Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket Premier League, week 10

Hartley return to the top of the table by virtue of a 32 run victory whilst last week’s leaders Beckenham suffered a batting disaster at Sevenoaks Vine and drop down to second, writes Errol Valentine. The Vine and Blackheath remain in hot pursuit of the leaders as we go into round two of the win/lose format next week. Bromley invited their hosts to bat first at Culvey Close. Hartley led by Dan Stickels 56 batted steadily, Nick Hendrie added 55 and James Thompson 37 but they lost their last six wickets for 20 runs as Scott Barlow 3-25 helped remove the lower order. Hartley were bowled out for a relatively modest 230 by their standards off the last ball of their innings. Bromley’s reply did not begin well against a well-disciplined Hartley attack. Runs were hard to come by and they were soon reduced to 90-5 when Sean Griffin joined Scott Barlow in the middle. The two batted sensibly but the run rate was ever climbing. They moved the score along to 174-5 when Griffin departed for 32. Jack Laraman and James Thomson took the last six wicket to fall between them, with three apiece as the Bromley lower order, well behind the clock, fell away to be bowled out for 198 in the penultimate over. The match at Sevenoaks Vine can best be described as bizarre as the Sevenoaks side beat leaders Beckenham by 26 runs. Electing to bat first the home side were in deep trouble at 80-7, Will MacVicar with 4-42 doing much of the damage, when Anthony Shales joined Lorne Burns at the wicket. They batted with much composure and made use of fairly defensive fields pushing the ball around into gaps with occasional well placed boundaries. Burns made an excellent 74 from 76 balls and Shales reached 45 as the Vine recovered well from a poor start in reaching 211 at the close. Johan Malcolm bowled well with figures of 3-45. What followed was most unusual. Tom Parsons remove the top three for just four runs between them. Alex Blake batting at four blasted 23 at the other end. Beckenham 31-3 after 2.5 overs! Ali Raza Dar kept Blake company making 24 when Parsons struck again with the total on 71. Blake was nothing short of belligerent blasting 76 from 27 balls but no one was able to stay with him. He was out to leave the total on 117-6 but the innings was still only it its 11th over. Adam Senn kept the score ticking with a bright 38 and was the last man to fall with the total on 185 – a final run rate of 7.55 an over with only 24.3 overs bowled. A most unusual chase. Tom Parsons ended with 5-46, Lorne Burns 3-44 and Sevenoaks Vine 18 points. Blackheath proved too strong for Lordswood on the day as they beat their hosts by 81 runs at Martin Grove. Blackheath elected to bat first and found easy runs hard to come by. Jahid Ahmed made 43, Chris Willets 35, Mahi Mahfuzul 34 but none could go further. Chris Piesley took 3 -35 and Greg Smith tidied up the innings taking 4-23 in his short spell. Blackheath were all out for 200 in the 46th over. This was to prove to be a winning total. Only Matt Greenwood with 30 and Greg Smith reached 20 in reply as the Lordswood innings fell away. Warren Lee took 3-21 from his ten overs and the rest of the wickets were shared about as Lordswood slid to 119 all out. Likewise, thanks to the only century of the day by Sam Heazlett, Bexley overpowered Sandwich Town by 131 runs. Heazlett dominated the innings after Bexley had chosen to bat. He made 136 from just 119 balls and with support from George Wells 52 and Matthew Stiddart 30, Bexley amassed a useful total of 289 from their 50 overs. Matt Hunn was the pick of the Sandwich bowlers taking 3-58. Sandwich batting in reply was a little disappointing. Robert Goatham topped their list with 36. Three other reached their twenties but none could build a substantial innings after all making starts. Jasdev Bassan took 3-32 and Adeel Malik 3-45 as Sandwich were bowled out for just 158 with over ten overs to go. WEEK 10 RESULTS – 11 JULY 2015 Hartley 230-10 beat Bromley 198-10 by 32 runs Lordswood 119-10 lost to Blackheath 200-10 by 81 runs Sandwich Town 158-10 lost to Bexley 289-7 by 131 runs Sevenoaks Vine 211-10 beat Beckenham 185-10 by 26 runs