Saturday 6^th May & Sunday 7^th May 2006

New Ash Green v Upchurch
Saturday 6^th May 2006

Kent League Match - 100 Overs

New Ash Green (5 points) 123 all out (49.3 overs)
Upchurch (9 points) 21-1 (13 overs)
Match Incomplete.

Full report hoped for from anyone present at the match who would care to write one. However it appears that Upchurch won the toss and elected to field first. New Ash Green tried out last year’s anti-Headley ploy of sending in Kieran Hoddinott to open, but this year Headley got him cheaply. Matt Scanlan made a hard fought 12, and Andy Cox also battled hard to be top scorer with 34. Luke Bowden, on his league debut, appears to have been the only batsman on either side to bat fluently, but was beaten by Headley before he could make a big score. Most of the rest chipped in a bit, with Upchurch’s three seam bowlers being very tight and young spinner Michael Hales again being more expensive, but taking wickets.

123 in 50 overs looks a bit of a struggle, but with light rain falling and a slow outfield conditions clearly weren’t easy and Upchurch were also struggling to score in their reply, making just 21-1 from the 13 overs bowled before the rain ended what might have been a very tight match. It seems slightly perverse that the points score from the match leaves Upchurch top of the table and New Ash Green bottom, but such are the unfortunate effects of rain rules.

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Click HERE for latest league table.

High Halstow II v New Ash Green II
Saturday 6^th May 2006

Mid-Kent League Match - 92 Overs

New Ash Green (0 points) 46 all out (21.3 overs)
High Halstow (20 points) 50-0 (8.1 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 10 wickets.

In last season’s league opening match High Halstow, with no 1^st XI game, had a suspiciously strong XI out against New Ash Green, but this year an at least equally strong XI was a genuine 2^nd team as their first XI have picked up a number of new players. The bowling was consistently accurate at a decent pace, as shown by the fact that 8 of the New Ash Green wickets were bowled. There were some flashes hope, not least in the displays of league debutants David Baker and Matt Dehaney, but despite the strength of the bowling attack New Ash Green were disappointed to score quite so few. Halstow’s batting was equally effective, and despite some good bowling from Pete Burke and a few useful balls from Graeme Poole the match was soon over.

Whilst the match performance may need a veil drawn over it, what followed was much more entertaining and promising. A 16 over beer match saw High Halstow, with a slightly changed line up giving some of their colts a go and resting the few who had done much in the first game, racing to 147-5 against an attack using all 11 players. In reply Matt Bushe started quickly then fell, making way for a spectacular assault by Arron Ward. He has shown flashes of batting ability throughout his New Ash Green career, but here he let fly with a number of powerful shots all around the ground before eventually falling for 63. Matt Dehaney then carried on the good work, also promising some ‘proper’ runs to come, and with some generous help from the fielding side 17 were made from the last over, including 4 made up of 2 and 2 overthrows from the last ball and the match was tied. A fitting end to a game played in excellent spirit and ensuring rather more people got some sort of cricket than the first match had allowed for.

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New Ash Green v Albury
Sunday 7^th May 2006

Friendly Match

Albury 206-7 dec. (39 overs)
New Ash Green 207-9 (38.3 overs)
New Ash Green won by 1 wicket.

Its very early days, but this could already be the match of the season. It all started turgidly, with the previous days rain having dampened both the pitch and some of the enthusiasm for cricket. Albury had travelled from Hertfordshire with only 9 men, two having failed to show up for their meet. They recruited Kieran Poole, fresh from a colts game, and having negotiated the toss with Jasper Holliday elected to bat. John Harley, in his first appearance for New Ash Green, bowled a very steady opening spell, starting with 4 maidens and conceding only 5 runs in his 7 overs. Luke Shaw also produced a tidy opening spell, going for 9 in 4 overs, and when the batsmen tried to open up against Graeme Poole they only succeeded in finding fielders as he took 2-14 in 4 overs. Lee Saunders took another and Joe Elisak had one caught on the boundary. This brought together the key partnership for Albury of Keith and Dave Wheatley, Keith being a former Minor County batsman and clearly still very capable. Nonetheless with a very slow run rate they were under pressure, and Marc Klus, bowling spin, had both in some difficulty initially. However both survived and Keith especially soon opened up, with the result that the later bowlers’ figures were not quite so impressive as the earlier ones despite the fact that there were some very good balls bowled. The bowlers were somewhat let down by the fielding, particularly by the captain Jasper Holliday who put down three catches of widely varying degrees of difficulty, much to the vocal delight of his Albury acquaintances. Matt Scanlan, bowling his off spin with considerably greater accuracy than at the start of the previous season, accounted for both brothers, having Dave caught on the boundary and Keith eventually bowled for 95. There was time for Matt Bushe to pick up a deserved wicket, to a second catch by Joe Elisak before tea and the declaration with the score 206-7.

A target of over 200 should have been well beyond New Ash Green with a slow pitch and slow outfield, and when Scott McKechnie and Luke Shaw both perished in the third over with the score on 6 things looked grim. Lee Saunders steadied the ship though, and at the other end Matthew Quantrill was picking off some short balls to get the scoreboard moving. Initially it was hard work, but as the runs mounted up both batsmen started to time their shots, Saunders being impressive with his drives on the up over the covers. A variety of bowlers and styles came and went without success, and the only threat seemed to be the dark clouds which reduced visibility greatly. The forecast heavy rain never did fall though, and the required run rate, which had been approaching 7 as the twenty overs started was falling to much more manageable levels when Albury recalled opening bowler Josh Wheatley, removed after his initial double strike. At first he was no more successful on his return than the other bowlers, but just as it looked as if New Ash Green were cruising to victory Quantrill toe ended a widish one to the keeper for 83 to end a partnership of 123. A tired Saunders was bowled shortly afterwards for 40, and when Marc Klus was LBW for 4 the pendulum seemed to have swung firmly back towards Albury. From now on, though, the game swung back and forwards with dizzying pace. Matt Scanlan took 20 from a tiring Josh Wheatley’s 7^th over, which included two head high full tosses pulled for 4, but the change of bowling brought two immediate wickets, John Harley and Joe Elisak both perishing to Wheeler. With Graeme Poole able to survive, but unable to score, Scanlan was under pressure. He picked up enough runs to keep New Ash Green in the chase, and had a piece of luck when he was caught on the boundary only for a no ball to be called for another high full toss. In the same over he took 13 runs and left just 23 needed off 4, but when a single came from the first ball of Dave Wheatley’s next and the remaining 5 were dots the rate required was back to 7+. Pushing hard to keep Scanlan on strike first Graeme Poole and then Jasper Holliday (without facing) were run out by direct hits trying to take risky seconds. The first of these came from Luke Shaw, who had come on as substitute fielder for an injured Albury player and had earlier held a catch in the covers as well. This brought last man Matt Bushe to the crease with 21 needed from 15 balls. Initially Scanlan played defensively, but the last ball of the over was too tempting to leave and he pulled it to the backward square boundary. 17 needed from two overs, no.11 facing. Bushe, however, had expressed confidence in his batting this season, and was not daunted by the task before him, and having survived the first 3 balls solidly he pushed one into a gap on the legside for two and then drove through the covers for 4, before the last ball of the over flicked his pads and ran away for legbyes. The scoreboard showed 9 to win as Wheeler started the last over. Scanlan had been timing the ball superbly, though, and pulled the first ball away for 4 again. The second was hit away, but as he set out hoping for two it was well fielded, and the second was never on. The field closed in, trying to keep Bushe on strike, but he responded in style, smashing the ball high over mid-wicket for a one bounce 4. The last pair had added 21 runs in just 12 balls to secure a one wicket win, Scanlan left stranded on 48* and Bushe making a magnificent 10* from 7 balls. It was a great end to a good game, and a magnificent run chase in difficult conditions.

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