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

New Ash Green (10 pts) 168-9
Offham (19 pts) 169-7
Offham Won by 3 wickets.

New Ash Greens winning run to the season came to an end in an exciting action packed game which swung one way then the next with Offham coming through as deserved winners.

Despite picking eight specialist batsman NAG yet again failed to post a competitive score, with only Cox contributing from the top order and Matt Meehan holding the innings together with a restrained 39. Andy Mayers looked in great touch before falling for 20, and one plus point was the promising debut of 15 year old Mark Klus who looked comfortable at this level before going for 11. It was left to James Hewitt (24*) and Andy Stuart (18) to bat out the overs and put on 46 for the ninth wicket and edge NAG up to 168, which was probably 40 runs short, though with the pitch showing signs of breaking up all was not lost.

This turned out to be the turning point - with the ball getting wet swing was no longer an option, and the dry and crumbling pitch became more docile as the rain fell. This, coupled with Stuart, Meehan and Shambrook’s inability to bowl with any real control from the top end, meant an inspired performance by Andy Cox was only supported by a steady spell from Hewitt. Despite a further two wickets from Cox, Offham held on to squeeze home by 3 wickets. One controversial moment occurred with the running out of an Offham batsman. Running for a routine second he collided with Neil Howick who was backing up the throw. Despite Offham’s heated arguments and accusations of cheating, calling the batsman back was never an option as he was for some reason running four strips away from the wicket and was in the fielder's territory when the collision took place.

All in all a poor performance all round from NAG, once again failure with the bat, but more surprisingly the best attack in the league for once failed to click and Offham’s win was comfortable in the end.

Rainham II v New Ash Green II
Saturday 9th June 2001

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

New Ash Green (13 pts) 188-7
Rainham (18 pts) 189-9
Rainham Won by 1 wicket.

Having won the toss on what looked like a good batting wicket New Ash Green chose to bat. Initially it looked like a good decision as a solid start was made with Matthew Quantrill (60) sharing partnerships of 63 for the first wicket with John Harding (29) and 62 for the second with Rob Jansen (28). However the pitch turned out to be slightly more uneven than it looked and from a solid base New Ash Green struggled to accelerate, only Matthew Payne (23) threatening to pick up the pace with three consecutive fours before he was caught on the point boundary next ball. In the end New Ash Green could only make 188-7, a reasonable total, but disappointing when a score well in excess of 200 had looked attainable.

Rainham's innings began dramatically with captain Dave Sherhod hitting Dave Harrington for four off Harrington's first ball. The bowler's response was to bowl Sherhod with the first ball of the next over and thereafter not to concede another run for five overs! The innings then settled into a battle of attrition, with Dave Harrington bowling through his 12 overs and taking 2-15, while Pete Burke was also swinging the ball past the bat at the other end. However Geoff McCue kept nudging the runs along, and although the run rate was a bit slower than needed the game was still fairly evenly poised.

A heavy shower of rain which halted the game for half an hour completely changed the complexion of the match. Although the wet ball and wet outfield hindered the batting side, the bowlers were more affected with the ball ceasing to swing and being harder to grip. One wicket fell immediately after the rain, but the bowlers then lost control for a while and a partnership of 70 for the third wicket between McCue (60) and Tom Kearney (52*) put Rainham in control. Graham Hobbs removed McCue, but Kearney kept going and Rainham appeared to be cruising to victory as the seam bowlers struggled to keep to a good line and length.

With Graham Hobbs bowling tidy spin at one end captain Matthew Quantrill had to resort to his own occasional bowling for the last four overs at the other, and he was rewarded with a run out when he deflected a Kearney drive onto the stumps with Mortimore out of his ground backing up. Chris Taylor then struck 14 off Hobbs' next over to seemingly wrap up the match, but he too was run out in the next over when a ball which seemed to have beaten Darren Phillips struck his foot and bounced nicely into his hand for the throw to the bowler's end. Paul Newton was well caught off a big skyer by Andy Harrington, but when Kearney hit the first ball of the penultimate over for 4 and took a single off the next leaving just two needed off 10 balls with 4 wickets in hand the game looked all over. Quantrill bowled Jim Sherhod next ball, but Lee Sugden took a single off the last to bring the scores level with one over left, to be bowled by Graham Hobbs.

Incredibly Sugden was caught and bowled off the first ball, and Ian Newman, having defended the first ball he faced, skyed the second to be caught by Andy Harrington. This allowed the batsmen to cross and left Kearney, on 52, to face the last three balls rather then the 13 year old no. 11 Christian Ashdown. Despite having been in for 25 overs Kearney could not lay a bat on any of Hobbs' last three balls, Hobbs finishing with 4-48, and Rainham had to resort to running a leg-bye to short leg off the final ball. Having done the hard work New Ash Green then somehow managed to fail to pick up the ball and get it back to the stumps for what should have been an easy runout, and agonisingly lost their unbeaten record. However the bonus points picked up in the late fightback ensured that this was not the disaster it looked like at one stage and New Ash Green remain very much in the title race.

Hunton II v New Ash Green III
Saturday 9th June 2001

40 overs per side

New Ash Green 112-7
Hunton 90-7
Match Abandoned - Rain

New Ash Green were asked to bat first on an "interesting" pitch. John Howland was soon back in the pavilion mistiming a forcing shot off the back foot. Kieran Hoddinott soon followed adjudged to have nicked a leg-side ball to the 'keeper. After losing these two early wickets Duncan Shannon (20) and Matthew Scanlan (19) added 40 for the next wicket albeit rather slowly. Three wickets then fell in quick succession before Geoff Shannon (15) and Rob Newmarch (27) were instrumental in doubling the score in the last 10 overs. Michael Wederell (7*) and Oliver Harding (1) taking the total to 112 for 7 by scampering 7 off the final over.

Jonathan Brandling-Harris made the early breakthrough having one of the Hunton openers caught by John Howland in the first over and then Oliver Harding had the Hunton skipper snapped up at slip by Charles Duguid to leave the home team on 5 for 2 after two overs. However the other opener was mixing solid defence with some lusty blows and after 10 overs the score had moved on to 40 for 2. The introduction of Sharad Bawdekar into the attack, plus tight fielding all round, stemmed the flow of runs and produced further wickets. Harding (8-4-11-2) was replaced by Michael Wederell who, after some advice from senior pro Bawdeker, induced a mis-timed pull to Matthew Scanlan at mid-wicket. Bawdekar (6-4-6-2) gave way to Brandling-Harris and Wederell to Scanlan, who trapped the Hunton number eight LBW with the only straight ball he bowled.

Hunton needed 23 more run with just three wickets remaining when the rain started resulting in the match being abandoned as a draw.

New Ash Green v Meopham
Sunday 10th June 2001

Friendly Match

Match Abandoned.

All I know about this match is that it was abandoned after nine overs, presumably due to rain. I have no idea what happened during those nine overs!

Update: I now know that Meopham batted and Vic Mayers and Dave Harrington bowled, with Vic looking very dangerous, physically as well as metaphorically, before the rain came.