Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League: week 8 round-up

The status quo remains at the top of the table with all three at the top winning and collecting 20 points each, writes Errol Valentine.

Lordswoodmade it two wins from two as they entertainedTunbridge Wellsat Martin Grove. The visitors may have regretted choosing to bat first as they came up againstFabian Cowdreyat his best with the ball.

Cowdreytook 6-35 as the Tunbridge Wells batting rather fell apart. Only Craig Williams with 61 and Nick Selman 36 scored over 30 as the Wells were bowled out for 173 in the 49th over.

Lyndon Lockhart began the chase well with a useful 56 leaving it withCowdreyto do most of the rest with an unbeaten 45 as Lordswood raced home for the loss of five wickets with almost 30 overs to spare.

Bromley elected to bat first on a very dry Foxgrove Road wicket at Beckenham. It would be fair to say their innings never took off and despite a stylish 28 early on by Richard Selvey-Clinton they soon found themselves floundering at 67-6.

Beckenham appeared to lose focus for a period, as James Balmforth reached 30, Shavawn Cunningham 26 and Matt Horder 20 helping Bromley reach 145 all out after 52 overs.

Johan Malcolm proved hard to get away throughout ending with figures of 4-38. It would be hard to defend 145 and so it was to prove as Alex Blake made a well accumulated 48 and Will MacVicar an unbeaten 39 as the home side past the post in the 36th over with just three down.

Blackheath clinched their 20 points as they travelled to Manor Way Bexley. The visitors, electing to bat made steady early progress with opener Dipyan Paul anchoring up their innings with a valuable 78.

Latter contributions of a breezy 37 from Duncan Willets and 20 by Warren Lee assisted Blackheath to a par total of 225 as they were bowled out in the 54th over. Bexley will have been disappointed by their below par batting display.

Tanveer Sikander was the main cause of their woes taking 4-49 and despite a half century by Sam Heazlett and an unbeaten 31 towards the end by Harry Furze Bexley did not really threaten to reach their target, being bowled out 48 runs short for 177 with nine overs remaining. A solid all round performance by Blackheath.

Defeats for the bottom two leave bothFolkestoneandSandwichlevel on 48 points and a heavy loss for Bromley takes them into the bottom three but they have a twenty point cushion from the relegation spots.

Hartley's all-round strength and depth proved just too much for Sandwich as the League leaders travelled to The Butts, close to the East coast.

Hartley elected to bat and made a bright start with James Hockley reaching 51 and Dan Stickels 48 but Sandwich then held things tight for the remainder of the Hartley innings restricting them to 194-8 from their 55 overs.

James Thompson held the middle order together with a hard fought unbeaten 28. Sandwich also found runs hard to come by.

Kent's England Under-19 wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Davies made 25 up front, Jacobus Maritz 48 in the middle, but wickets were falling regularly with three each for Dan Redwood and James Hockley.

James Thompson took 4-29 and despite some resistance from Liam Evans with an unbeaten 25, Sandwich were bowled out for a disappointing 140 with almost eleven overs remaining.

Folkestone had a miserable visit to Sevenoaks where they were soundly outplayed in all departments and heavily defeated by the Vine. Electing to bat, the Vine made hay whilst the sun shone!

Kent Cricket Academy scholar Zak Crawley made 77, Michael Barber 71 and Nick Sale 45 not out as they raced to 298-7 from their allocation of overs with the Folkestone bowlers all returning fairly expensive figures.

Sadly for them their batting fared even worse as Tom Parsons and Evert Becker bowled unchanged for the full length of their dismal 18.5 overs innings. Becker took 5-27 and Parsons 5-43 as they routed Folkestone, only three players reaching double figures as they capitulated to 75 all out, providing a comprehensive 233 victory for Sevenoaks Vine.

WEEK 8 RESULTS – 27 JUNE 2015

Beckenham 149-3 beat Bromley 145 by 7 wickets

Bexley 177 lost to Blackheath 225 by 48 runs

Lordswood 177-5 beat Tunbridge Wells 173 by 5 wickets

Sandwich Town 140 lost to Hartley 194-8 by 54 runs

Sevenoaks Vine 298-7 beat Folkestone 75 by 223 runs