Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th June
Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th June
Kent Regional League Match - 46 overs per side
Leybourne (3 pts) 81 all out (34.1 overs)
New Ash Green (20 pts) 83-2 (26.4 overs)
New Ash Green won by 8 wickets
Whilst things were never quite as desperate as the previous weekend this was another weekend where it was a struggle to get two elevens out, and in the end Karl Bartlett's football commitments meant that the first team had to play with ten again, although since it turned out that the opposition also had ten it made a fair game of things, and as three of their ten were fairly junior colts cricketers New Ash Green actually had something of an advantage, having ten proper first eleven squad members. They also had an umpire, and chose to bowl first despite the warm weather, firm pitch and the fact that again several of the team were pushing their luck with the start time. This week, though, the necessary cars all rolled into the car park just in time (and in the case of Joe Elisak's car continued to roll around the car park for some time afterwards) and they were able to start with the full complement of ten. As last week Andy Mayers stood in for Mick Sumner as opening bowler and started with a gentle loosener that was put away for four by a slightly surprised batsman. The rest of the over was slightly better, but hardly frightening, and when Dan Lewsey started with a full toss on the leg side as well, and was not hugely impressive in his first over Leybourne must have fancied their chances of a big score. However both bowlers tightened up, Mayers generating respectable pace off a few steps, and cutting the ball both ways to put some real pressure on the batsmen. Lewsey got the break through when a Yorker length ball was poked a bit too hard by the batsman and carried to Paul Sumner at mid-off, and Mayers got the other opener soon afterwards, taking the edge with one that moved away off the pitch. From then on it was generally a battle for survival for Leybourne, just the occasional bad ball being put away, while for the most part they just tried to dig in. Lewsey got three more through a catch in the covers that Joe Elisak juggled, a mis-hit that Paul Sumner caught well, diving full length after running round from mid-off to mid-on, and a final one that was a poor ball smashed to point where Matt Scanlan took a brilliant catch, much to the batsman's disgust, the stumps and pavilion door bearing the brunt of his frustration. Andy Mayers also picked up another, bowling the first of the Leybourne youngsters, then gave way to Joe Eliska's spin. For a while after the change of bowling the batsmen grafted and staved off further collapse, the seventh wicket stand between Matthew Webb and one of the colts being the best of the innings at 24, but after Paul Sumner had moved one back up the hill to bowl the youngster the end followed fairly quickly. Webb gloved one gently in the air, and his brother followed not long after getting a leading edge to one of Elisak's quicker balls and lifting it gently in the air to gully, and a final total of 81.
Leybourne's bowling was rather better than their batting, but on what was still a pretty good wicket and with 57 overs to get 82 runs New Ash Green were under no pressure to take any risks. Matthew Quantrill played a very solid anchoring role, finally getting out when he hit a short ball to cover with just 6 runs needed, but the impetus was provided by Matt Scanlan, playing some beautifully timed shots in making 31, and then by Joe Elisak in a brisk 26 not out, despite being hit on the chest and throat by quick balls. All of Leybourne's bowlers were quicker than New Ash Green's, and the first three all bowled fairly accurately, but they could not get any real pressure on, and New Ash Green never looked in danger of failing to make the runs, with plenty of batsmen still to come. They strolled to victory at a modest pace, but still ended up finishing not long after six, which was slightly unfortunate. The big social event of the evening was the Race Night organised by Matt Scanlan, and the first team attendees had a more than 2 hour wait for the second team to return and join in. Luckily a beautiful evening meant that sitting around having a few drinks and playing various improvised ball games, as well as ordering and eating a takeaway from the local kebab and fried food emporium was a very pleasant way to fill the time, and the wait proved worthwhile as an evening's racing was enjoyed by all, with the main winners being those who triumphed in the various owner's races, Michael Gallagher, Hannah Scanlan and Anna Stock, who all walked away with bottles of spirits, while the winners in the other races managed to 're-invest' their winnings with great success. Thanks to Matt Scanlan and Hannah for their efforts in organising the event, which has raised a good sum towards the Family Fun Day, when it is hoped we will be able to provide a bouncy castle for the large number of children who should now be of an age to enjoy it.
Kent Regional League Match - 40 overs per side
OD CUACO (20 pts) 175-4 (40 overs)
New Ash Green (5 pts) 110 all out (31.1 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 65 runs
The second team did manage to get together 11 players, and apart from the injured Ashley Woodward and the holidaying Ollie Cooper were not too far short of a full strength side. Unfortunately it didn't quite happen for them. The bowlers were not quite on top form and they allowed OD CUACO to score 175-4, without any one batsman ever looking able to really dominate the bowling. There were two wickets for Luke Shaw, who was the most economical of the bowlers, and one each for Matt Bushe and Martin Ives, courtesy of catches from Ives (off Bushe) and Sean Funnell, but every opposition batsman made double figures and the final target was a reasonably challenging one.
Martin Ives and Luke Shaw started the chase solidly enough, though the Surrey over 70s bowler Martin Couch proved difficult to get away, bowling through his ten overs for just 16 runs, and getting Ives out for 24 to end an opening stand of 56. When Couch finished and New Ash Green had reached the half way stage at 71-1 a tight finish looked in prospect, but things went badly wrong in the second half (or, as it turned, out the final third) of the innings. Missing Ollie Cooper the other batsmen who had made runs in partnership with him in recent games were unable to get going, and against what was apparently a modest bowling attack the side managed to find ways to get out. After Sean Funnell had made 7 on his league debut the collapse really started when Shaw was give out caught by a ball that had hit his arm, having made 33, and the final 8 wickets ended up falling for just 25 runs. Only Kieran Poole made double figures, and he only just made that, with ten. It was a sorry end to the game, but hopefully the team can bounce back in the next two important games and keep up their promotion challenge.
Second XI Current League Table
Friendly Match - 40 overs
Bexley Park 218 all out (37.3 overs)
New Ash Green 138-6 (40 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 80 runs
It was a peculiarly up and down lead up to this match. After last week's victory, and with the captain returning from holiday, New Ash Green seemed to be on a roll, and were expecting to have no problems raising a side. However some delays in confirming availability meant a late trip to the fixture bureau, and a game against Bexley Park, a club whose league teams play in higher divisions than ours, and on past record tend to have more first team players in their sides than New Ash Green generally do on a Sunday. Then problems with the team started – Dan Lewsey had to drop out for a family commitment, and with no one having been found to replace him new boy Sam Dennis was forced to cry off on the morning of the game when his son was taken ill. With the hottest day of the year looming the possibility of spending 40 overs being smashed around the ground by a strong side with only 9 fielders was not the greatest thought for a Sunday. And then…things turned for the better again. Michael Gallagher was persuaded to come to the ground and help out after playing golf in the morning, and duly arrived in time for the start, and Sam Dennis was able to push the risk of divorce right to the limits by bringing his niece and dog out for a couple of hours, and was able to field for most of the first innings, so New Ash Green had the luxury of 11 men for most of the innings. What's more, after Matt Bushe's first ball had been smashed for 4 and the first over produced 12 runs, things started to go well in the game as well. Sean Funnell's slow swing bowling bamboozled the batsmen, and he got the aggressive first team batsman LBW in the second over, and proceeded to take two more wickets with a catch in the covers and one bowled as the batsman watched apparently hypnotised as the ball swung very slowly in and hit the top of his off stump, while Matt Bushe had a full toss hit straight to square leg, and another caught by Karl Bartlett as Bexley Park collapsed to 45-5. They still had two more first team batsmen to come, though, and these two made no such mistakes, seeing off the opening bowling pair and putting on 71 for the next wicket. Michael Gallagher, bowling a good spell, picked up the next three wickets courtesy of good catches from Dave Harley and Karl Bartlett, with another bowled, but at the other end Roger Griffiths was hard on anything loose, and scored heavily off Felix Quantrill and Sam Dennis. Dennis struggled in his first bowl for over a year, with length in particular somewhat erratic, but gained some control towards the end of his spell, his last over showing more promise and hopefully suggesting he may have the makings of a useful bowler if he is able to play more regularly. Once he had gone off and Gallagher had finished his spell the captain decided to have a go himself, with some success. He had his opposite number well held by a diving Michael Gallagher, and then with Griffiths closing in on a century bowled him to end the innings more than 2 overs early. The final total of 218 owed a lot to one batsman and to extras, but was much lower than New Ash Green might have feared, and to bowl out a fairly strong opposition was something of a triumph in itself.
As it turned out, though, Bexley Park not only had several first team batsmen, but also four first team bowlers, and although one of them was keeping wicket, nonetheless it was soon pretty obvious that New Ash Green did not have the firepower to make the 219 runs they needed to win, and the weakness of limited overs cricket between two uneven sides became obvious. The game was soon over as a contest, and as Bexley Park had no need to take wickets to win, they were able to keep the good bowlers on for some time, and when they did give occasional bowlers a go they didn't have to try hard and concentrate on taking wickets – effectively it was an extended net for all involved. Luke Shaw was first to go, LBW, and after a moderate 2nd wicket partnership Martin Ives was caught trying to force the pace. There was then a mini-collapse as Dave Harley was bowled for a duck, and Karl Bartlett's miserable run of bad luck continued when his first ball lifted sharply and hit his gloves, leaving him helpless as the keeper took a good catch. Sean Funnell saw off the hat trick ball, and he and Matthew Quantrill put on 40 for the 5th wicket before Quantrill perished trying to force the pace but not able to see the ball clearly at one end, as the sun was by now setting behind the bowler's arm. Funnell took over the scoring role, as he and Matt Bushe added another 41 before Funnell went for 31, also trying to play a forcing shot, and Bushe and Andy Noakes saw it through to the end without further loss. It was a comfortable defeat, but against a much stronger side a respectable one, and most of the team got a reasonable go at something and played reasonably well, so things turned out better than they might have done, particularly as Bexley Park were reasonable friendly on the field, even if their fielders didn't realise that it is a four if you are over the line when you flick the ball back…