Tonbridge (7 pts) 183-9 (46overs)
New Ash Green (19 pts) 185-5 (43.5overs)
New Ash Green won by 5 wickets

Tonbridge made the short journey to Manor Field to face a NAG 1st XI missing several key players. Mick Sumner and the Mayers twins were both missing. This didnt stop NAG from starting the game with a very unlike NAG upbeat tempo. Fielding first after conceding the toss, Quantrill ensured that the 46 overs were completed in as short a time as possible to gain maximum use of birthday boy Andy Harrington before he had to depart. Harrington and Dan Lewsey opened the bowling, with Lewsey making the first breakthrough. The second wicket followed showrtly after with a catch from no other than Ian "Couldnt catch swine flu in a Mexican hospital" Davies off the bowling of Harrington. Shortly after it became the Keith Bushell show. Having already picked up one 5 wicket haul this year in the 1st team, Keith was at it again ending with 5-42 from his 12 overs, putting the disappointment of Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Man Utd firmly behind him in the process. Baker, Davies and Quantrill all had brief spells before Lewsey and Harrington returned at the death to finish off the wagging Tonbridge tail, both ending up with two wickets each.

NAG were set a target of 184 to win from their 46 overs. At one point it looked like Harrington would do this all on his own, scoring 20 off 10 balls before playing one big shot too many. After the quick start Quantrill then decided to play catching practive with the Tonbridge fielders, being dropped twice in one over before they finally held on to one. Harding and Clarke fell cheaply leaving NAG at 80-4. This brought Davies to the crease to partner the already strong looking Marc Klus, playing his first game since finally completing his degree. After a slow start, where Davies tried his best to stay at the bottom end of the batting averages, the pair began to click. Needing 6 an over, Davies finally found the middle of his bat, crunching two epic sixes over cow corner. Klus continued to be the anchor of the innings, before Davies got out for 43, much to the relief of his team mates who probably would never have heard the end of it had he scored his maiden league 50. Arron Ward then entered the fray, and didnt hold back, scoring a quickfire 11 alongside the now more adventurous Klus. The winning runs were brought up with a 4 through midwicket off 43.5 overs to seal NAG their first win in the league this season, Klus ending on 64 not out. This achievement can be considered even greater considering we were deprived of one of our most inform batsmen, David Baker, who injury looks set to rule him out for a considerable part of this season.

For once everything clicked for NAG, batting, bowling and fielding were all exceptional, not to mention the attitude of all 11 players who played in the game. Lets make this a turning point this season and get ourselves up this league, WHERE WE BELONG!

Thanks to Tonbridge, who although not expecting to lose, played the game with good spirit and lost very graciously. We look forward to the return fixture.

Scorecard
Current League Table

Holborough Anchorians (20 pts) 259-6 (46 overs)
New Ash Green (3 pts) 56 all out (24.4 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 203 runs

Holborough Anchorians CC chose to bat on one of the better days of the year, but the early tight bowling of John Harley (1-34) and Olly Cooper (0-43), who bowled better then his figures showed, backed up by tight fielding kept in check the openers Martin Selves (36) and Gary Hawkins (36). The 1st wicket always looked like it was going to come via a run out and sure enough it did via Olly to Karl Bartlett and the 2nd wicket followed in the same way. At the half way point after Ryan Marsh (1-43) had picked up a wicket via catch by Matt Lemon they were just over the 100 mark for 4 down. Whether it was the drink or the warm weather NAG fell apart in the 2nd half as Mark Garbett bludgeoned the attack around for 85 with 15 fours and 2 sixes, with solid support by Tony Jones (20) and Ray Petitt (30*) to reach 259-6. Joe Elisak picked up 2-76.

In reply Michael James (30) and Martin Ives (12) on his league debut were going along nicely against some steady bowling from Paul Bullivant (4-25), but the fall of these two by the score of 45 trying to lift shots over the infield of the slow bowling Tony Jones (7-4-8-4), saw the last 7 wickets go down for 11 runs and a crushing 203 runs defeat.

Scorecard
Current League Table

New Ash Green 199 all out (36 overs)
Dartford Town 61 all out (19 overs)
New Ash Green won by 138 runs

Dartford Town turned out to be a club based around a junior football side, and thus a rather youthful side, one dad apart. They were also not terribly strong and on winning the toss chose the usual New Ash Green tactic of bowling first to ensure the game lasted past tea time. The bowling was somewhat erratic from the start, and Dan Lewsey, given the chance to open the batting was kicking himself when he missed the last ball of the first over and was bowled. This brought birthday boy Andy Harrington to the crease to join John Harding, and they took the bowling apart for a while, bringing optimistic talk from John Harley about declaring early. They had put on 106 and Harrington had made a birthday half century before he was caught nudging one down the leg side, whereupon the wickets suddenly started to tumble. Matt Clark, Olly Cooper and Dave Harley all joined Dan Lewsey in missing out on the chance of some runs, and John Harding was caught and bowled 2 short of his own fifty. Phil Markham managed to fins the one over 20 in the field, who stunned everyone, not least himself, by diving full length to take the catch and at 153-7 an early tea was looking on the cards through an early end to the innings rather than declaration. Surprisingly order was restored by Jasper Holliday, with a score of 13, and John Harley, who made his first run in several weeks with Matt Bushe batting sensibly to the end for 12 not out. Ryan Marsh was bowled by the last ball before tea, leaving a nice round target of 200 after extras had just beaten John Harding to the position of 2nd highest scorer.

Although two or three of the Dartford Town batsmen were good schoolboy players and should have been able to put up a good fight against New Ash Green's bowling they failed to concentrate and collapsed rapidly. John Harley took 4-15 and Dan Lewsey 2-12 before Jasper Holliday and Phil Markham were give rare opportunities to bowl. Unfortunately for them they came up against the one member of the opposition who kept his head and played good shots against them and were both expensive. A change of bowling to Ryan Marsh and Olly Cooper brought the breakthrough and with the tail offering little resistance Marsh was able to finish with 3-5 in three overs. The win was wrapped up in 19 overs by 138 runs, and there was plenty of time to enjoy the barbecue provided by Andy Harrington for his birthday, leading to a family evening that went on till it was too dark for the continuous improvised cricket match in front of the pavilion to continue – a great end to a great weekend at Manor Field.

Scorecard