East Malling 159 all out (38.4 overs)
New Ash Green 160-6 (28.4 overs)
New Ash Green won by 4 wickets

A weekend of stunning late summer weather and two attractive grounds also saw some late blossoming New Ash Green batting. Saturday’s game at East Malling’s Bradbourne Research Station ground is usually played in damp weather on a damp wicket – cloudless skies and a hard track also emphasised the lack of maintenance at that ground, with a bumpy wicket producing a lot of unpredictable bounce. East Malling started strongly, with their opening bat looking a very solid player, but after a few overs he played a lifter down through gulley where Matt Bushe took a superb one handed catch. Very soon after the second opener tried to pull one away and Matt Clark stretched above his head to take another good catch. John Harley, looking for 5 wickets to break the club record for wickets in a season, was on his way. His opening partner was Joe Elisak, bowling spin, and he had produced one of his best spells of the season, and was rewarded with another catch by Bushe. A change in the bowling saw Matt Bushe bowling an economical spell for no reward and Adam Reeves pick up a wicket, but East Malling captain Mark Higgins chanced his arm with some success, and Reeves and Matt Clark ended up being expensive. It was the experienced, and this season heavily overworked, pair of Dan Lewsey and John Harley who started to reel East Malling in when a total over 200 had begun to look on the cards. Lewsey made the first breakthrough, and should have another when Collins was very plumb LBW first ball, but escaped. He was not so lucky at the other end soon afterwards, well forward to Harley but given out by a different umpire. At 158-6 the big breakthrough was achieved when Lewsey bowled Higgins for 69, leaving only three youngsters, with one player missing. John Harley had no scruples about this, bowling James Higgins to equal Dave Harrington’s long standing record of 85 wickets in a season. The last player, a nervous looking boy of about 15 came to the crease and played forward to his first ball, missing and dragging well outside his crease, leaving Matthew Quantrill little choice but to remove the bails and give one of the more restrained stumping appeals of the season. It was a wicket of such embarrassing proportions that even the unquenchable enthusiasm of John Harley couldn’t raise a huge cheer, and thus the season’s wicket taking record was broken not with a bang but very much a whimper. There was one final act to come, as with one player absent and a youngster at the crease who had not had much of a go New Ash Green allowed the dismissed batsman to stay and keep him company. It didn’t last long, though, a shooter from Dan Lewsey accounting for him with only one more run added.

159 was far less than the target had looked likely to be at on stage, but on a difficult pitch and with a slow outfield it was still a tough ask. It looked even tougher when the third ball from McGrath, opening the bowling as well as the batting, shot along the ground and clipped Matthew Quantrill’s leg stump. Matt Clark started with a run of scoring shots, facing five before he failed to score, and Dan Lewsey looked in good touch against bowling that, pitch assistance aside, was not too dangerous. Lewsey’s current run of form couldn’t help him survive for long, though, given out LBW for 12, and Martin Ives followed shortly for a duck. Ian Davies lasted a bit longer, but could only make 1. John Howland and Tim Cooper got 5 each and contributed to useful partnerships, but both fell to young James Higgins and when Cooper was bowled the total was 90-6 and it looked virtually all over. Matt Clark had been playing fairly serenely, though, a six and several fours carrying him towards his highest score in men’s cricket, and he was now joined by Joe Elisak, who set out to play aggressively and try and score as quickly as possible between the difficult bounces and unplayable balls. Clark edged his way through the forties, but eventually stroked the ball backward of square to the boundary to bring up a well deserved maiden 50 in men's cricket. Freed from worry about that he and Elisak upped the scoring rate and cruised home with overs to spare, despite the very slow speed at which East Malling had bowled their overs in the first hour, bringing up a very good victory in difficult conditions, with Clark finishing on 74* and the partnership of 70 being the best 7th wicket partnership of the season.

Scorecard

Horton Kirby 230 all out (39.4 overs)
New Ash Green 211-4 (40 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 19 runs

Another beautiful day, and a much more even wicket gave another good end of season game. Horton Kirby's openers looked very solid in putting bat to ball, but managed to find fielders initially, and when matt Lemon, opening the bowling for the first time, gave Hawkes a full toss he drove it powerfully straight to mid off. 0-1 from two overs looked a very good start for New Ash Green, but the signs were there, and Darren Bridges showed the way with sixes off each bowler as his first scoring shots. Lemon did reply by picking up the other opener, caught and bowled as he top edged an attempted pull shot, but Horton Kirby's middle order really put the pressure on the bowlers. Lemon persevered and eventually got Bridges, bowled for 43 in less than 9 overs, leaving Lemon with 3-46 in 5 overs, including a maiden! Ricky Ovenden and Andy Chapman both made half centuries as the middle order kept the scoreboard ticking over, and when Olly Cooper finally got the breakthrough, having Ovenden caught at mid wicket, a total over 300 looked very possible. The lower order weren't able to keep the rate up, though, with Matt Bushe bowling a tidy spell and the returning John Harley picking up three wickets, before the occasional spin of Matthew Quantrill swept through the tail to pick up the final wicket just short of the full 40 overs.

Despite the curtailing of the innings and the good conditions a total of 230 looked beyond New Ash Green's capabilities, even with the newly invigorated batting of Dan Lewsey leading the way. Karl Bartlett started soundly, but was soon bowled and Olly Cooper followed soon afterwards for a duck. This brought Matthew Quantrill to the crease to join Lewsey and the pair steadied the ship though without being able to do anything spectacular. They were hindered in any attacking ambitions by the setting sun behind the arm of Gordon Watts, which made it hard to see the ball, let alone hit it. they survived and began to play a little more ambitiously as some of Horton Kirby's less regular bowlers were given an end of season over or two, but with the required rate already high and the knowledge that Horton Kirby had quality bowling in reserve if they needed to keep the rate down an unlikely victory was always...unlikely. Quantrill experimented with reverse sweeps and attempted Dilshan scoops to keep the fielders on their toes and started to time the ball a little more convincingly once he was past 50, and when Lewsey also passed 50 and tries to "tee off" the scoring rate was briefly up with that required. A couple of overs from Darren Bridges, at a very good pace, soon killed off any faint hopes, though, and eventually Lewsey holed out for 61 trying to hit Bridges, though not before Quantrill had reached his century. With the game in its death throes all that remained was for Quantrill to try and get Ryan Marsh on strike as much as possible, and manage to run him out in the process, leaving Chris Sooknanan to see out the last couple of balls and avoid qualifying for the batting averages in doing so.

Scorecard