Saturday 20^th & Sunday 21^st August 2005

New Ash Green v Bexleyheath
Saturday 20^th August 2005

Kent League Match - 100 Overs

Bexleyheath (20 points) 193 all out (50 overs)
New Ash Green (4 points) 116 all out (31.3 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 77 runs.

Very heavy rain on the day before the match left a wicket which seemed barely playable, and with New Ash Green welcoming John Harding back as umpire Andy Stuart was pleased to be able to have a toss, win and put Bexleyheath in. He was not, however, as sure as most would have been that it was the right thing to do, and in that he was probably right. The pitch in fact played fairly well, with plenty of bounce. In fact very few kept low, and the only difficulty was the inevitable slowness off the pitch which made timing difficult. Raj and Ravi Patel opened the batting for Bexleyheath and set the tone for most of the rest of the inning by looking t play very aggressively at anything slightly loose. Ravi Patel was successful almost immediately, but Raj Patel had only made 4 when he looked to heave a full toss from Pete “it was a Yorker” Burke, missed it and was bowled. Chris Hobbs, in next, failed to anticipate the bounce and his first ball caught the shoulder of his bat and lobbed very gently up to give Matthew Quantrill probably the easiest catch of his long career. New Ash Green were on top for a while, and when Micky Sumner swung one in to bowl Ravi Patel a few overs later they felt very much in control. However Dave Curtix began to strike the ball hard, and although Burke gained his third wicket when Shears hit him to Andy Mayers at cover Pat heath then also attacked the bowling. Curtis was a victim of drinks, edging James Hewitt’s first ball after the break to Quantrill, but Heath, ably supported by Phil Bone, and striking the ball very cleanly took the game away from the home side. A partnership of 62 for the 6^th wicket was eventually broken by bringing on Marc Klus to bowl spin. As hoped Heath tried to hit him out of the ground but skied it to James Hewitt, who took the catch and the chance to resume bowling. Klus returned the favour, catching Bone in the deep off Hewitt, and with Vic Mayers picking up an LBW and Hewitt catching one off his own bowling it looked as if Bexleyheath would not see out their overs. They went on the defensive for pretty much the first time in the last 6 overs, only going on the attack again when they were sure they would not give their opponents extra overs, and to the first ball of the last over Stent promptly holed out to Pete Burke, giving Hewitt his 4^th wicket.

193 looked a good score on the wicket, but Bexleyheath were missing several bowlers, including Steve Lewis, who to no one’s surprise failed to show up at what would have been his home ground for the season. When Dave Curtis was very loose in his first over and Andy Mayers hit him for two fours New Ash Green has high hopes. The bowling tightened up a bit after that, and Mayers was given out LBW for 10 to one that looked legside-ish, but Simon Duke and Matt Scanlan both looked comfortable enough. Curtis came off after five overs, and Scanlan drove a big straight six off the other opener, Richley. The first change, Bone, was tidy but didn’t seem too threatening, and when Bexleyheath turned to Raj Patel, a very occasional bowler, New Ash Green should have been very much fancying their chances. Unfortunately Patel failed to live up to his billing, bowling much better than his predecessors. He bowled Duke soon afterwards, and although a not very well Matthew Quantrill managed to be involved in a stand of 10 he was out to the first ball he faced, tamely hitting to point in a poor imitation of an attempt at playing aggressively. Scanlan followed shortly afterwards for 19 and from there on wickets fell steadily. James Hewitt was run out by a direct hit from the boundary while looking for an optimistic second, and only Pete Burke, at number 10, putting up much further resistance, striking a rapid 29 before being caught attempting to hit a second consecutive six off Patel and instead giving him his 6^th wicket. In the end it was another disappointing batting display which failed to take advantage of relatively weak bowling and surprisingly benign conditions.

Click HERE for full Scorecard

Click HERE for latest league table.

Sunday August 21^st 2005

Luton Village v New Ash Green

Friendly Match - 40 Overs

New Ash Green 123-8 (40 overs)
Luton 125-2 (26.1 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 8 wickets.

For the first time this season New Ash Green had some luck with a bureau fixture, picking up a game against Luton on the Nore command ground in the barracks area of Gillingham. The well maintained military ground should have been in excellent condition, having professional covers to protect it from the rain, but unfortunately its exposure to the youth of Medway was more of a problem – someone had gone onto the ground and redirected the hose under the covers onto a patch on a length at one end. Despite this Alan Carter elected to bat first on winning the toss, having faith in a batting line up bolstered by the morning recruitment of Matt Scanlan, but weakened by the mysterious non-appearance of Micky Sumner’s mate, who seemed to have not only not turned up but switched his mobile phone off as well. Fortunately Jasper Holliday had come along and was able to step into the breach, with remarkable effect later in the match. Following his successful debut as opening bat the previous week Lee Saunders opened with Matthew Quantrill, but he was beaten by the wet patch in the 2^nd over, going back and playing over one that stayed slow and low. Quantrill and Matt Scanlan played solidly after that, putting on 66 for the 2^nd wicket without ever finding scoring easy. Eventually Quantrill was caught in the covers for 35 bidding to up the scoring rate as the innings wore on. After that it was all Scanlan as Micky Sumner failed to repeat the previous week’s batting performance and no one else could reach double figures. Even by the end Scanlan found it difficult to score quickly, with the ball staying slow and low for the seamers and turning considerably for the spinners at the end. However he did reach his second ever 50, and with 10 runs from the final over ended with his highest ever score of 63*.

123 was never going to be enough runs with New ash green’s bowling, but they started respectably enough. Graeme Poole continued his development as a bowler, increasing his consistency, though still with one or two loose balls, while Micky Sumner struggled to get much out of the lifeless pitch, eventually resorting to spin for his last two overs. Poole had one success when Ben Arnold was too quick through his shot and lobbed one up to be well caught by Kieran Poole, but from then on Luton cruised to a comfortable win. The bowling was always steady and Kieran Poole managed a maiden, but little seemed to threaten the batsmen until with 7 needed to win Jasper Holliday was brought into the attack. His first ball was a wide, leaving six to win, and with the batsman Gary Crump well set on 66 Matthew Quantrill behind the stumps let him know that Jasper’s economy rate for the season was 20 runs an over. The next ball was well flighted and fairly straight – Crump went down the track, swung and missed. Despite the slow pace of the ball he didn’t have time to recover his ground before Quantrill had the bails off to much jubilation all round – the champagne moment of the match being stolen from the jaws of defeat! The joy on the filed was not matched by Luton’s number 4, who cannot have been too pleased to come out with nothing to gain – only 6 needed to win with 8 wickets in hand – and much to lose – facing Jasper’s extremely loopy bowling and an 11 year old (Ben Cooke) at the other! He played both with great caution, as did his captain at the other end, and it wasn’t until Jasper got his length wrong with the first ball of his second over, seeing a full toss dispatched for 4, that the win was wrapped up for Luton.

Despite the heavy defeat it was another enjoyable game for all, and played in warm sunny weather for a change it very much justified the decision to get a bureau fixture.

Click HERE for full Scorecard

Back to 2005 Fixtures