Saturday 16^th September 2006

Wilmington v New Ash Green
Saturday 16^th September 2006

Friendly Match - 40 Overs per side

Wilmington 132 all out (37.2 overs)
New Ash Green 119 all out (29.3 overs)
New Ash Green won by 13 runs.

New Ash Green turned up at Wilmington to find an extraordinary wicket prepared by the council, with the lines apparently painted on not quite parallel with each other and no other work having been done at all. As the recent rain had prompted some growth this meant there were tufts of grass up to two inches high in places, promising a distinct amount of movement. New Ash Green were therefore somewhat surprised to lose the toss and be asked to take the field first. The decision to bat first looked even stranger when John Harley’s first ball spat venomously off a length and took the batsman’s gloves on the way to the keeper. It looked like a very short game at that point, but although there was always much more in the pitch for the bowlers than the batsmen nothing else behaved quite as badly again. Harley picked up two more early wickets, but couldn’t manage the fourth he needed to become the outright leading wicket taker for the season. Amjad Ali again bowled with pace and movement, proving a real handful, but only picked up the one wicket in his early spell when Wilmington captain Tm Cotton failed to look round after playing and missing and was stumped by Scott McKechnie throwing the ball back onto the stumps. Lee Saunders and Blair Wilson each bowled reasonable spells, Wilson picking up one wicket, and debutant Ian Martin bowled a spell of tidy medium pace, taking a debut wicket as McKechnie smartly stumped Paul Borrell, who had remained rooted on the crease, with nothing behind it. Olly Harding bowled a good spell of spin for little reward and Ali returned to terrify the lower order, finishing the innings off with final figures of 4-29. The biggest disappointment for New Ash Green was once again the number of wides conceded – a critical number in the end as the difference between wides for the two sided was exactly the winning margin.

At the start of New Ash Green’s innings that hardly looked likely to be relevant. Borrell and Coulter started off with close fields set for quick bowling on an awkward wicket, but both bowled mostly too short and Matthew Quantrill in particular punished the poor balls, the two opening bowlers being removed after two overs each with the score already 29-0. The change made little difference at first – at 40-0 after 6 overs New Ash Green were really cruising - but Hurst with some slow left arm and Cotton with fast medium pace soon started to slow things down. McKechnie played round one from Hurst to be out for 9, but things really turned when Quantrill was run out for 36 from just 33 balls. Ian Martin impressed with a straight six, but edged behind soon afterwards, and although Ali batted soundly and Blair Wilson managed another big six the rest fell away, some unluckily and some rather carelessly. Ali was last out, also for 36, trying to make the last 14 needed to win and New Ash Green had disappointingly thrown away the chance to finish the season off with a win.

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