Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League 2017, week 16

The race for the Shepherd Neame Premier League title effectively became a two-horse race as wins for both Bexley and Beckenham and a defeat for Sandwich dented their title hopes and places tremendous excitement on next Saturday’s game at Manor Way between the top two.

The team who wins both this and their remaining game will certainly be Champions. Depending on bonus points next Saturday and the outcome of the final round of matches, it looks probable we shall have to wait till the end of this final round before seeing a new name on the Premier Division trophy.

At the other end of the table a win for Tunbridge Wells lifts them out of the bottom three. The loss for Hartley leaves them nineteen points ahead of Sevenoaks Vine who also lost. They meet next Saturday at the Vine in a major battle to avoid relegation with Holmesdale.

Bexley were invited to bat as they travelled to Blackheath. Bexley had to work hard for their runs and thanks to 74 by Aryan Jain and 59 by Christopher Laas they reached 179-3 and with a middle order flurry of runs at six or so an over in the last ten, Bexley ended on a decent 242-6 at the half way stage.

In reply Joe Kerridge battled hard for 68, Warren Lee 31 and Tanweer Sikander 20 but at 145-3 they had got behind the clock.

A breezy knock of 47 followed from Richard Fleming but with the assistance of three run outs the middle order had too much to do, Blackheath ending 17 runs short at 225-8.

Having elected to bat at Culvey Close, Hartley had Beckenham on the back foot as they reached 205-2 with nine overs remaining.

Richard Selvey-Clinton made 41 and at the time Dominic Hendricks was not out 94 and James Thompson also unbeaten on 52. Alex Senn once more shepherded his bowling well. Brother Adam dismissed Hendricks for 94.

The reintroduction of Will MacVicar and Junaid Nadir saw them rip through the Hartley middle order, MacVicar taking three and Nadir two including the valuable wicket of Thompson for 62 as Hartley tumbled to 235-9 losing seven wickets for just 30 runs in their final nine overs. The Beckenham batting fired.

Chris Isles opened with 49, Will Macvicar scored an impressive 83 and Alex Blake finished the job scoring 68 from just 33 balls as the visitors romped home to win by six wickets with one ball short of eight overs remaining.

A century in just 59 balls by Christopher Williams helped put Sandwich to the sword as they travelled to the Nevill, Tunbridge Wells. A slightly depleted Sandwich team, due to Kent 2nd XI fixtures in Jersey, elected to bat.

Kai Appleby made 53, Jordan Cox 37 and Rory Smith 36 but their final total of 196-9 looked well below par on the Nevill. It was thus to prove, as Williams blasted 104 from 57 balls and helped by Michael Waller, 35 and Julian O’Riordan unbeaten on 34 the home side won by eight wickets in just the 29th over.

Christopher Vernon smashed 128 and Lindon Lockhart 115 as Tenterden compounded the relegation fears of Sevenoaks Vine.

Tenterden amassed 335-5 which was 143 too many for the Vine, for whom Oliver Durell was top scorer on 66 as they were bowled out for 192, Alistair Neale taking 4-33.

Holmesdale were well and truly trounced by 164 runs as they travelled to Lordswood. Zahmeer Khan top scored for the home side with 93 as they posted 249 for Holmesdale to chase.

Basit Raja 4-7 and Amjad Khan 3-28 destroyed the Holmesdale top order. Luke Blackaby made 38 but Holmesdale were bowed out for just 89.