Saturday 10^th June & Sunday 11^th June 2006

Old Colfeians v New Ash Green
Saturday 10^th June 2006

Kent League Match - 100 Overs

New Ash Green (0 points) 59 all out (33.3 overs)
Old Colfeians (16 points) 60-2 (17.2 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 8 wickets.

Spoke too soon it seems. A poor weekend for availability, exacerbated by James Hewitt’s incapacitation on the morning of the game exposed the current lack of depth in New Ash Green’s squad. Colfeians slightly strangely chose to bowl first, but Andy Cox aside they had no trouble working their way through the New Ash Green line up. Cox’s 36* was the only score above the 4 matched by Matt Scanlan and Graeme Poole and a total of 59 was always a bridge too far even for a full strength New Ash Green bowling attack, never mind a depleted one. Cox kept trying, picking up two wickets with the help of catches from Vaughan John, and none of the bowlers seem to have disgraced themselves, but it was a comfortable win for Colfeians nonetheless, ending New Ash Green’s stint at the top of the table, probably permanently.

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New Ash Green II v Bobbing Court II
Saturday 10^th June 2006

Mid-Kent League Match - 92 Overs

Bobbing Court (10 points) 124 all out (41.2 overs)
New Ash Green (20 points) 128-7 (42.5 overs)
New Ash Green won by 3 wickets.

It was another beautiful day at Manor Field, and hard to believe that there were those preferring to be indoors watching football to being outside playing cricket on a day like this. With the rival attraction of England’s opening World Cup fixture both sides had struggled to raise a side. New Ash Green had gone from nearly cancelling the 2^nd XI game to thinking they had two XI’s and an umpire in the course of three days, but food poisoning and a misunderstanding reduced them to two X’s on the morning of the match. In the case of the 2^nd XI this was less of a problem as the opposition also had only 10. They were additionally lacking an umpire, which gave New Ash Green the luxury of winning the toss. In some ways this was a hardship as captain Matthew Quantrill was getting into form and in beautiful conditions wanted to bat, but given the poor batting performances of the side so far in the season he was forced to choose to bowl first. Initially it seemed a good choice as John Harley and Matt Dehaney immediately put Bobbing under pressure reducing them to 19-3. A small revival brought the first bowling change with Quantrill coming on for Dehaney, but Plan A quickly went awry as Quantrill strained his side in his first over and discovered as he tried to start his second that bowling was complete agony. Keith Bushell took over from him, and at the other end John Harley picked up two more wickets to leave Bobbing perilously poised on 36-5. From there on their lower order batted soundly on what was largely a good wicket to bat on. John Harley picked up a 5^th wicket on his way to figures of 5-24 in his 12 overs, and a brief assault from Bobbing skipper Les Earl was ended by a good catch in the covers by Joe Elisak off Keith Bushell, but the 8^th wicket pair added 50 more runs through patient batting before Lee Saunders ended the stand with the aid of a good catch by Alan Carter. With Matt Dehaney returning and conceding no runs in his second spell Ian Thompstone picked off a few from Lee Saunders before being bowled, having made all 15 of the runs put on for the 9^th wicket.

A total of 124, and 50 overs to get them in, shouldn’t have been too daunting in ideal batting conditions, but for a side who had only once got past 50 and not yet made it to 100 this season it looked a long way away, particularly with Quantrill severely hampered by his side strain and very limited in the shots he could play. Had he been fully fit the runs might have been knocked off with ease, but with him struggling someone else was needed to step up and score some runs. Alan Carter started solidly enough, but was undone by a ball that came in down the slope from Les Earl. Matt Dehaney also looked the part for a while, but he too was undone by Earl, on the back foot to one that kept low. With Tim Cooper also unable to cope with Earl New Ash Green were reduced to 19-3, a similar score to their opponents. Now, though, they did have the man to step up and take responsibility in the shape of Lee Saunders. Starting off very soundly and seeing off the threat of Earl, he soon opened up off the change bowlers and took the pressure off Quantrill who was in agony on most attacking shots. Together they added a season leading 66 for the 4^th wicket, and had put New Ash Green very much on top. Saunders did have one very lucky escape when a top edge towards square leg could have been caught comfortably by either the fielder or wicket keeper, but as they both converged there was no clear call, and at the last second both left it to the other and the ball fell to ground untouched in the six inch gap between them. With the game slipping away Bobbing recalled Earl for his last three overs, but after Quantrill had seen off the first of them Saunders flicked one to square leg to be out for an excellent 35. Kieran Poole survived the rest of that over, but was out at the other end immediately afterwards, and although Quantrill saw off Earl’s last over, hitting a four from his last ball to slightly spoil his figures (4-12 in 12overs), Joe Elisak was bowled in the next, Thompstone’s last, to leave Bobbing scenting victory again. Olly Cooper on his league debut stayed firm while 13 were added, but then couldn’t resist trying to hit Witts and being caught at mid off. However with the bowling now all fairly gentle Keith Bushell never looked in any danger, and even hit a couple of confident fours as he and Quantrill added a very comfortable 23 for the 8^th wicket to take New Ash Green to their first league win of the season. Quantrill ended up with 72* and maximum points to show for the pain he had put himself through, as well as being able to delight in another improved performance from a second team becoming more competitive by the week.

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Frindsbury v New Ash Green
Sunday 11^th June 2006

Medway Sunday League Match - 40 Overs per side

Frindsbury (9 points) 288-9 (40 overs)
New Ash Green (4 points) 121 all out (33 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 167 runs.

Another hot day and another bout of chasing in the field for New Ash Green. This time, though, although the batsmen continued to score runs throughout, the bowlers kept on chipping away at the wickets. Graeme Poole picked up the first in his opening spell and Joe Elisak took the second with the help of a good catch from Lee Saunders. Saunders took one himself with the aid of an edge to Scott McKechnie, who took another good catch diving behind him from David Harley’s first ball. The first ball of Harley’s second over also brought a wicket, Graeme Poole very solidly behind the ball, and New Ash Green might well have kept the total well within the bounds of respectability had Saunders not misjudged a big hit from Mike Nock, running in underneath it when it had been going straight down his throat. Nock went on to smash a rapid 65, keeping the run rate high while Matt Kynaston, the opening bat, was increasingly becoming bogged down as he approached his century. Eventually he was bowled by Kieron Poole for 9, and with Nock holing out on the boundary for a rapid 65 wickets continued to tumble. David Harley took his third courtesy of a neat stumping by McKechnie and Kieron Poole also got a third with the last ball of the innings, depriving McKechnie of a second stumping by hitting the stumps himself with the batsman several yards down the pitch.

The total was, of course, well beyond New Ash Green’s reach, but nonetheless there were many promising signs in their response. Matt Scanlan looked a class bat before chipping to mid on for 18, and Scott McKechnie was also very sound opening, making 91. David Baker had been showing flashes of ability, and on this occasion he showed that he has great potential as a batsman with some fine strokes as he top scored with 33, though he had some luck when he should twice have been run out, and his tiredness eventually let him down as he swung somewhat lazily and was bowled. He showed, though, that with some work on his fitness he could be a more than useful batsman in the future. Lee Saunders again batted sensibly to make 12 and Kieron and Graeme Poole looked composed against the quicker bowlers at the end, Kieron in particular completely unfazed in making 8 before he was, slightly ironically, bolwed by a slower ball to end the innings.

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