Saturday 23rd July 2005
Wickham Park v New Ash Green
Saturday 23rd July 2005
Kent League
Match - 100 Overs
Wickham Park (12 points) 229 all out (48.4 overs)
New Ash Green (12 points) 188-8 (44.3 overs)
Match Incomplete.
I only have the briefest of reports from a few phone
conversations, plus the scorecard to go on, but it appears that Wickham Park started well and then were carried to a big
score largely by Glyn Gunning who was eventually out
for 97. James Hewitt has the best figures, 4-52 in 15, and picked up most of
the top order, Andy Cox got 3-64 and plenty of catches seem to have been held. Wickham
Park were
all out just before the end, giving New Ash Green an extra over to make the
runs in. They made a good start, Andy Cox and Vic Mayers
particularly putting on 75 for the 4th wicket, and seem to have been
looking favourites until Vic was out. From the score card the innings seems to have
tailed off badly, but I gather this was in quite heavy rain, and though it
looks on paper as if the rain saved New Ash Green (though with 2 Hoddinotts still to bat could victory have been anything but
certain?) I gather that had the weather remained fine New Ash Green would still
have been favourites. As it is both teams got the same number of bonus points
and come out even, perhaps a fair result in the circumstances. New Ash Green
move out of the bottom six once more, and despite early season doom and gloom
still appear to be able to compete with the teams in the lower part of the
table.
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league table.
Bapchild II v New Ash Green II
Saturday 23rd July 2005
Mid-Kent
League Match - 92 Overs
Bapchild (18 points) 258-4 (46 overs)
New Ash Green (2 points) 136-7 (46 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 122 runs.
Starting with a weak team at selection and
losing two more senior players by Friday evening New Ash Green travelled to Bapchild with 4 colts and 2 more under21s in their side –
had it been a Sunday game they would have picked up maximum bonus points. By
agreement Bapchild batted first, and New Ash Green
started soundly with Paul Sumner and Ben Cooke opening the bowling. Both bowled
well, and both openers could have been out in the first few overs,
one chance dropping inches short of Matthew Quantrill
in the covers and another passing just over Jasper Holliday’s outstretched
hand. The breakthrough seemed to have come in the 8th over when John
Truelove top edged a sweep at Cooke and the catch seemed to be falling well
within Sumner’s grasp at fine leg. In an instant triumph turned to disaster for
New Ash Green as Sumner, with his eyes in the air on the ball, stumbled on the
slightly undulating outfield and fell awkwardly. The catch was missed, but that
was of little concern, as Sumner stayed down in some pain. He tried to carry
on, but it was immediately clear that he could not carry on bowling, and he
soon decided he needed to go to hospital where it was confirmed that he had
fractured his wrist in 2 places. Despite the blow of losing one of their few
experienced players New Ash Green’s young side rose to the occasion superbly. Cooke, Kieran Poole
and Lee Saunders, on his debut, all produced solid spells of bowling and Graeme
Poole contributed his most consistent spell yet. Two weeks previously New Ash
Green had lost to Bapchild primarily because of their
poor fielding, but even with one man missing this was a much improved
performance. Although the openers put on 158 they never looked completely on
top of the bowling, and both might have been out a few times. Graeme Poole
eventually made the breakthrough, bowling Truelove for 63 as he attempted to
give him the charge to up the scoring rate. Pressed into action in Sumner’s
absence Matthew Quantrill bowled a good spell of slow
medium, taking two wickets, and Poole was
bowling well enough that he might have stayed on had the rules about age limits
not compelled his removal from the attack. Dan Lewsey,
returning to finish at the bottom end eventually removed Lee Cogger who had never looked fluent in making 61, and it was
only in the last few overs that the run rate finally
began to rise, aided by Quantrill being forced to
resort to spin by a groin that was not used to long spells of bowling! In the
end the score only got as high as 258 because of the huge number of extras, 66
in total, as John Howland struggled behind the stumps to cope with the uneven
bounce, being beaten by a number of shooters. All in all from a young side
deprived of their leading bowler so early on it was a remarkably steady
performance, and gave hope for the future, if there is a future for New Ash
Green.
Nonetheless 259 to win was an almost impossible
target, even had Sumner been fit. Without him, the only batsman in the side who
might have been capable of hitting quick runs, the New Ash Green innings was
more a matter of batting practice, but once again the youngsters in the side
rose to the challenge magnificently. Matthew Quantrill
looked initially in good touch, and with Graeme Poole looking very steady in
support they dealt well with the opening bowlers, even taking quite a few runs
off the extremely accurate Barry Wood, a bowler who seldom concedes more than 2
runs an over. Just as Poole was looking
settled he managed to miss a straight one from Steve Botting,
a fate that befell each of the next three batsmen. Lee Saunders looked very
sound on his debut, making 7, Andy Oliver also got of the mark and Dan Lewsey looked in reasonable ouch before he too fell to Botting. Quantrill, meanwhile,
became slightly becalmed, getting little of the strike as extremely defensive
fields gave him singles on a regular basis and his timing somewhat deserted
him. In the end he only faced about two fifths of the balls bowled in the
innings, but perhaps in a match where New Ash Green’s main aim was to give
people a game that was a good thing. Jasper Holliday certainly enjoyed his
share of the strike, making his highest ever score (13) in the biggest
partnership of the innings, 36 for the 6th wicket. Eventually he was
bowled in Wood’s last over on the openers return, when
he salvaged his economy rate by bowling 4 maidens. Holliday had posed an
interesting conundrum for the fielding side, as his one attacking shot largely
went in the same area, through mid-wicket, and they found there was a limit to
how many fielders could be in one place at once. Despite a ring of three they
could not catch him – he was eventually bowled by one angled in to off stump.
Ben Cooke followed him, also batting well and making 3, looking as solid an
technically sound as any other batsman in the match, and he was followed by
Kieran Poole, who happily took most of the strike in the last few overs and smacked 7 runs off the last 3 balls, the last a
beautiful straight drive for 3. Quantrill ended up
76*, and New Ash Green were a long way short of their target, but performed
well. All the batsmen got off the mark, and there was no collapse, no one
lasting less than 8 balls, most rather longer. All the young players looked to
have potential for the future, none were overawed by the occasion, and the team
spirit was excellent – all are keen to play regularly to the end of the season.
The 2nds may not win many more games, but they should be able to carry on
enjoying their cricket for the rest of the year at least.
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HERE for full Scorecard
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league table.
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