Saturday 25th, Sunday 26th and Monday 27th August 2007
Saturday 25th, Sunday 26th and Monday 27th August 2007
Kent League Match - 100 Overs
Blackheath (20 points) 184-9 (50 overs)
New Ash Green (4 points) 88 all out (32 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 96 runs
Having at one stage looked as if they might go into this game without a singular regular first team player this was not too bad a result in the end. Given that New Ash Green were particularly short of bowlers they did well to restrict Blackheath to 184-9, with Lee Saunders taking 2-22 in 9 overs, Vic Mayers 3-42 in 14 and Paul Sumner 1-48 in 15. Only two Blackheath batsmen got any sort of score, and neither of them made it to 50.
New Ash Green's response was not quite as strong as might have been hoped, but Matt Scanlan and Dan Walton gave them a steady start, while Simon Duke and Vaughan John also put together a steady partnership for the 4th wicket. After that the tail fell away, without collapsing completely and again there was a feeling of there being some promise for the future.
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Kent Feeder League (East) Match - 46 Overs per side
Hartley (20 points) 189-8 (46 overs)
New Ash Green (5 points) 108 all out (38.2 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 81 runs
A depleted New Ash Green side made a good effort against Hartley, but ultimately lost control late in the Hartley innings. A good start, with Graeme Poole bowling a good opening spell and removing both openers, was backed up by tight change bowling from Dan Lewsey, and even with Keith Bushell slightly below his best New Ash Green seemed to have a tight hold on the Hartley batsmen. However having looked likely to keep them down to something around 130-140 New Ash Green were thwarted by some good late order hitting from Giles Carter and Louis Cooper, poor fielding and dropped catches allowing them to make more than they should have done and lift Hartley to a final total of 189 despite a good closing spell from John Harley, who bowled well for little reward.
Hartley were not at full strength themselves, but with a big total to chase the pressure was on New Ash Green from the start, and Matthew Quantrill fell early on trying to force the pace. Joe Elisak made a bold effort, attacking the bowling, but went for one shot too many and was bowled when Ravi Chouhan swung one back past his shot. Matt Dehaney batted very positively, and for a long time looked as if he might make a game of it, given good support by Kieran and Graeme Poole, but once Dehaney nicked behind for 47 it was a matter of trying to pick up bonus points, and in the end they could only manage 1 of those. New Ash Green will hope to be stronger for the rematch next week and gain the same sort of revenge they did against High Halstow.
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New Ash Green 134 all out (40.1 overs)
New Ifield 123 all out (33.5 overs)
New Ash Green won by 11 runs
With a reasonably strong side New Ash Green took the bold option of winning the toss and electing to bat, hoping to set a good target and be able to give lots of people a bowl. Unfortunately the plan didn't work as most of the top order gave their wickets away carelessly on a wicket of variable pace. Lee Saunders made the first stab at a comeback, but it was Simon Duke, batting down the order in exchange for a promise of a bowl, who really got them back into the game. Accelerating after a slow start he was particularly hard on the bowling of New Ifield captain Chris Cooke and bludgeoned his way to 62 before finally holing out going for one shot too many.
Defending a total rather lower than they ahd hoped New Ash Green were soon on the ropes as Rob McSweeney went on the attack from the start, but although he blasted his way to 23 in almost no time this was never really the wicket for out and out attack and he scooped one in the air and was caught by Joe Elisak. Gareth Stearn and Jack Whiskin weren't quite as aggressive, but continued to play positively and at 59-1 New Ifield seemed to be cruising. Andy Harrington had his first failure of the season with the bat and was clearly determined to make up for it. He started with a wide (or "set up ball" as he later described it) before getting Stearn to lift one in the air to the covers and be caught. He and Simon Duke slowed the rate down and then began to take wickets, Harrington's second came courtesy of a very smart piece of work by Matthew Quantrill behind the stumps as Whiskin advanced down the wicket. Harrington fired the ball at his legs and as it deflected off his pads Quantrill dived to take it one handed and in one movement flicked the stumps to catch Whiskin still out of his ground. Steven Bage has blasted runs against New Ash Green before, but he also fell victim to the slow pitch lofting an attacking stroke, and Dave Higson was brilliantly caught by Duke off his own bowling. When Luke Wheeler became Harrington's fourth victim moments later New Ifield were reeling at 84-6, effectively 7 given they were a man short. Owen Southward and Michael Foster steadied the ship, though a well executed plan was foiled when Harrington dropped Southward round the corner off Duke, but Harrington made up for it by getting Southward shortly afterwards to give himeself a 5 wicket haul. Foster, supported by Ricky Gunn, struck some big blows to keep the game open, and Dan Lewsey turned to himself and Ian Martin for the final surge, with Martin keeping it very tight and eventually bowling Gunn and the following it up with the wicket of Cooke to secure a rare victory for New Ash Green in this regular fixture.
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