Saturday 10th September 2005
New Ash Green II v Tonbridge II
Saturday 10th September 2005
Mid-Kent
League Match - 92 Overs
Tonbridge (12
points) 114 all out (37.4 overs)
New Ash Green (20 points) 116-8 (26.2 overs)
New Ash Green won by 2 wickets.
The last game of the season, and the weather
had turned distinctly autumnal, at least in terms of the low grey clouds over
the ground, though the humidity was at times rather more tropical. A
substantial amount of overnight rain had helped turn a dusty wicket into one
with potential, but it really needed a couple more hours of warm sunshine
before play commenced, a luxury the teams were not given. As a result Matthew Quantrill had little hesitation in asking Tonbridge to bat
when he won the toss. The average age of the Tonbridge side had come down
considerably since the reverse fixture, with several colts filling in for some
of the older regulars, but Tonbridge initially relied on experience at the top
of their order. Keith Bushell and Graeme Poole soon
discovered that although the damp wicket would give them some assistance anything
short would sit up and beg to be hit, something Matthew Rossiter
was only too pleased to do. The slow pace did bring the first wicket for
Although the pitch had dried out considerably
from the start there was still plenty in it for the bowlers. One or two of the
driest patches produced balls that kept low, a hazard Tonbridge had not had to
deal with, and the short balls, while still stopping a touch, were not sitting
up quite as invitingly as they had early in the Tonbridge innings. Although
overall batting was probably easier than it had been it was certainly not
hazard free, and the height of the father and son opening pair of Ian and Tom
Moore did not help. Both were able to get considerable lift on occasions, and Tom
Moore moved the ball around considerably, jagging some back in up the slope at
a brisk pace. Nonetheless Matthew Quantrill and Alan
Carter gave New Ash Green an excellent start in their run chase, playing the
good balls soundly and picking off the bad ones. The score raced to 42 in the 8th
over before Carter, who had been playing soundly, inexplicably stepped back to
a straight one from Tom Moore and tried to guide it away on the off side, but
missed and was bowled. Matt Scanlan, a last minute
call up, was full of confidence on his return to the 2nd XI, scoring
2 fours in his first 6 balls before mistiming his 7th and giving Ian
Moore a simple return catch. With Tom Moore forced by the age regulations to
take a break after 5 overs Matthew Smiles came into
the attack. Chris Hoddinott picked up some early runs
from him, but then had a lucky escape when he was beaten and bowled off stump,
only for a no ball to be called by the umpire. Hoddinott’s
reprieve did not last long as he was LBW to Ian Moore in the next over. Matthew
Smiles then benefited from a series of disappointing shots from New Ash Green’s
middle order. Bowling mostly straight, and not getting much bounce from his
short height he did little else with the ball, but didn’t have to as Aron Dodson pulled too soon at one and Lee Saunders and
Jasper Holliday simply played across the line, all three bowled. For Holliday
it was a particularly galling dismissal as he and Matt Bushe
had been dead level with a season’s batting average of 4 and his dismissal for
3 left him trailing. While these wickets were tumbling fairly quickly Quantrill was continuing to score freely at the other end, and by the time Holliday was out the score had reached
98-6 in the 20th over. Dan Lewsey steadied
the ship, playing defensively, but with the field now retreating to a deep ring
saving 2’s and 4’s whenever Quantrill was facing,
giving 1 anywhere he wanted it, scoring became more difficult. With some 30 overs still to go time wasn’t a problem, and Lewsey was happy to play out in a defensive role, but he
was eventually undone by the return of Tom Moore, who got one to lift which Lewsey fended off to gully where he was well caught by a
diving Nigel Johnstone. Graeme Poole got off the mark
first ball, but his second from another colt, Zuberi,
was another flyer which lifted and he could only fend off in the air to the
keeper. At 106-8 with 9 still needed the game was very much still alive, but
with Quantrill still looking comfortable at one end
and no pressure to score runs because of the time factor Keith Bushell had no problem staying in. The still defensive
field meant the runs had to be taken in 1’s but neither batsman looked in any
difficulty and it was almost an anti-climax when Quantrill
flicked a leg side ball from Tom Moore to the fine leg boundary to bring up the
win. While Quantrill and Bushell
were entirely unfazed Matt Bushe, last man in and
desperately sitting on his average of 4, described himself as ‘bricking it’ and
was probably the most delighted person on the ground when the ball crossed the
line for the winning runs!
So the second team end the season with a win,
as the first team did, though ironically it was possibly their least convincing
batting display for several weeks. The positive results to end the season seem
to fit well with the new mood of optimism, and the second team mirrored the firsts
in another way as well in that the win by 2 wickets meant that they finished
the season exactly level with Tonbridge on points, but ahead of them (and
therefore out of last place!) on number of wins. The restructuring of the
leagues means that the situation for next season is not yet clear, but on at
least one hypothesis the seconds will have done enough to avoid relegation
based on that result! Like the firsts the question of whether that is a good or
bad thing will have to wait for next season to be resolved….
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