Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League – week four review
Saturday 30th May 2015
Blackheath retain their lead at the top of the table with a winning draw down at Folkestone but hartley and Beckenham are hot on their heels after wins, writes Errol Valentine.
The outstanding game of the afternoon was played at Martyn Grove, where visitors Beckenham beat their hosts Lordswood by just six runs. There were also wins for Sevenoaks Vine and Tunbridge Wells on an absorbing Saturday afternoon.
Beckenham chose to bat at Lordswood and despite an early setback, Alex Senn, 55 and Will MacVicar 89 built a good launching platform taking the total to 133 before Senn was dismissed.
The Beckenham middle order kept the scoreboard ticking, led by Johan Malcolm with 34, as they all chipped in to take the Beckenham total to 263-8 at the end of their 55 overs.
Daljeet Singh with 3-50 returned the best figures for Lordswood. In reply, openers Ranjit Singh scored 68 and Lyndon Lockhart 46 as Lordswood, with Essex man Greg Smith adding 59 took the Lordswood total to 197-3 when Smith was trapped in front by Raza Ali Dar.
At 241-5 Lordswood looked in poll position but wickets started to fall and six runs were needed off the final two balls of the game with nine wickets down.
Junaid Nadir had Dan Masters caught by Alex Senn off the penultimate ball to secure the win for Beckenham. Raza Ali Dar ended with figures of 4-57 and with his wicket of Smith, perhaps the main turning point of the game. Cricket was a big winner in this match.
In comparison, there were three fairly straightforward wins for Hartley, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks Vine.
At Hartley James Thompson 4-31 and James Hockley 4-42 made quite light work in bowling Bexley out for just 148 with only openers Oliver Robinson, 39 and Matt Stiddart 28 offering much resistance as the Bexley order failed, to be bowled out in the 46th over.
Hartley wasted little time chasing this down and with Nick Hendrie scoring 48 and Charlie Hemphrey and an unbeaten 54 they romped home in the 27th over with just three down.
Tom Parsons with 5-45 was the undoing of Sandwich Town as Sevenoaks Vine travelled to Sandwich. Ryan Davies with 54 apart, the Sandwich batting had few answers against the Vine attack as the home side were bowled out for 167 in 46.1 overs.
The Sevenoaks side led by Anthony Shales 53, Zac Crawley 48 and an unbeaten 48 by Michel Barber knocked off the runs in 41.3 overs for the loss of four wickets.
Bromley did not find batting condition to their liking as they we invited to bat first at the Nevill by Tunbridge Wells.
Callum Bassey apart with 57 the Bromley batting was disappointing as Patrick Sadler returned figures of 5-46 as the visitors were bowled out for just 151 at the end of the 47th over.
An unbeaten 63 by opener Nick Selman and 61 not out by Will Stickler saw a comfortable 8 wicket win for Tunbridge Wells.
Sam Ireland with 4-47 made visitors Blackheath have to work hard for runs as they visited Folkestone and were invited to bat first. Tanveer Sikandar and Warren Lee both scored 38 and Michael Thornley 31 as Blackheath were bowled out for 197 in 53 overs.
Folkestone in reply were always just behind the game as Dipyan Paul with 5-37 caused them problems as well as a well-disciplined and economic Blackheath attack.
Sam Ireland scored 30 and Stuart Graham 62 not out but Folkestone fell behind the run rate crept up. They ended at 163-8 from 57 overs to deny the League leaders maximum points as Blackheath ended with a winning draw.
WEEK 4 RESULTS
Folkestone 163-8 losing draw against Blackheath 197-10
Hartley 150-3 beat Bexley 148-10 by 7 wickets
Lordswood 247-10 lost to Beckenham 263-8 by 6 runs
Sandwich Town 167-10 lost Sevenoaks Vine 168-4 by 6 wickets
Tunbridge Wells 154-2 beat Bromley 151-10 by 8 wickets