Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League: week two review

At this early stage,Blackheathhead the table but were made to fight hard for their eight run victory overSandwichdown near the East Coast,writes Errol Valentine.

The visitors elected to bat and soon found themselves in a little trouble at 21-3 when James Kirkham joined Dipyan Paul in the middle.

The pair began to repair the earlier damage taking the total to 92 before Kirkam departed for 34. Matthew van Poppell kept the pressure on but Dipyan Paul played well, finally dismissed for 60.

The lower order chipped in with some valuable runs taking Blackheath to 198-9 at the close. Van Poppell ended with 4-46.

Sandwich looked well placed at 105-3 and 156-4 whenRyan Daviesfell for a well-made 59. Jahid Ahmed with 5-39 made batting tough for Sandwich destroying the middle order and James Hands snapped up the last two leaving Sandwich nine short of the target.

NewcomersFolkestonewere played off the park as they travelled up toHartley. They may have rued their decision to invite their hosts to bat as the top order were pretty much all in fine form.

Dan Stickels led the way with an excellent 101, James Thompson 67 and Charlie Hemphrey 53 as Hartley amassed an impressive 312-7. Although Sam Ireland took 3-57, his fellow bowlers were all rather expensive on the day.

Sadly for Folkestone, their batsman totally floundered against the impressive Hartley attack. Dan Redwood took 5-34, Jake Benfield 3-11 and Andy Tutt 2-6 as Hartley tore them apart, bowling Folkestone out for just 55 in just 25.3 overs. A highly impressive 257 run victory for Hartley.

Fellow newcomersTunbridge Wellslost their first League match since 2013 as they were also soundly beaten by their visitors to the Nevill,Beckenham, who, on losing the toss, were invited to bat first.

They had a moderate start, reduced to 40-3 when Raza Ali Dar joinedAlex Blakeand began consolidating the innings. It was not until Blake’s dismissal for 37 that Ollie Howick joined the party.

Ali Dar went for 41 but Howick received good support from his lower order and progressed to a fine 101 and helped take Beckenham to a respectable total of 254-9. David Smith and Alex Williams both took three wickets apiece.

The myth that Beckenham rely on a fine spin attack was set aside as on the day it was seamer Will MacVicar’s turn to impress. His excellent figures of 6-53 together with his fellow opener Junaid Nadir chipping in with a couple, ripped through the Tunbridge Wells top order.

Michael Waller was the only batsman to pass 20, reaching 25, as the home side were shot out for just 112 to earn Beckenham a valuable 20 points.

Imran Qayyumwith 6-28 was perhaps man of the match at Lordswood where Bromley beat their hosts at Martin Grove by 39 runs in a relatively low scoring game.

Bromley elected to bat and thanks to contributions of 51 by Scott Barlow and 46 fromCharlie Hartleystruggled a little against a useful Lordswood bowling attack, to a total of 172-10 in 47.2 overs withRanjit Singhthe pick of the Lordswood bowling with 4-38.

Lordswood found batting no easier as Qayyum turned his arm and despite 35 from Shaun Piesley, 33 by Matt Greenwood and Amjad Khan's 24, Lordswood were all out for just 133 and Bromley picked up 20 points.

Bexleycrept home against title holderSevenoaks Vinein a very tight and low scoring game at the Vine.

Bexley invited their hosts to bat first and the home side began decently with John Bowden 50 and Oliver Durrell 34 but there was not a lot to follow as Jasdev Bassan with 4-19 andAdam Riley3-39 made good use of the surface and bowled out the Vine for 164 in the 53rd over.

At 74-5 the game appeared to have tilted the way of Sevenoaks Vine as Miles Richardson and Tom Parsons inflicted some early damage. Nick Sale with 3-39 continued their good work but George Wells dug deep for 30 and Mehdi Abbas managed 24 but it was 56 by Min Patel that finally swung the game in Bexley’s favour as they inched home to win by two wickets in the 51st over.

SHEPHERD NEAME KENT CRICKET LEAGUE, PREMIER LEAGUE

WEEK 2 – 16 May 2015

Hartley 312-7 beat Folkestone 55 by 257 runs

Lordswood 133 lost to Bromley 172 by 39 runs

Sandwich Town 190 lost to Blackheath 198-9 by 8 runs

Sevenoaks Vine 164 lost to Bexley 167-8 by 2 wickets

Tunbridge Wells 112 lost to Beckenham 254-9 by 142 runs