Saturday 29^th April 2006

New Ash Green v Meopham II
Saturday 29^th April 2006

Friendly Match - 40 Overs per side

Meopham 154-8 (40 overs)
New Ash Green 155-3 (26.3 overs)
New Ash Green won by 7 wickets.

The dry weather and some hard work over the last couple of months by a number of club stalwarts left the Manor Field looking far more like a cricket ground than anyone could have hoped for at the beginning of March. There were some concerns when the 3^rd ball of the match kept very low, but nothing further untoward happened and although the pitch always gave some assistance to the bowlers that was no more than to be expected at this early stage of the season.

Andy Cox won the toss and chose to field first, opening with Micky Sumner and himself. Sumner was somewhat short of match practice, but he soon adjusted his bowling action to his new slimline body shape and settled into a rhythm, while Cox was causing problems at the other end. It was Cox who made the breakthrough, an edge making its way to the safe hands of Luke Bowden at 1^st slip, who never looked like dropping it despite the best efforts of Simon Duke to edge it around him as he dived across. Meopham’s 2^nd wicket pair were batting well and putting pressure on the fielders, but donated a wicket when a sharp single was called and young Pat Emmitt was left well short of his ground when Andy Cox followed through and lobbed the ball onto the stumps. After that it was time for a succession of debutants to show what they could do. Matt Dehaney struggled to find a good length initially, but then bowled a tidy spell that augurs well for his future prospects. Luke Bowden got a bit of turn, particularly one that ended a good third wicket stand and bowled the dangerous looking Clark. Bowden took 1-8 in 5 tidy overs, while at the other end the third debutant, Luke Shaw also marked his debut with a wicket, a nice LBW, as he took 1-12 in 4 overs. Matt Bushe couldn’t find his rhythm, and Graeme Poole also struggled slightly as Dave Childs made his maiden 50 for Meopham, hitting particularly cleanly to leg before rather giving his wicket away with a swipe at Andy Cox’s legbreak which came nowhere near the ball. Cox added one more, in final figures of 3-17, while desperate running contributed another two wickets to the tally as Meopham ended up struggling past 150, having at one point looked on target for something much bigger.

Matt Scanlan opened the batting with Luke Bowden, but was soon undone, failing to adjust to the early season conditions and being so LBW he nearly walked as he swung lazily across the line. Matthew Quantrill joined Bowden, and was treated to a close quarters display of impeccable timing, particularly impressive from a batsman playing his first game in English conditions, and who was fresh from playing in Australia. Having played himself in soundly Bowden soon opened up, as he had to leave early, and added 43 runs in the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th over including 3 big sixes, one of them over the point boundary. Had he not been leaving early the game would surely have been over very quickly, but as he retired on 52* to head off to work (luckily for New Ash Green his last day of Saturday work this summer!) the remaining batsmen still had some work to do. Simon Duke perished soon after Bowden’s departure, pulling a full toss from Josh Hornby, the young leg spinner, straight into the hands of Deekes on the mid-wicket boundary, and Dan Walton failed to last much longer before being beaten by a ball that came in to him from Dave Childs. It was a well deserved wicket for Childs, who bowled a tidy spell and had a good all round game, but it was to be Meopham’s last success as Quantrill and Andy Cox knocked off the remaining runs with increasing fluency. The end came with 13.3 overs to spare, in the end a very comfortable victory, though it would have been rather harder work were it not for Bowden’s sparkling cameo. No doubt he will be looking forward to the rather more testing task of taking on Dean Headley on his league debut next week against Upchurch.

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