Street End (19 pts) 283-6 (46overs)
New Ash Green (3 pts) 152-9 (46 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 131 runs

Slightly improved availability meant that New Ash Green had 11 players this week, but still no umpire. In sunny but VERY windy conditions Street End chose to bat first. Micky Sumner again bowled excellently, nearly making a breakthrough in the first over when a brilliant catch behind was nullified by a call of No Ball, but he snapped up the same batsman soon afterwards, top edging a pull. Street End's batting, though, turned out to be consistent right the way down, and although the bowling was mostly pretty steady anything slightly loose was relentlessly picked off. The fielding was mostly tidy, with Matt Clark unlucky to drop a simple catch which came to him straight out of the sun, but he was able to put it behind him and take a good low catch from the same batsman in the next over. Andy Mayers profited from that one at his dad's expense, and ended up with 3-59. Vic did pick up one wicket, which looked crucial at the time as Street End skipper Tim Briggs looked very strong in his hitting, but having started rather shakily Paul Betts really cut loose in the last few overs to shepherd Street End to a massive final total of 283-6.

The conditions were good for scoring, and while the win looked distant New Ash Green might have fancied having a go. However with both their openers out of form and getting out early to loose shots, and Andy Mayers and Karl Bartlett following soon afterwards, the run chase was really stillborn. From this low point of 18-4, though, there were a number of rather more positive signs. Darren Phillips, in his comeback game, batted solidly for 22, Vic Mayers batted through most of the innings for 43 not out, Matt Clark saw off the return of the opening bowlers and looked very comfortable in playing a long innings of 16, showing clear potential for the future. Finally Joe Elisak knocked up a quick 15 not out to deprive Street End of maximum points and to give Vic a share of three season leading partnerships in the one game. A big defeat, but some signs of promise and giving some hope that things can be turned round.

Scorecard
Current League Table

New Ash Green (7 pts) 84 all out (34.2 overs)
Westgate (20 pts) 85-5 (19.4 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 5 wickets

With a late pull out from Josh Hudson because he got injured on his skateboard or at golf, John Clack stepped up and what a replacement he turned out to be. An eager Westgate 11 who were rather cocky with putting us in to bat, were ready to start at 1 however John Howland hadn't turned up at this point. With John Howland and Martin Pickering going out to open the batting spirits were optimistic in the New Ash Green camp. The two of them were looking comfortable especially when Martin opened his account with a crunching 4. This was followed with John Howland batting the best anyone has seen for a long time.

After an optimistic start Martin unfortunately lost his balance and fell over as if he had stepped on a banana, and was stumped which introduced the skipper to innings. The run rate was slow and sluggish at this point but New Ash Green were focusing on batting the overs. John was unfortunately bowled which brought out Baker. Dan and Baker briefly upped the run rate and were looking comfortable until the same old problem Baker swung the bat and thick edged the ball straight up in the air and was easily caught at point only Jesus knows why he continually does this. Bushe was next but was disappointing, it was John Clack's turn now and he came in looking bullish and upped the rate with some tennis shots and was unlucky when he was caught after the ball cannoned against the fielder's stomach and was caught on the rebound top scoring with 15. Dan accumulated runs to make 13 but then he was out and the tail showed little resistant over than a dogged performance from Ollie Cooper.

With New Ash Green only managing 84 they took to the field with enthusiasm and everyone was disappointed with there batting efforts but turned this into positive energy in the field. Westgate scored over 300 last week and only lost 4 wickets so we knew they could bat. John Harley and Dan Lewsey opened the bowling they both bowled well enough and took wickets that could prove to be valuable bonus points including their openers and century maker last week. Ryan Marsh stepped up and showed everyone the commitment required when he took a blow in the sausage region saving at least 2 runs however he was left on the floor for a while like a dead Donkey, but he got up and soldiered on. Westgate then introduced a batsman whose intent was to smash our bowlers around and John Harley's last over suffered from this

Ollie Cooper was then asked to take over from John at The Pavilion end and he also was receiving some treatment until a full length diving Baker soaring like a dolphin at cover stopped the drive quickly got to he's knees and with one stump to aim at hit it and got a run out with what was quite spectacular fielding. He then took over from Dan with Westgate needing 2 to win, and he almost got another wicket but Martin just couldn't quite gather to get the stumping. New Ash Green didn't make one error in the field and there was a quite brilliant slip attempt from Ryan Marsh. Everyone kept the energy all the way to the end and with 50 more runs there could have been a very different outcome.

Scorecard
Current League Table

Horton Kirby 138 all out (33.1 overs)
New Ash Green 114 all out (31.5 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 24 runs

Heavy rain in the morning gave way to sunny intervals and a very strong and biting wind, leading to a cold day's cricket. The wicket, unsurprisingly, was rather more hospitable to bowlers than batsman, and John Harley had no difficulty choosing to bowl first. Horton Kirby gave a couple of occasional players a go at opening, and they were soon swept aside, Andy Mayers being particularly difficult to play in the conditions. Had he not given away six runs in wides his figures would have been truly outstanding the crucial point, or points, of the match, though, came with New Ash Green's inability to get Andy Chapman out. They had plenty of chances – between drops, missed catches and ones just out of reach he could have gone about 7 times, several of them while he was still on a low score, and he punished them by putting any bad balls away powerfully, being particularly hard on Adam Reeves on his first bowl of the season. The one place where his luck ran out, though, was in running out of partners before he could reach 100, with Andy Mayers returning to bowl the number 11 with his first ball back and leave himself on a hat trick next time he bowls.

138 should have been a very gettable total in normal conditions, especially with the batting line up that New Ash Green had. These, though, were not normal conditions, and Horton Kirby didn't give any of the New Ash Green batsmen the same sort of chances that Chapman had been given. Sciott McKechnie did get a few free hits off his legs, a fatal mistake with a short leg side boundary, and he made a quick 49 before being LBW, but the rest of the batsmen struggled. Matt Bushe batted a long time for his 9 and Matthew Quantrill made 20 before being beaten by one that jumped and cut in at him. Vic Mayers also fell to a close catch, and John Harley wrapped things up by being out first ball for the second time in the weekend to leave a second bowler on a hat trick next time he bowls.

Scorecard