Saturday 29th, Sunday 30th & Monday 31st August
Saturday 29th, Sunday 30th & Monday 31st August
East Kent Feeder League - 46 Overs per side
New Ash Green (7 pts) 148 all out (41.3 overs)
Borstal (20 pts) 151-5 (44.2 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 5 wickets
An experimental batting order didn’t stay experimental for long, with Matt Bushe having to drop out of the number 3 position after a minor confrontation with a roller in the morning and Vic Mayers bowled by the first ball of the innings, leaving Matthew Quantrill, originally slated for number 9, 10 or 11, facing the second ball. He and Matt Clark recovered form the early blow to build a solid foundation on a wicket playing better than the previous couple of weeks, but still never easy to bat on. 46 had been added before Clark was bowled having something of a swing, and Quantrill soon followed badly mistiming a long hop that should have flown to the boundary. Phil Wallis started promisingly, but went for a shot too many too soon and edged to slip. This gave Charlie Wardzynski a third wicket, which perhaps rather flattered his bowling, but Ben Cooke spoilt his figures somewhat when he hit him out of the attack with three fours in an over. Cooke wasn’t quite as fluent against other bowlers, but still managed to top score, and with the aid of Mick Sumner, until he was unlucky to be LBW to a ball that must have pitched outside leg and Paul Sumner showing at last some hints of his normal clean hitting, they took the score to 135-5 with more than ten overs remaining, and a good total looked very much on the cards. Unfortunately there then followed something of a collapse to 148 all out, not a bad score but less than had seemed possible against a relatively innocuous attack by league standards.
With batting conditions still not easy Mick Sumner and Vic Mayers put a lot of pressure on a team they had missed out on reducing to 93-8 in the first game. After two fours in the first over they took a wicket each and were economical enough to keep the pressure on the Borstal top order. Paul Sumner picked up an early wicket, smartly stumped by Matthew Quantrill, who was relieved to have the opposition wicket keeper at square leg at the time, and Keith Bushell also took two, but the difference between the sides was the grafting innings played by Borstal skipper Daniel Tingley. It wasn’t entirely fault free, and there were a few early on that might have gone to hand, which would have put New Ash Green very much in charge, but as the innings went on he played with more freedom and ended up taking his side to victory with 88*, though they needed more than 44 overs to get there. Perhaps disappointing not to have made the key breakthrough, but for a change this was very much a tight match, and New Ash Green can take some comfort from knowing that over the two games they had the better of Borstal.
Scorecard
Current League Table
East Kent Feeder League - 46 Overs per side
Borstal (20 pts) 253-6 (46 overs)
New Ash Green (3 pts) 82 all out (35.4 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 171 runs
As has happened all too often this season the second team let one opposition batsman get away from them. This time it was the turn of 16 year old Alex Porter, who made his maiden century opening for Borstal. Although none of the other batsmen made a big score all the bowlers were expensive, with some catches going down. Karl Bartlett did create a run out and Dan Lewsey and Ryan Marsh picked up 2 wickets each, but more runs were conceded than should have been.
New Ash Green had a strong batting line up of their own, but had already suffered the loss of Michael James with an injury before the game, and had Chris Bartlett carrying an injury picked up fielding. When Martin Pickering was out early on for a duck their hopes really began to slip, and they were soon 6-3. Dan Lewsey and Bartram, batting with a runner, staged something of a recovery, putting on 58 for the 4th wicket, but they were out in quick succession, and only Karl Bartlett with 12 reached double figures after that, as the innings subsided disappointingly.
Scorecard
Current League Table
Proper Cricket
EEM 191-7 (41 overs)
New Ash Green 149-6 (37 overs)
Match Drawn
Having had original opponents East Malling drop out, then seen replacements Dartford Town cry off as well New Ash Green had another blast from the distant past in EEM, a team against whom Matthew Quantrill and John Harding had played in the past. They were somewhat stronger opposition than the other two might have been, and John Harley reverted to the safety first policy of inserting the opposition. Dan Lewsey had a good start, with two early wickets both well caught by Dave Harley behind the stumps. After a quiet start the other opener, McGurk got going with both bat and mouth, before chopping a lifting ball from Kieran Poole onto his stumps and tapping Poole with his bat in (possibly mock?) anger as he walked off. The middle order then picked up the scoring rate somewhat, and with bowlers a little thin on the ground it was the occasional bowling of Matthew Quantrill that eventually made the next breakthrough, and followed up with another soon afterwards, though both at something of a price. Dan Lewsey and John Harley came back on to pick up a wicket each at the end, but EEM kept pushing the score along to finish with a very respectable 191-7.
Chasing that total was a tall order, as the pitch was still not easy, and it became even taller when Matthew Quantrill was left helpless by one of the worst bounces of the day, a ball that went almost vertically up form the pitch to take the shoulder of his bat. The run rate was funereal, and wickets fell steadily until 66-5, but with time beginning to run out EEM then started to open the game up a bit, and Joe Elisak plundered some quick runs before picking out square leg, after which Dave Harley and Kieran Poole put on an unbeaten 58 for the seventh wicket to take the total to a face saving 149 and save the draw.
40 Overs
Sutton 244-7 (40 overs)
New Ash Green 119 (27.1 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 125 runs
With regular Bank Holiday opponents New Ifield imploding at present John Harley had to hunt far and wide to find an away fixture, and the Bank Holiday team travelled to Sutton in Surrey to play a side supposedly made up of a mixture of their Saturday 3rds, 4th and 5ths. It still proved too strong for New Ash Green, although Dan Lewsey had very respectable figures opening the bowling and taking 2-28 (his wickets coming at the end rather than on opening) and John Harley took 3-39. With the opener retiring on reaching 50 it wasn’t till the score passed 200 that New Ash Green took a second wicket to add to Ryan Marsh’s early strike, which was scant consolation for going for 11.5 runs per over.
A total of 24 was always going to be beyond New Ash Green, but Phil Wallis made a good effort in making his maiden 50 for the club, but other than him only Matt Clark was able to make double figures as a variety of bowlers ran through the batting order without too much difficulty.