Mid-Kent League Match - 46 Overs per side, Maximum 12 per bowler

Tonbridge (20 pts) 148-9
New Ash Green (11 pts) 124 all out
Tonbridge won by 24 runs.

NAG 1st XI's season finished in disappointing fashion as they suffered defeat at the hands of Tonbridge in a game which should never have been lost.

Winning the toss and inviting the visitors to bat on a damp pitch, Matt Meehan and Andy Cox both produced excellent opening spells, restricting the visitors to occasional singles, with numerous deliveries beating both openers. It was Meehan who made the initial breakthrough with a lifting delivery that flew through to Hurst via the batsman's glove. With Cox proving impossible to score off at the other end Meehan struck another blow with Marc Klus holding a catch at point after two catches had already gone down off Meehan in the previous two overs.

NAG's troubles started with a double bowling change. Stuart's hamstring gave way again as he ran in to deliver what would have been his first ball and he left the attack without bowling to be replaced by James Hewitt. Vic Mayers at the other end (also nursing a hamstring injury) delivered a wayward first over as he seemed to be more pre-occupied with making it to the crease in one piece than where the ball was going. Vic soon settled down into a rhythm, though, and struck twice with lbw's to leave the visitors reeling at 30-4, before disaster struck again as Vic's hamstring gave up in his fifth over leaving NAG dangerously short of bowling. As the visitors grabbed the initiative Klus and Hewitt looked less threatening than the quicker bowlers and the batsmen edged their way back into the game. Cox and then Meehan came back on, and more catches went down.

Cox struck twice in an over to gain reward for a fine display and Meehan saw the Tonbridge skipper dropped again as he looked to bat out the overs. The only other bright spot in a woeful day in the field for NAG was Mark Klus picking up his first 1st team wicket as Tonbridge somehow batted out their overs to finish on 148-9. There is no question that if NAG had managed to hold on to their chances, not to mention keep some bowlers fit, then Tonbridge would have struggled to reach 80.

With the wicket and outfield drying out the NAG reply began with Andy Mayers in breathtaking form striking the ball cleanly and with style before a very unlucky dismissal saw him depart for 20, when he had threatened to finish the match in double quick time. Steve Hurst tried to keep the early strike rate going but wickets fell regularly with Hurst, Andy Payne, and Rob Newmarch departing before NAG had secured their first batting point. Meehan, Simon Duke and then the impressive Klus carried on the counter attack, though with the Tonbridge skipper turning his off-breaks square and NAG continuing to lose regular wickets a Tonbridge victory always seemed likely. With the trio of injured players, Cox, Mayers V and then Stuart all falling to the Tonbridge skipper, he collected a well deserved 5 wicket haul as Tonbridge won by 24 runs.

New Ifield IIv New Ash Green II
Saturday 8th September 2001

Mid-Kent League Match - 46 Overs per side, Maximum 12 per bowler

New Ash Green (18 pts) 187-4
New Ifield (8 pts) 154-7
New Ash Green won by 33 runs.

New Ash Green seconds proved themselves the best second team over the course of the season with fewer defeats than any of their rivals, but in the end the extra game lost to the weather and their failure to gain maximum points in their final game against New Ifield gave the 2nd division title to Frindsbury by one point.

Perhaps crucially New Ash Green lost the toss this week after vital wins in the last two weeks and had to bat first on a wicket with plenty of moisture in it. With the surface giving way regularly the bounce was unpredictable and Clive Elliott and Roy Vesey gave the batsmen plenty to think about early on. However after Graham Hampsheir was bowled early on by Vesey Matthew Quantrill and Andy Harrington worked hard and gradually began to get on top of the bowling. The run rate gradually picked up, although the always uncertain bounce meant the batsmen were never completely in control. What chances there were went begging until the 39th over when Quantrill was caught and bowled by Jackson for 58 to end a stand of 125. The base had been laid for as much attack as was possible in the conditions in the last few overs and when Harrington finally went for 93 in the final over New Ash Green had made a useful 187-4, a much higher total than had looked likely for much of the innings.

New Ash Green were confident of being able to defend their total in the conditions, but needing to get all ten wickets to guarantee the title they were missing one or two crucial bowlers and, perhaps more importantly, fielders. Although they got away to a good start New Ifield were soon pegged back and after the 4th over they never again looked like getting up to the required run rate. Unfortunately though after a few early wickets, including yet another victim for Micky Sumner's chinaman (surely the best surprise ball in the league) Kevin Smith and Richard Leal settled in and aided by some slack fielding were able to survive until the 39th over. Dave Harrington added another 6 maidens to his phenomenal tally for the season and eventually made the break through to get Smith, but after that New Ash Green could only remove Leal, and couldn't get even the two further wickets which would have given them a share of the title.

Speaking as the second team captain, and in a less neutral vein than I usually try to do in these reports I would like to sum up the season by saying that it is a great shame that we missed out on the title. Over the course of the season we played well as a squad and did not rely only on a few individuals, and it was the fact that we had a large number of people of ability able to come in and do a job that was the basis of our success. We were the best genuine second team in the league, got the highest number of points per game actually completed and had the fewest losses in the season. We also played a genuine 2nd team in every single game, which from what I can gather has not been the practice in all the 2nd team league games this season. Nine core first XI players did not play a single game for us, and two others made only one appearance before being promoted to the first XI and staying there. Equally importantly although not every one agrees with every selection decision the first team were basically the strongest available XI for each game as well - the first team selectors would very rarely have chosen any of our players even if we had not had a game, and they were successful as well. I am proud of the efforts of the whole squad (and we used 30 different players during the season) and am sad that they are not getting the reward they deserved.

New Ash Green III
Saturday 8th September 2001

The third XI have now basically retired for the winter.

Old Anchorians v New Ash Green
Sunday 9th September 2001

Friendly Match

Due to some sort of fixture cock-up which we haven't entirely got to the bottom of this game did not take place, and we found out too late to find an alternative game.