Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th July
2005
Macknade v New Ash Green
Saturday 9th July 2005
Kent League
Match - 100 Overs
New Ash Green
(5 points) 154-9 (48 overs)
Macknade (16 points) 155-7 (43.5 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 3 wickets.
The following report has been received from Mr. Hewitt, which
almost raises more questions than it answers! For the full story try asking
someone who was there….
Saturdays game looks close, but
if the truth be known, I think Macknade were always
favourites, although they didn't always look comfortable.
The toss was massive - Coxie
lost, it was a WET wicket. They'd had lots of rain in the week. We batted. It
was very tough to start with, Kezza did very well
sticking with Coxie who was his normal difficult to
shift self (Batting as well as his opinions!!)
Coxie made 45, wickets came
and went, Dukey and Pittsy were magnificent between the wickets. 150ish was a
good score.
They started slowly, Coxie
was almost unplayable. They had an opening batsman who was big strong and had
apparently played with Marcus Trescothick in
The Macknade 2nd XI
arrived home from their game, barracked Plumb, Plumb walked off after they
questioned his integrity. There was a bit of a stand off between them and us.
They won, Dukey, Pittsy and
I went to the lovely farm shop opposite the ground. We went home!!
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New Ash Green II v Bapchild
II
Saturday 9th July 2005
Mid-Kent
League Match - 92 Overs
New Ash Green
(3 points) 212-7 (46 overs)
Bapchild (18 points) 213-2 (43.5 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 8 wickets.
Having been unable to raise a side the previous
weekend, and having a number of players away this weekend it was something of a
triumph for New Ash Green to take the field at all. Without an umpire they had
to concede the toss, and were asked to bat first in overcast conditions. The
pitch, though slightly uneven, turned out to have good pace in it, and the
outfield proved to be very quick. With only two established batsmen in the side
New Ash Green had all their eggs in one basket with the opening pair of Quantrill and Payne, against Bapchild’s
established opening attack of Botting and Chittenden. The steep bounce early on caused one or two
problems for the batsmen, Quantrill being put down
early on when he failed to get on top of the bounce. It was a hard chance, one
handed to his right at gully, but the culprit, Chris White, subsequently
fielded superbly, saving some 30-40 runs on the cover boundary, and in light of
that it was perhaps surprising that he dropped it. Quantrill,
never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, subsequently made very few
mistakes, while Payne, as is his wont, launched some early drives over the top,
soon scattering the fielders. For a change, though, having driven the fielders
back he calmed down and concentrated. Oddly it was Quantrill
who scored the runs, pushing through the gaps and often being rewarded with
boundaries on the quick outfield. Bapchild were so
concerned with preventing Payne from hitting over the top that the field
repeatedly came in for the faster scoring batsman, and the Bapchild
fielders were caught very much by surprise when Quantrill
reached his 50 first. A good scoring rate of over 4 an over was carried past
the half way stage, and had there been much else in the way of experienced
batting New Ash Green would have been looking for a total over 250. As it was
the opening pair made the first century opening stand of the season before
Payne lost patience and tried to step back to Roy Lincoln, only to be bowled by
one that shot a bit. Graeme Poole soon followed in a similar manner, though he
managed one good hit over extra cover for 4, to the surprise of the fielders.
Paul Sumner managed 15 before being LBW to the same bowler and Alan Carter hit
3 good fours to keep Quantrill company
for a while, but went aiming a big heave at young leg spinner Luke McKay. With
time running out Quantrill started to look to make
the big hits, but good fielding, particularly by Chris White repeatedly kept
him to singles. Trying to steal a quick run John Howland was run out by a
direct hit, and after a useful 7 and some good running Jasper Holliday was
unlucky to also be run out by a direct hit from the boundary. Keith Bushell was able to keep Quantrill
company as he started to find the boundary with some
more unorthodox shots, reverse sweeping for a one bounce 4 directly over the
head of backward point and then bring up his century with a six over square
leg. McKay, having bowled tidily, lacked the experience to deal with being
attacked at the end and conceded 31 runs in his last 2 overs,
but Lee Cogger had better luck at the other end,
eventually getting Quantrill caught and bowled for
112 to the second last ball of the innings, miscuing as he tried to hit into
the gap at deep extra cover. Young Kieran Poole entertained the crowd on his
league debut by dancing all round the crease before missing the one ball he
faced, and New Ash Green ended up with 212-7, a score well in excess of what
they might have expected on recent form and with so many players missing.
With Keith Bushell
and Paul Sumner both preferring the same end Matt Bushe
was pressed into service as an opening bowler, and he and Sumner put the Bapchild openers under some pressure. Sumner’s height
produced some awkward bounce with the hard new ball, and this may have played a
part in both batsmen apparently being eager to be at the bowler’s end in the
first over, only a misfield saving them from what
should have been an easy run out. That, though, encapsulated the story of the
innings. Sumner beat the bat a number of times without any luck, Bushe had both openers dropped in the slips, and aggressive
running between the wickets was successful due to a lack of sharp fielders.
Keith Bushell eventually had Lee Cogger
caught behind, but Chris White after an uncertain start played a string of
powerful shots to anything loose to race to 50. Ben Cooke also beat the bat
several times without reward, and Graeme Poole showed promise for the future
with some pace from a good high action, but all without further breakthroughs.
Eventually the aggressive running, which had produced a good percentage of Bapchild’s runs, brought their downfall when captain John Heatley called a
surprised White for a run on a misfield and Alan
Carter’s gentle throw to the stumps saw him run out by some distance. With Bapchild still under some pressure from the run rate Paul
Sumner returned in partnership with Andy Payne, whose left arm spin produced
some astonishing turn and bounce on occasions. Somehow, though, neither bowler
managed to produce a wicket, despite beating the bat possibly more times in the
last 8 overs than the Bapchild
bowlers managed in the whole innings. Bapchild got
home with just over two overs to spare, but it was a
far closer result than New Ash Green may have expected in the circumstances. In
the end they could claim to have at least matched their opponents for batting
and bowling, but fell well short on fielding. Bapchild’s
positive running between the wickets might have been prevented had New Ash
Green had a couple of lively young fielders, and without the runs they were
able to pick up there Bapchild would have been under
far more pressure to take risks elsewhere, and a different outcome might well
have been the result. Still for New Ash Green to have played and performed
respectably was a triumph in itself, and the spirit of the team suggested there
is plenty of life in the club yet.
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league table.
New Ash Green II v Old Tiffinians
Sunday 10th July 2005
Friendly Match
40 overs
Old Tiffinians 238-8 (40 overs)
New Ash Green 172-7 (40 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 66 runs.
A full and
frank account of the Sunday game has also been received from the day’s captain,
James Hewitt Esq.:
“Sunday
- They scored lots, we didn't!!! Ben Cooke smashed Pittsy
back over his head for a straight 4.”
I
hope to at least be able to add the actual scores at a later date!
A
rather fuller report has now been volunteered by Hayley
Cooke, as follows:
Skippers, James Hewitt and Andrew Pitts,
decided that it was to be a 40 over match in which each bowler was allowed a
maximum of 9 overs. The toss was won by Pitts who
decided to put NAG+HCC in to the field and the, by then, sweltering heat. Ravishankar and Campion opened
the batting for Old Tiffs while Mickey Sumner and Pete Burke opened the bowling
for NAG. Ravishankar wasted no time in hitting NAG
for regular boundaries until he was caught by Mickey off Pete’s bowling for 29,
which left Old Tiffs at 34 for 1 off 6.
Small,
the Old Tiffs’ keeper was next to the wicket. He batted steadily giving himself
an 83 run partnership with Campion, until he was
caught by Scholar off James for 44. Kinstler came to
the wicket just as Campion began to take advantage of
the slower pace of Ben Cooke’s bowling and began hitting him for boundaries, to
the dislike of booing spectators. However, this spell did not last long as he
was caught by Mike Wedderall, off Keith’s bowling,
scoring a respectable 43 runs; Keith joining James, having replaced Ben in the
bowling. Clews was the new batsman in but his first
partnership of the innings was cut short when Kinstler
was bowled by Keith for 6 runs. Old Tiffs were now 137 for 4 off 28 overs.
As the temperature
increased yet again, Banerjee joined Clews at the
wicket and Ben Cooke returned to bowl from the opposite end. The two bowlers made
a good team as Keith took the wickets, (he caught and bowled Banerjee for 5,) whilst Ben managed to keep the run rate
fairly low. This was until his last over when again,
the batsmen took advantage of his pace; Clews hitting him for 2 fours and 2
sixes. This meant Ben’s figures ended as 6 – 1 – 52 – 0 and Old Tiffs were 174
for 5 off 32. Keith ended his spell with the best figures of the day, 9 – 1 –
43 – 3.The next 2 batsmen to the wicket did not last long, Boustead
was bowled by Mickey Sumner (9 – 4 – 28 – 1), who replaced Ben and Crick was
caught by Scholar off James’ second spell.
This bought the Old
Tiffs’ skipper and NAG Saturday player, Andrew Pitts to the wicket. There had
been numerous good-natured threats and suggestions made, before the game, about
who was going to get Pitts out and how. However, all these were pushed to one
side when Pitts’ partner Clews, decided to do it for us. Pitts faced his first
and only ball and defended it, shouting “NO” to Clews. Clews, however, thought
there was a run and so sprinted down the track, past the still stationary
Pitts, so that Pitts was run out for a golden duck, at the opposite end, by
Mike Wedderall. When Pitts returned to the silent yet
grinning spectators, he claimed that he had never left his crease and so should
not have been given out. At this point he was told by his fellow team mates to
read what it said in the scorebook…
Bates was the last man
to reach the crease and had a 7-ball partnership with Clews. Both batsmen were
not out; Bates for 5 runs and Clews for an impressive 79 off 49 balls. Pete
Burke’s figures ended 9 – 0 – 69 – 1 and James Hewitt’s ended 7 – 0 – 33 – 2.
At the end of the
innings Old Tiffs had reached a score of 238 for 8 wickets.
At
the beginning of the second innings, the temperature appeared to have cooled
down but only slightly as NAG realised that a run rate of 5.98 was needed to
win. Simon Scholar and Graeme Poole opened the batting for NAG whilst Crick and
Pitts opened the bowling for Old Tiffs. It was a fairly slow but solid start
from both batsmen leading to a partnership of 32, when Pitts bowled
Bates
was brought in to the attack when Mike Wedderall
reached the wicket, as NAG’s number 4 batsmen. The Wedderall and Browning partnership only lasted 3 overs, however, when Browning was caught by Ravishankar off Bates for 29. Meanwhile, Boustead had been replaced by the medium paced Banerjee, leaving him with the figures 7 – 2 – 14 – 1. The
NAG skipper, James Hewitt now joined Wedderall at the
wicket. Banerjee did not take long to have an impact
on the NAG batting as Mike Wedderall was caught off
him by Ravishankar, leaving NAG at 110 for 4 off 28 overs.
Phil
Markham went to the crease next making a partnership of 25 with Hewitt and
hitting a 6, before being bowled by Kinstler. (Kinstler having replaced Bates whose figures had ended at 9
– 1 – 55 – 1.) Mickey Sumner was next in and shared a 3-ball partnership with
Hewitt, as James was out LBW by Banerjee for 19. Banerjee ended his spell there at 6 – 0 – 17 – 2.
Ben Cooke came to the
wicket, intent on facing Pitts’ bowling and hitting him for a boundary.
However, he had to make do with Kinstler and Banerjee at first. Kinstler only
bowled 2 overs in the end and took 1 for 17. At which
point Afzal came in to the attack. Ben’s partnership
with Mickey lasted 4 overs and was worth 16 runs when
Mickey was given out as stumped. Mickey, however, was convinced he was in and
was even told by Small, the Old Tiffs’ wicket keeper that he had been in. The
umpire did not call him back though and so Pete Burke joined Ben in the middle,
as Pitts returned to the bowling.
Ben
defended the first 5 balls that Pitts bowled at him and even managed to get 2
byes off them. It was the last ball of the over when Ben made his first
statement to Pitts as he hit him for 4 down past square leg. The best however,
was yet to come, as in Pitts’ final over, and in fact the final over of the match,
Ben hit Pitts for 4 again but this time straight over his head.
At
the end of the match, Afzal’s figures were 3 – 0 – 16
– 1 and Pitts’ were 7 – 3 – 15 – 1. Both batsmen were
not out, Pete Burke ended on 9 and Ben ended on 17. NAG’s
score ended at 172 for 7 off 40 overs meaning they lost by 66 runs but a great
time was still had by all.