on the forehead. The daytime activities
concluded with a mass tug of war in which the muscle of Marc Klus proved more than a match for the weight of Alan Carter
and Graham Hampsheir, and many seemed to be remaining
in place armed with their ‘sthingy’s for the evening entertainment
from Jolly and Scanny and the drawing of the fabulous
raffle. I had to leave at that point, with 4 children in tow, but subsequent reports
assure me that the evening entertainment was a huge success and I only wish I
had been able to stay to see it!
Once again a great success, bringing in a large number of colts
and their families, thanks must go to all the various people who organised and
assisted on the day and especially to Leslie Ann for the efforts she put into the organisation. I won’t try and name all the rest who
assisted because I’d be bound to miss someone who would get offended, but there
were many and it was good to see so many putting in the effort to help a club day.