Friendly Match - 40 Overs per side, Maximum 10 per bowler

Borden 82 all out
New Ash Green 86-0
New Ash Green won by 10 wickets.

As the rain fell in stair rods the prospect of any sort of cricket seemed unlikely. However due to the amount of work put into the NAG wicket by Rob Newmarch and Vaughan "I cut grass" John and the sudden blazing sunshine, there seemed to be more hope as the official start time of 2pm came and went.

With 22 players (Editor's Question: If Borden only had ten men (see below) where did the 22nd player come from?) standing round in an array of jeans and T-shirts as the coin was tossed, a quick change was required by the home team as New Ash Green elected to field. The opening bowling pairing of Mark Klus and Richard Slatem (totalling 30 years old) swung and seamed the ball around with great aplomb and the only thing missing from the perfect bowling spells was the catching of the NAG fielders.

Five catches (including two in one ball) went down in the Borden innings before edges started to go to Andy Mayers. His three catches and some expert support bowling by Vic Mayers, James Hewitt and spinners Neil Howick and Matt Payne meant that Borden scored 82 before their 9th wicket fell. With only 10 men it meant an extended tea for all those involved.

As the sausages and pizza was digested Andy’s Payne and Mayers strapped on their protective equipment and strode to the much more batsman friendly wicket. Andy Payne has long prided himself as being the "Best cutter in the Club" and he proved this as he slashed, edged and snicked his way to an unbeaten 45. The ever-unassuming Mayers however was magisterial as he drove, pulled and backward swept his score up to an unbeaten 41.

The game finished at 5.57pm and New Ash Green recorded a rare 10 wicket win.

Captain James Hewitt said after the game "The toss was vital today, it would have been a very different game had it come up heads. I am pleased that everyone either batted or bowled, except for Steve Glover that is. However he is a talisman in the field and his sheer presence brings an extra bonus to the team." (Editor's Note: Shame Steve isn't on-line - I'm sure he'd be comforted by these words of encouragement! And what did Liam Slatem do?)

Lordswood III v New Ash Green II
Saturday 15th July 2001

Friendly Game - 40 overs per side

Lordswood 173 all out
New Ash Green 177-3
New Ash Green won by 7 wickets.

Another day without league cricket, and the number of people taking the weekend off reduced the 2nd XI to something more closely resembling an Under 15 XI, a problem reflected in the Lordswood side. Indeed it is likely that less than half the players taking part in the match would have been eligible to buy drinks in the bar afterwards. Consequent problems with the transport arrangements, which had at one point looked like leaving 6 players and their kit to get into a Fiat Punto, left New Ash Green with only eight players at the start of the match. This hadn't looked likely to be a problem when everyone arriving at the ground had passed through flooded streets nearby, but by some miracle all but the lightest shower had missed Lordswood, and by the time the home team had won the toss and elected to bat the ground was bone dry.

Similarly to the first XI (see report above) New Ash Green's opening attack of Matthew Scanlan and Jon Brandling-Harris had a combined age of 30. Also similarly to the first XI they were not supported by their fielders, but in this case it was because three of the fielders were missing rather than dropping catches! Lordswood's openers, after a tentative start, soon settled in, but they obviously decided to pick on the oldest man in the New Ash Green field Matthew Quantrill, the only over thirty in the side. Unfortunately for them over 30 is only old in relation to the average age in this match, and two direct hits and another throw straight to the keeper resulted in two tight appeals turned down and the running out of Ravi Purohit for 2.

After that early setback Matthew Iles and Alan Payne played more sensibly and began dispatching the loose balls well, seeing off the openers and the first change bowlers, including first team opening bowler Andy Cox (playing as a specialist car-driver!) who went for 18 runs in 5 overs without taking a wicket. When Iles and Payne had put on 98 in good time New Ash Green were reduced to bowling their likely opening batting pair of Darren Phillips and Quantrill. Dominic Adolphe, New Ash Green's eleventh player had finally arrived to pronounce with great authority that this was a total shambles, and Lordswood were looking set for a score somewhere in the region of 250. Suddenly out of the blue Darren Phillips turned a ball which Payne had been trying to cut and bowled him for 41. From then on the game changed, with Iles caught on the boundary by Andy Cox for 69 (his maiden half century) a catch which the fielder managed to drop while sliding under it and clasp between his thighs. The rest of the batting offered little resistance, with Phillips taking 4-29 in 6 overs and Quantrill 4-21 in 5. Matthew Scanlan returned to take a deserved wicket to wrap the innings for 173 with more than 6 overs remaining.

Dominic Adolphe and Kieran Hoddinott had apparently decided to play tip and run when they opened the innings, but what would have been suicidal running for anyone else looked easy for Adolphe as he comfortably completed a run when the ball was hit straight to 2nd slip. With some powerful hitting from Adolphe the opening pair had put on 62 by the eleventh over when Dominic 'a good batsman never loses his stumps, man' Adolphe was clean bowled for 28 attempting one big hit too many. Apart from one little flurry in the middle Kieran Hoddinott slowed down considerably after this, but after Duncan Shannon had gone for 6 Christian Hoddinott kept things moving and threatened to overtake his twin brother before he was caught for 31. Kieran in the meantime had crept to his maiden 50, just in time, as Michael Wederell became the third player in the game to get his highest ever score when he came to the crease and finished the game off with a series of powerful strokes, making his unbeaten 28 off just 14 balls, six of them going to the boundary. New Ash Green swept to what at one stage had seemed an unlikely victory by 7 wickets with 5 overs to spare and all their supposedly strongest batsmen still to come.

New Ash Green v Old Pilotonians
Sunday 15th July 2001

Friendly Match

Old Pilotonians 150-6 declared
New Ash Green 151-7
New Ash Green won by 3 wickets.

After losing the toss New Ash Green were put in the field by the skipper of Old Pilotonians (he must have remembered his hundred not out from earlier in the season!!). After great bowling by Andy Harrington, Andy Mayers & Paul Sumner Old Pilotonians struggled to score 40 runs in the first 20 overs. It was Paul Sumner who ripped out the Pilotonians batting - he finished with figures of 10 overs 2 maidens, 4 for 39 ( apparently he's after his brother's position in the league side) Skipper Darren Phillips was able to keep 3 slips and a gully for the first 25 overs of the game due to good bowling from Andy Harrington (12-2-46-0) & Andy Mayers (6-0-12-0). Youngster Robin Wills who was making his debut for the club picked up the vital wicket of the Old Pilotonuans captain when he was on 42, the wicket being even more special than normal as the catch was held by Sharad Bawdekar at long on, even if he did juggle it 3 times before he held onto it. Chris Hoddinott picked up a wicket with his first ball of his only over. 'Golden arm' Phillips declined to bowl himself in this match he is keeping himself fresh for league games.

After tea NAG went out to bat with Andy Mayers & Matt Scanlan opening the batting. The pair put on a partnership of 77 before Scanlan was out for 21. Andy Mayers went on to make an impressive 72 of 72 balls. Paul Sumner made 17 runs which were all score off the inside & outside edges of his bat. It was left up to Phillips (7 not out) to guide his side home for their first win of the season under his captaincy. This completed a 100% successful weekend with all three adult sides winning and both colts sides, though admittedly they won by default!