Saturday 31st May and Sunday 1st June
Saturday 31st May and Sunday 1st June
Kent Feeder League (East) Match - 46 Overs per side
New Ash Green (4 points) 64 all out (32 overs)
Cowdrey (20 points) 65-3 (9.4 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 7 wickets
(Match report by Marc Klus, edited only for spelling)
New Ash Green came into this match severely depleted for various reasons but as always an eleven had been assembled and they travelled to the game keen to improve on the previous week's game. Fortunately arriving bang on the toss up time of quarter past one wasn't of any concern for skipper Matthew “swinging tits” Scanlan as Paulo's wedding had removed the umpire along with half the team from the equation and therefore had already forfeited the toss. As the team strolled out to the middle for the routine pre-match pitch inspection, spirits weren't lifted when a damp wicket greeted the boys. There were no surprises when the visitors were inserted. The innings began steadily with Ian Martin and Spot looking solid. However when I say solid I mean for the first over and a half. Having begun the second over looking confident in defence, however the third ball brought a rush of blood to the head and he swung wildly at a straight one and was cleaned up. This brought a seemingly familiar but somewhat earlier than usual collapse and New Ash Green found themselves struggling 3 down early on. Matters were not helped when the mini collapse was completed with Martin Pickering's run out which can probably be attributed to the over enthusiasm of Lee “son of tosh/ Saundy” Saunders wanting a third run. Now if this report carried on in such detail there would be a chance that it would take longer to write than the New Ash Green innings lasted. The rest of the innings saw wickets fall at regular intervals with the only bright spot being the skippers vibrant 22, until the last pair came to the crease. Ruby had decided to only mention to skip that he could bat as the 7th wicket fell and he looked increasingly comfortable and played some nice shots in his 13 until he was last out, leaving Dan “Campari” Lewsey stranded and unable to continue frustrating Cowdrey with his Barnacle like approach to batting. This tenth wicket stand gave the rest of the team time to discuss plans for tour, nicknames for the tour shirts and generally putting the world to rights. I would say that this almost made being humiliated for the previous two hours worthwhile.
The Cowdrey captain decided to turn straight around as the clouds looked like they could threaten rain. They had 13 overs to bat until tea and came out with serious intent against the opening bowlers, Son of Tosh and Campari. The batsman didn't look like they wanted to run as boundaries flowed from the off, not helped by some wayward bowling, which frequently did not make any use of what demons the pitch had left in it. Son of Tosh was removed from the attack after just two overs and Ian Martin replaced him. Campari had began to get the ball to swing and after the opening four overs had produced a run rate of over 10, the two slower bowlers tightened things up. Things were too late though, despite the three wickets that were taken, all too good catches from Swinging tits, Ian Martin and Son of Tosh. The run rate was brought below a run a ball for approximately one ball until the new batsmen found their stride and the game was over before tea. David “sensuous naval” Baker was pleased with this as it meant he had plenty of time to get ready to go to Noodles' party. (Please feel free to ask why he is called Noodles). New Ash Green gracious in defeat.
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New Ash Green (6 points) 100 all out (25.4 overs)
Littlebourne (20 points) 104-4 (30.1 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 6 wickets
With a very soft wicket it was always going to be easier to bat second and know what to chase, but Matthew Quantrill maintained his 0% record with the toss this year, so New Ash Green had to bat first. Initially things went smoothly against an unthreatening opening attack, and what seemed similar change bowling, though the height of Ian Garfield did cause occasional problems as his leg spin turned quite a bit and bounced. Eventually this did for Joe Elisak, though not before 49 had been put on for the first wicket in good time. A succession of under 15s then struggled with the conditions and got out to Littlebourne's own under 15 Jack Parr, before Rob Boss, freshly returned to the UK, joined Quantrill for what was likely to be the defining partnership of the match. Initially they looked very comfortable, and Parr was seen off and replaced by the very slow left arm of Rob Lawson. With the drinks break approaching and the score on 91-4 New Ash Green looked to have the base to really push on for a big score, but then one from Garfield turned and bounced more than Quantrill was expecting and he top edged an attempted cut straight to gully. From here the last few wickets tumbled quickly, with only Boss looking comfortable against the slow bowling, but sadly holing out on the boundary. The rest prodded at the ball too hard or swung and missed and within the space of a few overs the last six wickets had gone for 9 runs.
100 was still a competitive score if the bowling was tidy, and New Ash Green were given hope by John Harley taking a wicket in the very first over. After that, though, things refused to go their way as Blair Hart played aggressively and survived a number of chances. Although only one could technically be said to have been dropped a few others were misjudged by fielders, and he ought to have been run out at least once. Eventually he was beaten by another superb spell from Olly Cooper, who maintained his remarkable record of conceding less than a run an over in league cricket despite only being 14. His perfect line and swing kept all the batsmen quiet until Blair tried to attack him and was bowled for 52. An edge next ball didn't quite go to the keeper's gloves, but the batsman wasn't reprieved for long, being plumb LBW next ball. Only able to bowl a four over spell Cooper finished with 2-3. Rob Boss took over from him and did get the other opening bat bowled for a solid 16, but there was to be no collapse from Littlebourne and they polished off a six wicket win with plenty of time to spare – though they actually took nearly four overs longer to get their runs than New Ash Green had done.
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Sheppey 156-7 dec. (49.5 overs)
New Ash Green 160-0 (35.4 overs)
New Ash Green won by 10 wickets
For the third week in a row the original opposition for the Sunday side couldn't get a team out, but a replacement was found this time, and with the forecast overnight rain holding off a full game was possible. Sheppey won the toss and chose to bat first, but found runs hard to come by off all the bowlers. John Harley and Matt Dehaney couldn't get many wickets, nor could Dan Lewsey as first change, though all kept it tight. It was Matt Bushe who picked up wickets in the middle order, aided by a run out. After Scott McKechnie's season leading bowling figures had been dented somewhat by a bit of late slogging Marc Klus took a wicket which finally induced a declaration in the 50th over.
In the absence of any other volunteers Dan Lewsey opened the batting with Scott McKechnie to ensure he got value for his match fee after bowling 12 overs. After a steady start McKechnie speeded up to keep the run rate at an attainable level, while Lewsey, sensing that he didn't need to help the scoring rate along settled for protecting his average and record of not outs this year. He was badly dropped at slip at one stage, but after that stayed in with complete disdain for the comments about slow scoring rates from either his own team or the opposition. With his eye in McKechnie tore the bowling apart at will, helped by a reluctance to push fielders back, and ended up bringing up a sixth successive friendly win with time to spare, finishing on 128* against Lewsey's rather more sedate 17*.
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