Deal (20 points) 260-5 (46 overs)
New Ash Green (2 points) 94 all out (25.3 overs)
New Ash Green lost by 166 runs

Losing the toss and having to bowl first on Deal's excellent batting strip was not an ideal start for New Ash Green, and although Vic Mayers was economical neither he nor Mick Sumner could prevent Deal putting on 117 for the first wicket. The middle of the innings brought hope for the visitors, with Paul Sumner and Andy Mayers taking two wickets each, Mayers also being reasonably economical. However much as their second team had done in the first match of the season Deal were able to accelerate at the end and produce some horrible looking bowling stats, with only a run out interrupting their progress at the end.

The target of 261 was a tough one, but getting some sort of decent score shouldn't have been beyond New Ash Green. Desperately short of confidence and form, though, their batting struggled early on. Andy Mayers was again top scorer with 38, and was supported in the middle order by firstly Vic Mayers and then Ian Davies, finally having a little luck with the bat. It was too little, too late, though, and the tail again subsided for a disappointing total. Having now played three of the strongest sides in successive weeks New Ash Green have a run of games against less strong teams, and a chance to regain some pride and prove they are not as bad as results suggest.

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New Ash Green (20 points) 174-5 (46 overs)
Deal (3 points) 85 all out (31.2 overs)
New Ash Green won by 89 runs

A lot of rain in the week and a wicket that had consequently only been prepared on the morning of the game meant this was a crucial toss to win. However while many things have been going right for Matthew Quantrill this year, coin tossing is not one of them and Deal hesitated only briefly (knowing three of their team were lost on route and they were already one short due to a last minute drop out) before choosing to bowl first. They may have hesitated even longer had they known the missing car would not arrive until the second over had been bowled, but their players were on the pitch before New Ash Green's openers could take much advantage. This was not as strong a Deal side as had played the opening fixture of the season, while New Ash Green were closer to full strength, especially in the bowling department, but in the bowler friendly conditions openers Francis and Mitchell were a handful. An all run four off the second ball, followed by a three later in the over were a sign of the hard work to come (there were 14 3's in the innings, more than there were boundaries) but Matthew Quantrill and Lee Saunders seemed relatively comfortable till Saunders was pinned in front of the stumps by one that cut back viciously from Francis. Karl Bartlett worked hard till he was bowled, before Matt Clark on his league debut was a touch unlucky to be LBW first ball to one that he had edged. John Howland was also bowled, but Matt Bushe showed his new found confidence with the bat in helping to see off the openers before edging the second ball from one of the change bowlers. At 61-5 more than half way through the innings things were looking perilous, but Dan Lewsey and Matthew Quantrill are very much the not out specialists this season, and they stuck to their task well. Initially they steadied the ship, then gradually increased the run rate, exposing Deal's missing 4th bowler by taking 63 from ten overs of the fourth and fifth bowlers. Francis returning for his last two overs slowed them slightly, but Quantrill managed to take a four from his last ball, then with three balls left of the innings straight drove and cut two more fours to bring up his hundred. Lewsey finished 31* and the pair managed their second century partnership of the season, having put on 124 for the very first wicket of the year. Indeed had Quantrill managed to hit the final ball of the innings for four they would have set a new club record for the sixth wicket.

In conditions that were still bowler friendly (though the pitch had played remarkably well in the circumstances) 174 was a very respectable total, and knowing their bowling resources were deeper than their batting New Ash Green had real hopes at tea that they could pull off a major upset against the league leaders. Initially Deal's openers looked very solid, but in the third over John Harley struck with a well pitched up ball that trapped Toon LBW. The number three, Ryan Taylor, looked an impressive batsman, but after two powerful drives he fell for Harley's bad ball, managing to top edge the leg side full toss gently in the air to the safe hands of Matt Bushe in the gully. This brought together the pairing of Deal skipper Frank Packman, who had made an unbeaten 100 in the reverse fixture and Nick Francis who smashed his way to 58 off just 44 balls in that game. It was a great relief, then, when Francis nicked his first ball straight to the keepers gloves, and a greater disappointment when neither he nor the umpire seemed moved by the appeals. However neither batsman was finding it as easy to make runs in these conditions as they had done at Deal, and despite a couple of powerful swings by Francis New Ash Green were still feeling in control. Six overs after getting Francis the first time Harley seemed to have him again when there were two very distinct sounds as a leg side ball popped up in the air and was pouched by Quantrill behind the stumps, but although the umpire seemed slightly more interested this time he still failed to respond. Francis's reprieve was short lived this time, as there was no doubt about the ball coming off the bat a couple of balls later – it flew straight to mid-wicket where Matt Clark pouched it confidently. This success was followed by two for Graeme Poole, as Clark took another in the covers and a beautiful ball bowled the next batsman. Packman was still in , looking sound but not finding run scoring easy, and the new bat, Josh Erskine never looked comfortable. Remarkably he managed to survive for 31 balls without scoring, while the score advanced slowly, but Deal fell further and further behind the required rate. With the openers off Keith Bushell produced a rather more economical spell than he had at Deal, going for just ten runs in 8 overs. Lee Saunders, meanwhile, troubled both batsmen with his pace, and the pressure of trying to up the rate eventually induced a misjudgement from Packman, who tried a quick single to John Clack and was comfortably run out. Erskine eventually fell to Saunders for a lengthy duck, and Clack took the last two wickets in 8 balls, with Deal just managing to scrape their way to one batting bonus point thanks mainly to their umpires being considerably harsher on wides than New Ash Green's had been. A remarkable win over the (now ex-) league leaders, and an inconceivable turn around from the trouncing in the first game of the season, it is a result that all but guarantees safety from relegation for the second team.

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Earlswood 257-4 dec. (42 overs)
New Ash Green 95-7 (38 overs)
Match Drawn

Against strong opposition this was a rather disappointing fielding performance from New Ash Green. The Earlswood openers started off aggressively and put the ball in the air on a regular basis, but catches were put down whenever they were offered, and the banter between the fielders strayed into the negative and destructive. Adam Reeves eventually made the breakthrough, Elliott Harris proving the exception to the rule about drops, and Harris repeated the feat soon afterwards to remove the second opener from Matt Bushe's bowling. Bushe himself showed why he is the season's leading catcher by holding one in the gully, but apart from a run out and a retired hurt that was the limit of New Ash Green's success. Earlswood lost the initiative somewhat, though, by batting on for the full two and a half hours, well past the stage where they had a winning score. This did give the opportunity for James Porter to have a bowl, and he turned a couple of (very slow) leg breaks a considerable distance, and indeed should have had a maiden wicket but for the last drop of the innings, from something of a sitter.

With no hope of getting the runs New Ash Green simply aimed to play as well as they could. Simon Freeman set a tremendous example, facing up to the hostile pace of Earlswood opener Tom Gale with no sign of fear, despite the ball bouncing round his head at a pace quicker than most of the first team's league opposition will produce – Gale opens the bowling for Old Colfeians. Without scoring many runs Freeman and Poole played the openers with some comfort, though Freeman in the end was less comfortable against the rather more pedestrian pace of Wilford, eventually falling LBW with no foot movement. Matt Clark kept Poole company as the openers carried on, and Wilford became increasingly confused by a series of no balls called against him. Despite his feet clearly being nowhere near the line he didn't query the first three calls at odd times, and it wasn't until he had three in a row called against him that he finally asked what they were for, to be informed that the short leg fielder, who seemed to have a macho desire to get as close to the batsman as possible, was encroaching on the strip. This caused a few moments of confusion as the law was explained to the fielding side, to various degrees of puzzlement and indignation, before the short leg retreated the few inches he had crept in and the game continued. Unfortunately Earlswood's skipper perhaps had too little experience of trying to wheedle a side out, and kept up a barrage of steady seam bowling, broken only by a high quality spinner (another Colfeians first teamer) who was eventually persuaded to bowl off a shorter run and toss the ball up a little. New Ash Green didn't shut up shop, but refused to commit suicide in a pointless pursuit of the distant target. Graeme Poole eventually fell for a steady 20, Matt Bushe made 16 and Lee Saunders also made 16, getting out to the last ball of the match when he tried to reverse sweep and lobbed the ball up to point. It ended up as a distinctly losing draw, but the batting was rather more determined than the fielding, and some team spirit was regained. Earlswood missed the chance to win by sticking to seam until the penultimate over when their skipper finally bowled an over of loopy spin himself and induced a number of attacking shots. Had they tried the tactic 10 overs or more beforehand they might have managed the win that their superiority probably merited, but their timidity in keeping it tight and waiting for New Ash Green to commit suicide probably means they deserved no more than the draw.

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