Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th June
Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th June
Kent Regional Cricket League - 46 Overs per side
Crockenhill (7 pts) 66 all out [23.5 overs)
New Ash Green (20 pts) 68-5 (15.2 overs)
New Ash Green won by 5 wickets
With the unusual luxury of having an umpire and the opposition not having one Andy Mayers decided to bowl first. The Manor Field wicket usually plays best when wet and well rolled, but the extra rain in the morning may have just loosened the surface again, and in Dan Lewsey New Ash Green had a bowler of just the right pace and action to exploit the conditions. In truth the ball only occasionally broke the surface and rose up, but for a change luck was on New Ash Green's side, and most of the times it did misbehave it seemed to bring a wicket. Both openers fell for ducks in Lewsey's first two overs, the first gloving a lifter to slip for a simple catch by Dave Baker, the other well caught by Matthew Quantrill diving forward. John Harley took a turn soon afterwards, when a ball lifted onto the batsman's elbow and deflected onto the stumps. Crockenhill recovered slightly, but Lewsey struck again with a thin edge, before the best stand of the innings nearly doubled the score. This resulted in a bowling change and a season's debut for Vic Mayers. While reduced in pace from his prime he was still on the spot from the start, and almost immediately picked up a wicket via a juggling catch by Joe Elisak. He followed up in his next over by bowling John Field, who finally lost patience after playing comfortably the longest innings of the game, but was bowled trying to hit across the line. A few overs of graft followed, but then a dramatic collapse as Dan Lewsey finished his spell with a triple wicket maiden, the first two gloving and edging simple chances to slip and the third, having survived the hat trick, lobbing a simple catch to John Harley at mid-on. With a youngster at number 11 Lewsey missed the chance to take 7 wickets, but still finished with an excellent 6-22 from his 12 overs. Clearly having little faith in his partner the remaining batsman, Trevor Lee, started to swing in the next over, but having connected with one he swung himself out of his ground and was stumped on the throw to end the innings at 66.
It says something about New Ash Green's lack of wins recently that even with such a low score to chase and the wicket playing reasonably well the talk at tea was more about the fact that they could win than they would, but they got away to a sound start with three early boundaries. As so often this season the first wicket partnership flattered to deceive, though this time it was bad luck that ended the partnership as a lifter from the tall and reasonably pacey opening bowler struck Matthew Quantrill on the way to the keeper. It must have looked like the glove to most people, including the umpire, but in fact the scrape mark on his elbow testified to the reason he hadn't walked, something the opposition were muttering about, having in all fairness had two good walks themselves. Worse was to follow as Matt Clark was a little too eager to attack and spooned up a catch and Andy Payne batted a short ball straight to cover. Arun Ward struck a couple of good blows before being bowled, and at 27-4 there was still plenty of work to be done and Crockenhill were being very vocal in their attempts to put doubt in the batsmen's mind. The younger New Ash Green batsmen are finally beginning to believe in themselves, though, and apart from one rush of blood from Karl Bartlett they saw the game through with ease. Bartlett top scored with 17, and Joe Elisak and Dave Baker looked solid with 12 and 15 not out respectively, Baker in particularly looking in complete command as he scored at better than a run a ball in finishing the win off with a pulled four. It was at last a day when New Ash Green had some luck, especially as quite a bit of rain fell after the finish, but even with Andy Mayers not fully fit and a number of players still missing they were able to not just compete but record a relatively comfortable win, and that against a side fourth in the table. If and when availability improves more wins will surely follow….
Scorecard
Current League Table
Friendly Match - Proper Cricket
New Ash Green 151-8 dec. (43 overs)
Beechwood Town 152-2 (28 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 8 wickets
After last week's success John Harley boldly chose to bat first for a second week in a row, but found less cooperative opposition this week. Scott McKechnie and Dave Harley had another solid opening partnership, but Beechwood town chose not to drop McKechnie when he gave them a chance, and for the first time this season for New Ash Green he fell for less than 50. Harley made a solid 29, and once he was out Bradley Lonergan anchored the remainder of the innings, making 34, but only Martin Ives of the rest was able to make double figures, and that just barely. With time ticking by the declaration had to come, but the score felt too small, and indeed time proved that it was.
Beechwood claimed to bat right down, but didn't need to go beyond 4. The openers were sound but steady, and saw off the opening attack of John Harley and (slightly to his own surprise) Martin Ives. The change to Simon Freeman and Ryan Harley brought the wickets of the opening pair, but no relief for the bowling side as the next two in proved speedier scorers. Desperation brought a further change to David Baker and Scott McKechnie, but they could do nothing to staunch the flow of runs and Beechwood cruised home to a comfortable 8 wicket win with plenty to spare.