Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd August
Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd August
East Kent Feeder League - 46 Overs per side
Blue Bell Hill (10 pts) 222-9 (46 overs)
New Ash Green (10 pts) did not bat
Match Abandoned
There was a sense of déjà vu in several ways about this game – Blue Bell Hill have often been opponents in the week after tour in the past, and last year's match was abandoned in rain as well. On that occasion the wicket at manor Field was as hard and bouncey as it has ever been for some unknown reason, and this year too there was plenty of pace and carry early on. With neither side having an umpire New Ash Green actually won the toss and had a choice of what to do for the first time this year, and working on the principle that if the rain came later it is usually easier to bat in the wet than bowl or field they chose to put Blue Bell hill in. Micky Sumner's first ball bounced and deflected off the raised bat of the opener, who was trying to leave it, and deflected for four through the slips. This set the tone for most of the innings, with the batsmen never completely comfortable, even Jack Attridge, who had made 178 in the return fixture, but the pace ensuring that runs flowed fairly freely. The opening bowlers had little luck, and it wasn't till the first bowling changes that things started to go New Ash Green's way. Jack Attridge had been missed early on by Mick Sumner running backwards, but when he miscued one from Paul Sumner and looped it to backward point debutant Phil Wallis took the chance to make an early impact by running in and taking a fine diving catch. A bit of extra bounce form Keith Bushell in the next over brought the second wicket, but the next partnership frustrated New Ash Green and threatened to set the foundation for a very big score. With the run rate rising past 5 an over and wickets in hand the batsmen were starting to play with increasing freedom, and when Michael Hanson struck Bushell down the ground he hardly bothered to run simply watching the ball sail over Micky Sumner's head at long off. Sumner was back pedalling desperately, but the ball was clearly way over him…until he turned, leapt and thrust a despairing left hand at the ball. To the delight of the fielders and the horror of the batsman the ball stuck and Sumner held on as he fell to the ground, rising with a roar of approval that has to be censored from a family website.
That catch took the wind out of Blue Bell Hill's sails, and from then on the run rate subsided. It took a while for the wickets to start to fall, but eventually Paul Sumner took 3-62 and Bushell 4-46, at one point being on a hat trick and five wicket haul with the same ball. The openers, Andy Mayers and Mick Sumner returned to take a wicket each, but as drizzle began to fall and the ball became slippery the last wicket partnership was able to add 40 runs, with Leigh Short on 46* leading the way. A total of 222 looked high, but the wicket was still playing as well a it had all season, and Blue Bell Hill were missing most of their main bowlers. Had the drizzle continued New Ash Green, with plenty of batting, would have fancied their chances of making the runs, but just as they were getting ready to go out and bat the rain got heavier and never looked like relenting. A half hour or so of optimistic cloud watching later and both sides conceded that the conditions were not going to improve, and the game was abandoned.
Scorecard
Current League Table
East Kent Feeder League - 46 Overs per side
New Ash Green (10 pts) 205-8 (46 overs)
Yalding (10 pts) 50-3 (14 overs)
Match Abandoned
A Yalding side weakened by holidays chose to insert New Ash Green. With no one else wanting to open John Harley was given a huge promotion to the role, but failed to last the first over, securing a duck which leaves him unchallenged not just as leader of the club Duck Cup, but as the league leader in Ducks as well. The only way from there was up, and New Ash Green managed it with a vengeance. John Howland and James Porter each managed solid scores of 14, then Joe Elisak (53) and Chris Bartram (57) put on 75 for the 4th wicket. Even once that partnership was broken there was no collapse, with contributions being made right down the order, finishing with the Cooper family partnership unbeaten and taking the score past 200 for the first time this season.
On top of the game for the first time this year New Ash Green experimented with a different bowling order, getting solid spells from Olly Cooper and Lee Saunders opening. Olly took a wicket, and a run out kept the wickets coming. The change to John Harley and Dan Lewsey ensured the runs were slowed down even more, and Harley removed the one batsman who looked capable of getting runs. At 50-3 with only colts left to bat and 20 overs to come from their main bowlers New Ash Green were strong favourites to record their first win of the season. However the weather has not been kind to New Ash Green this year, raining hard on the first team when they were in a winning position against Borstal, and once again it intervened at the worst possible moment, resulting in an unprintable text report of the game from the skipper. The sole consolations were the first non-defeat of the season, and the fact that at least (unlike the first team at borstal) they didn't suffer the further insult of getting fewer points from the abandonment than they would have got from a defeat at that point.
Scorecard
Current League Table
Friendly
Wilmington 268-5 dec. (43overs)
New Ash Green 145 all out (31.4 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 123 runs
Wilmington have been weak in the last couple of years, but they produced a young and it looking side for this game. The recent history did cause John Harley to dither for some time on winning the toss, but eventually he was persuaded by the rain soaked wicket to bowl first. Both openers should have been removed early, Squire dropped twice off Dan Lewsey while in single figures, and Wilson missed and dropped off John Harley. Neither initially looked capable of making New Ash Green pay for those mistakes, but given the chance they both betted themselves into some sort of form, Squire in particular being very strong on anything short or full on the leg side, with a number of big sixes. Wilson did slow down a bit, end eventually in trying to regain the initiative he found a fielder who could catch, Ryan Marsh taking the catch off Lee Saunders. Saunders had replaced Lewsey after a tidy but luckless opening spell, and having struggled in his first over he bowled an excellent spell, taking 2-25, but the rest of the bowling was poor to put it mildly. John Harley on his return went for 40 in four overs, his figures redeemed only by two catches in the deep in one over while Adam Reeves, Ryan Marsh, Scott McKechnie and Tim Cooper all went at 8 an over or more, with Cooper picking up the sole wicket between them. Wilmington perhaps batted on longer than they should have, leaving New Ash Green needing to get 269 in what turned out to be 36 overs, a near impossible task on a wicket still showing the scars of overnight rain.
Possibly Wilmington were wary of McKechnie, he being known to several of them, and he and Matthew Quantrill did their best to make a game of it, though they were not offered any game opening opportunities by the bowlers. They both rode their luck a bit, but by the start of the 20 overs they had reached 99, and a 4 from the first ball of the 20 kept them on target. However when Mckechnie edged one to the keeper for 65 the chances of victory almost certainly went with him, and the last flicker of hope was probably extinguished in the next over when Quantrill spooned a full toss all too gently to mid on. New Ash Green should still not have lost the game, but they managed to lose a wicket an over for the next 6 overs, with only a spirited 13 from Phil Markham, plus a big six from Lee Saunders saving them from total humiliation. Tim Cooper and John Harley did show some resistance, lasting 6 overs for the 9th wicket, but when Cooper was finally out Ryan Marsh did not last much longer and the collapse and defeat were complete. A very poor performance all round, though one that is all too familiar from past post-tour weekends!