Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League 2017, week 8
Saturday 24th June 2017
Beckenham head the table for the first time this season after a 65-run victory against Bexley to leapfrog Sandwich Town.
On a slightly slow wicket runs were hard to come by all afternoon. Beckenham chose to bat and opener Alex Senn was perhaps the only batsman of the day to play reasonably fluently for his 42 early in the day in a innings where only ten boundaries were hit in both innings.
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Will MacVicar battled hard for his valuable 58 from 99 balls unusually with only three boundaries.
All the Bexley bowlers bowled well for the conditions and fielded well, in particular Stanley Wells (3-24) and Adam Riley (3-28). Joss Siddall made a valuable 25 to help Beckenham to 175 when bowled out at the end of the 49th over.
It was a below par total under normal conditions but batting was clearly not easy on the day. And so Bexley found, initially against the opening attack of Tabish Khan and Will MacVicar.
MacVicar sent back the top three with just 26 on the board in a hostile opening burst. Matt Cross was brilliantly run out by Khan for 12, now 39-4 and the game was turning.
MacVicar finished his spell with two more wickets and ended with the excellent figures of 5-31 from ten on the trot and Bexley now on 54-6. Siddall ened with conceding just eleven runs from eight overs.
Adam Senn then bowled 7 overs and took three for 18. Tabish Khan was unlucky to just pick up the one wicket for 21 runs; his pace beat the bat on many occasions. Bexley could only manage 110 all out.
Meanwhile Sandwich dropped from top spot as they were beaten at the Rectory Field by Blackheath. George Wells led the way with a useful 89 and with Tanweer Sikander adding 48 and Richard Fleming 43 the home side posted 258-8 at the half way stage. Skipper Matthew Van Poppell greatly assisted in restricting Blackheath with excellent figures of 4-46 from his ten.
Blackheath soon got amongst the Sandwich top order and at 82-5 the game was under Blackheath’s control. A spirited 50 from keeper Rory Smith kept faint Sandwich hopes alive. A rain break had altered the Sandwich target under Duckworth Lewis to 248 but they were to end 40 short, Shjib Ali and Warren Lee taking three apiece.
There were runs aplenty at Culvey Close and Morghew Park where both home sides romped to victory.
Tenterden skipper Ben Price scored a magnificent 224 not out from 123 balls having been asked to bat by visitors Lordswood. Chris Vernon also scored 60 and Jacobus Du Plooy an unbeaten 76 in their massive total of 369-1.
Needless to say, there were some expensive bowling figures. Sam Weller took three early wickets and with three also falling cheaply at the other end, the game was as good as over when Fabian Cowdrey, 29, was the sixth to fall with the score on just 88 and Ranjit Singh cleaned out the lower order with 3-36 leaving a 187-run win for Tenterden.
Sevenoaks Vine, in much need of a victory, posted a seemingly decent total of 309-7 as they won the toss at Hartley. Zack Crawley made 77 and Harrison Smyth 57 in the middle order but it was an explosive unbeaten 91 from just 50 balls by Oliver Howick at number seven that took them past the 300 mark.
However, this proved a total well below par as despite the loss of a wicket at 22, this was to be the sole success in the field for the Vine as Dominic Hendricks scored a terrific 154 from 104 balls and Richard Selvey-Clinton an impressive 135 and Hartley raced home with 40 balls to spare.
Holmesdale’s miserable season without victory continued at they travelled to the Nevill where they invited hosts Tunbridge Wells to bat.
Their innings was steady Nicholas Sale scoring 54, Marcus O’Riordan 51 and Michael Waller an unbeaten 64 and they accumulated 218-5 in an innings reduced to 47 overs.
David Smith took 3-30 and made serious inroad to the Holmesdale top order and they were soon in deep trouble at 76-6 and did not recover being bowled out for just 113. Former Kent academy scholar Marcus O’Riordan also did damage, taking 3-22 from his allocation.