Saturday 25th July
Saturday 25th July
East Kent Feeder League - 46 Overs per side
New Ash Green (3 pts) 178-9 (46 overs)
Littlebourne (19 pts) 179-2 (29.3 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 8 wickets
With overnight rain leaving a soft wicket New Ash Green were given the opportunity to bat first. They started slowly, but as the fielders started to cluster round the bat Matthew Quantrill started to play some shots into the wide open spaces, striking a number of boundaries. Martin Pickering couldn't follow suit, putting one gently back to the bowler, and Marc Klus never looked in touch. Quantrill was out for 37 to a thin edge, but Andy Harrington and Michael James, on his first team debut, kept the runs ticking over until Harrington was controversially given out LBW, a decision which led to a few frayed tempers and unfortunate words. Things calmed down somewhat as Ian Davies kept James company, and James started hitting some big shots himslef, mixed with neat deflections. The pair started to accelerate as the overs ran out and a score of 200 plus looked on the cards until the return of the opneing bowlers brought the downfall of both batsmen to similar dismissals in the same over, James for a very impressive 50. The welcome return of Paul Sumner to the ranks did not help the tail to wag, though, and in the end the last 5 overs brought just 9 run for the loss of 5 wickets. It was, though, an improved batting performance from New Ash Green and at least denied Littlebourne maximum points.
The sunshine and steady breeze had improved the batting conditions, and the low slow wicket gave little help to the bowlers, though there was some swing for Andy Harrington and later Paul Sumner. However the Littlebourne batsmen looked in little difficulty with few of the New Ash Green bowlers anywhere near their best. The swing from Harrington probably caused them the most difficulty, and he did eventually make the first breakthrough when Stephen Davies lifted a loose drive to Matt Bushe at point. Littlebourne skipper Jonathan Holton had been occasionally going down the track and there was a somewhat sour moment when he missed one and was clearly stumped, only to be given not out by his own man at square leg. New Ash Green were not impressed, particularly keeper Quantrill and skipper Mick Sumner as Quantrill had given Sumner out on a much tighter stumping in the first innings. Holton didn't last much longer, though, nicking one to Quantrill in Olly Cooper's first over, and Cooper went on to bowl perhaps the best spell of the innings, but couldn't manage another wicket. Paul Sumner had a loose first over, forgiveable for a man who had played no cricket this year, but started to produce accurate swing when he was taken off for an experiment with the left arm spin of Marc Klus, an experiment which succeeded only in hastening the end of the match
Scorecard
Current League Table
East Kent Feeder League - 46 Overs per side
Littlebourne (20 pts) 251-4 (46 overs)
New Ash Green (2 pts) 161 all out (46 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 90 runs
New Ash Green got off to a solid start against Littlebourne's seconds, with John Harley and Dan Lewsey tidy as usual and taking a wicket each. There were wickets also for Ben Cooke and Simon Freeman, but having reduced Littlebourne to 93-4 they came up against a pair of Hart's, one of whom (Blair) had made runs at Manor Field before, and they put on 158 for the fifth wicket, unbeaten to the end with Blair Hart making 115 and leaving some of the change bowlers with rather sorry looking figures.
Joe Elisak's good run came to and end with a duck, and fellow opener Simon Freeman joined him, but Ben Cooke and John Howland steadied the ship, and then Chris Bartram, in his second game for th club, held together the rest of the innings, despite an injury that left him needing a runner. There were small contributions most of the way down, with Karl Bartlett joining him in putting on a season leading 44 for the 7th wicket. In the end Bartram's innings was ended only on the final ball of the innings when he suffered the agony of being run out by his runner, though it was in a noble cause as had the run been made it would have rewarded his efforts with the bat with a batting bonus point. As it was it was Littlebourne who gained the (final) bonus point form the last ball, but it was again an improved batting performance from New Ash Green.