Social media has it that Lordswood might have a former international Test captain (who isn't even 40 yet) with 7,142 runs at 42.26 playing for them tomorrow. Can't tell you how pleased Bickley Park will be to face Azhar Ali although he probably doesn't bowl as fast as their existing overseas Thando Ntini. Assuming that the rumour is true and also that they can't both play because one of them is qualified to do so as a "home" player. Still Bickley overcame Jason Sangha and Darren Stevens last week so you never know what might happen.
Social media has it that Lordswood might have a former international Test captain (who isn't even 40 yet) with 7,142 runs at 42.26 playing for them tomorrow. Can't tell you how pleased Bickley Park will be to face Azhar Ali although he probably doesn't bowl as fast as their existing overseas Thando Ntini. Assuming that the rumour is true and also that they can't both play because one of them is qualified to do so as a "home" player. Still Bickley overcame Jason Sangha and Darren Stevens last week so you never know what might happen.
Social media has it that Lordswood might have a former international Test captain (who isn't even 40 yet) with 7,142 runs at 42.26 playing for them tomorrow. Can't tell you how pleased Bickley Park will be to face Azhar Ali although he probably doesn't bowl as fast as their existing overseas Thando Ntini. Assuming that the rumour is true and also that they can't both play because one of them is qualified to do so as a "home" player. Still Bickley overcame Jason Sangha and Darren Stevens last week so you never know what might happen.
He's not registered apparently...
So I have just gathered. One of Lordswood's players welcomed him to the club on Instagram with him wearing a Lordswood helmet. Perhaps he was just "passing through", it was a windup or they just didn't realise at the time that he wasn't eligible to play in the KCL as the last time he played at Test was in December 2022 which isn't outside the time bar for doing so.
Lordswood won toss and elected to bat. 120 all out. Bickley replied with 113 all out. Lordswood won by 7 runs. Enough said!
Edit: "Not enough said" as I should have given myself some time for reflection. Which I now have.
This isn't about sour grapes that Bickley lost because one would like to think that they should have been able to find 8 runs from somewhere. It is about club wickets, generally speaking, not being fit for purpose. I should stress that I'm not just talking about Lordswood here. There is a reason why a lot of pros struggle to score meaningful runs when dropping down to play club cricket and that young batters struggle to put a score together more often than not. I also firmly believe that this is the reason that Kent tend to ignore the scores, for the purpose of assessment, of the Academy youngsters in the Kent League.
Let me say that, in order to achieve such low scores, you have to have bowlers who are going to put the ball in the right area and not bowl 12 wides and 3 no balls (with the associated "free hits") as Bickley did. Equally, a full bunger is a full bunger whatever the track. But when you have bowlers that are pros, have been pros, will be pros or might have been pros who do have the ball "on a string" and a pitch that gives them a massive advantage, then it really isn't a level playing field between bat and ball.
The scores, in chronological order, for the teams batting first in the KPL at Lordswood this season have been 199, 165, 153, 141 and now 120. The 2nd XI had a match last month that was 83 v 47. Hindsight is also a bit of a wonderful thing in the sense that whilst one of Bickley's seamer's took 5-38 and they consequently carried on with seam for too long for that reason when the pitch was, actually, even more conducive to the spinner that could land it on a spot - the combined returns for all the twirlers from both sides was 29.4-6-73-11 with the best two spinners, on the day, from each side returning 22.4-6-43-10. It's like having to face Derek Underwood on an uncovered pitch after it has rained for a couple of hours.
As I say, Bickley have no one else but themselves to blame for losing. But, overall, as a playing and watching experience and more to the point, from the developmental perspective, it really isn't great to have decks such as that. As I've said and I will say once again, Lordswood aren't unique in being in this position and the weather we've had this season has definitely played some part and Bickley should still have won.
I stood on a very hot Saturday at St Lawrence & Highland Court versus local rivals Canterbury, premier league game. It was my first trip to St Lawrence in about six years, and I have to say it was a very pleasurable experience. Both teams conducted themselves with pride and discipline throughout, and it led to a very good contest. Canterbury batted on a good pitch, and only lost one wicket in the first thirty odd overs. SLHC were short on opening bowlers, and a near 50-year old ex-pro had to bowl the first four overs from one end. When the Canterbury Aussie overseas came in, he was brought back to bowl and a fascinating contest ensued for a few overs. Could the young upstart win the contest or would the old dog save the day. The ball was smashed back at the bowler in the air, but down it went. Sadly for the non-striker, it rocketed into the stumps with him backing up. They would have preferred the Aussie's wicket, but got one anyway. Sadly, Stevo's hammy eventually had a say and he had to come off! Canterbury ended with 234. SLHC started quickly, and were always well up and ahead of the required run rate. Captain Hammond was hit by his oppo skipper in the throat with a vicious bouncer, which was worrying but he was OK to continue. The score rose quickly, but they did continually lose wickets. Canterbury mixed up the bowling, trying to find a breakthrough, but holding back key overs from their best bowlers. It came to the last over, with five required, and just three wickets left. Our Aussie friend was to bowl. It was a little leg side, and the tall batter flicked it fine to the boundary. A single next ball and the game was over. A hot day, but both teams very well behaved, bar a little bit of frustrated swearing.
Our home local derby against Ilford Catholic one’s (we are the two shittiest grounds in the league, park pitches amongst some other beautiful Essex countryside grounds ) saw our ones skipper win the toss and bowl as 3rd hosted 4th we struggled to an abysmal 93 all out in 39.2 overs and it was easily chased down for the loss of 4 wickets in 26.4 overs Twos who have won every game they’ve played and sit top opted to bat and struggled to 26/3 before our young 13 year old Essex protégée Manveer Kathuria steadied the ship scoring 90 (115) his best taking us to a respectable 210/6 in our 40 overs . Theydon Bois didn’t even go for it and were bowled out for 114 with the penultimate delivery , the youngster nicking 3/16 off 6.5 he followed it up for Essex u13s yesterday with a 36 and 5/19 as they smashed Hertfordshire . his brother has moved to Upminster and has played some twos games for Essex and is in their u18 development stuff lovely family whose dads enthusiasm, he’s been in charge of the kids side of stuff at South Loughton since we joined the club 10/11 years ago …. All the nicer looking clubs ignored my emails and phone calls so we ended up at the shitty park club but it’s our shitty park club that I hobbled out of at midnight on Saturday , still feel like shit , luckily boffin didn’t drink so drove me home after his abysmal 2
Lordswood won toss and elected to bat. 120 all out. Bickley replied with 113 all out. Lordswood won by 7 runs. Enough said!
Edit: "Not enough said" as I should have given myself some time for reflection. Which I now have.
This isn't about sour grapes that Bickley lost because one would like to think that they should have been able to find 8 runs from somewhere. It is about club wickets, generally speaking, not being fit for purpose. I should stress that I'm not just talking about Lordswood here. There is a reason why a lot of pros struggle to score meaningful runs when dropping down to play club cricket and that young batters struggle to put a score together more often than not. I also firmly believe that this is the reason that Kent tend to ignore the scores, for the purpose of assessment, of the Academy youngsters in the Kent League.
Let me say that, in order to achieve such low scores, you have to have bowlers who are going to put the ball in the right area and not bowl 12 wides and 3 no balls (with the associated "free hits") as Bickley did. Equally, a full bunger is a full bunger whatever the track. But when you have bowlers that are pros, have been pros, will be pros or might have been pros who do have the ball "on a string" and a pitch that gives them a massive advantage, then it really isn't a level playing field between bat and ball.
The scores, in chronological order, for the teams batting first in the KPL at Lordswood this season have been 199, 165, 153, 141 and now 120. The 2nd XI had a match last month that was 83 v 47. Hindsight is also a bit of a wonderful thing in the sense that whilst one of Bickley's seamer's took 5-38 and they consequently carried on with seam for too long for that reason when the pitch was, actually, even more conducive to the spinner that could land it on a spot - the combined returns for all the twirlers from both sides was 29.4-6-73-11 with the best two spinners, on the day, from each side returning 22.4-6-43-10. It's like having to face Derek Underwood on an uncovered pitch after it has rained for a couple of hours.
As I say, Bickley have no one else but themselves to blame for losing. But, overall, as a playing and watching experience and more to the point, from the developmental perspective, it really isn't great to have decks such as that. As I've said and I will say once again, Lordswood aren't unique in being in this position and the weather we've had this season has definitely played some part and Bickley should still have won.
Yesterday Lordswood were at home to St Lawrence & HC and elected to bat. 89 all out. Lord knows how many they would have made had Darren Stevens been fit enough to bowl. St Lawrence chased it down in 13.3 overs with 12 fours and 2 sixes with Stevens 30*. That is the mistake that Bickley made the previous week - if you try to bat time on wickets like that, eventually you will get a ball with your name on it.
Bickley "entertained" a much weakened Tunbridge Wells side yesterday and still came off second best. That really did not seem likely when Bickley, at 113-1 off 23 overs, looked like setting a score of 250 plus. Just 60 runs later, they found themselves 173 all out. Wells didn't have it all their own way and at 118-5 with not a lot of batting to come, Bickley had a chance of landing the spoils. But an excellent 49* from Ollie Morgan saw them home to win by 4 wickets.
Congratulations to Bickley's Jason Benn who has been selected for the England Over 40s squad this week in a four team competition over three days including Wales, Ireland and Scotland. The team will be skippered by Darren Stevens
Tunbridge Wells beat Hayes in the final of the Sevenoaks Smash "Hundred" tournament yesterday. Bat & Ball beat Bromley Town in the Plate final, and Kings Hill won the Bowl final (not sure who they beat though).
For those that haven't seen or even heard about the end to this game on Saturday, I would recommend you watch this clip if only for the commentary on what transpired
the commentary is a wind up but got the basics right i make him right mankading in this instance
our 1s having set 191 looked like losing with oppo cruising at 149-4 with 11.3 overs left then it got messy wickets started tumbling run out not given (playing umpire at square leg) when their player was 1 yard out at least and then my son threatened a mankad , I'd have killed him if he did it and then couple of overs later he mankad'd a different batter but took a bail and there was no appeal (the neutral umpire said he'd have given him out ) and there were a few words exchanged and he got a wicket next ball , good mind games but not keen on this mankad stuff but too many batters start leaving the crease early . Oppo ended up all out for 160 .
Bickley Park consolidated their position at the bottom of the KPL with a comfortable defeat away to Bexley.
Having won the toss, they were at one point 56-1 but mainly thanks to good bowling and the usual poor decision making, whether it resulted in a run out or being caught, they crawled to 135 all out off 47.5. In reply, Bexley reached their target in exactly 40 overs for the loss of 2 wickets. Bickley now have to win an absolute minimum of 3 of their final 5 games which, on current form and with a number of players missing from their very small squad in the next few weeks, seems somewhat unlikely. With top of the table Minster to face next week, the fat lady is clearing her throat.
Bickley Park consolidated their position at the bottom of the KPL with a comfortable defeat away to Bexley.
Having won the toss, they were at one point 56-1 but mainly thanks to good bowling and the usual poor decision making, whether it resulted in a run out or being caught, they crawled to 135 all out off 47.5. In reply, Bexley reached their target in exactly 40 overs for the loss of 2 wickets. Bickley now have to win an absolute minimum of 3 of their final 5 games which, on current form and with a number of players missing from their very small squad in the next few weeks, seems somewhat unlikely. With top of the table Minster to face next week, the fat lady is clearing her throat.
Now I haven't had confirmation from anyone but in yesterday's Bexley v Sevenoaks Vine Development League Game, playing for the Vine was someone called Ed Smith. All the indications, from the limited number of games on his profile, is that it is the former Kent, Middlesex, England cricketer and National Selector. Which I suppose is exactly what that League was originally designed to have i.e. two or three old heads passing on their knowledge to up and coming youngsters. Unfortunately, a lot of matches appear now to be between two sets of Under 21s which isn't quite the same. Commendable for Ed to be playing nevertheless.
There is a real discrepancy in the levels each club puts out in the Dev league. My 17 yo son plays for Blackheath and typically they field a bunch of 15-17 yo with maybe a couple of again, youngish 2nd team players. We played Hayes a few weeks ago who had 4 1st team players …
Bottom of the KPL, Bickley Park, minus five players including four all rounders plus their opening bowler, took on the full strength, runaway leaders in the shape of Minster. It's not difficult to conclude that there could only be one result.
Bickley won the toss and in the hope that they might pick up some bonus points from the game, elected to bowl. If Minster couldn't believe their start then Bickley definitely couldn't: 26-4. Thanks, in the main, to 82* (103) from the KPL's top scorer, Kai Appelby, Minster finished on 218-9. A great effort from Bickley's depleted attack but that, surely, would be too many for them to chase down.
A superb 74 (102) from their opening bat, Cam Hawkins, took them to 149-2 but his wicket was swiftly followed by three others to the extent that they became 161-6 with another 58 to win and next to nothing to come. Or so we thought. Bickley edged painfully closer and closer, losing another wicket in the process, until with just 7 balls to spare, they scraped home by 3 wickets to take them off the bottom.
What a win. It says it all about Bickley that two of their four wins this season have been against the top two sides. They are still staring down the barrel of relegation but, if they can demonstrate the same fighting spirit in the final four games of the season, who knows what might happen?
I'm sure that one or two might have thought that, when Bickley lost by 7 runs chasing just 121 at Lordswood a few weeks ago and I complained about the quality of the wicket, this was a case of "sour grapes". Well, the scores of the 1st XI teams this season batting there first, in chronological order, now read 199, 165, 153, 141,120, 89 and today Blackheath managed just 108. In reply, Lordswood were skittled for 88 and ended up losing by 20 runs. It really isn't fun batting there!
I got dragged up to wigan so missed our ones playing top of the table Little Baddow play 3rd placed us (slightly skewed cos one team pulled out so teams have played one more game than others ) Baddow set 207/6 in their 45 overs with 73 off 59 from their opener then we set off in chase where the neutral umpire (who’d given 4 lbw’s against us earlier on in the season ) managed to make it all about him with another 4 lbw’s as we slumped to 97/7 then started pulling it back before losing 2 wickets on 177 and sill needing 31 to win with the last two new bats in and 17 deliveries left they managed to get 10 off 5 balls 13 off the next over so needed 8 the last over went 1 1 1 . 1 needing 4 off the last ball they ran 3 for a tie !!
edit: my son got a duck batting at 4 we had so many missing, he topped the averages batting at 8-10 last year for the ones he’s not good enough to bat up the order . His bowling hasn’t been great despite some ok figures recently and he didn’t even get a bowl today , he needs to drop in to the twos to get his mojo back
the twos having won 12 out of 12 and 2 not played got slaughtered by third placed Basildon & pitseas 3rd team having set 164 all out in 38.3 overs B& P only needed 25.5 overs to knock them off for the loss of 5 wickets with 88(52) from their opener the stand out weve finished 3rd /4th in the last few seasons we could blow up again , I’m asking the physio if I can come back for the last couple of games having torn my calf muscle a few weeks back cos if we’re gonna fuck this up I want to be part of it !!
Came up with this in a club groupchat. What do we think? This is my preferred Olympic cricket format btw...
Competitive Nets Rules
Each squad has 6 players. 4 must bat and 4 must bowl in each match.
In a match, each batter faces 24 balls in total, 6 from each nominated bowler, to be delivered in 6 sequential cycles. The bowlers will NOT be judged. Only the batters are judged, on their response to each ball. An average of all 24 is taken for each batter, and an average is taken of the 4 batters for the team.
After a toss to determine who bats first, the two teams must 'alternate' in terms of which side bats, so one of the 2 players who is not bowling must be padding up while their teammates bowl, and whoever has just batted cannot bowl immediately afterwards.
If a bowler delivers a ball that a batter cannot reach, they automatically score 10 for that ball.
Each bowler nominates to the batter and the judges their chosen field before bowling. They are permitted one change during the course of their 6 balls.
Whether the bowling is testing or 'pies', the judgement is still based around execution of an appropriate stroke, with greater weight given to an obvious runscoring shot. 'Manufactured' shots like scoops and reverse hits may score highly if played with control and away from, or clearly well over, nominated field positions.
Higher average wins. In the event of a tie, the most 10s wins. In the event of an ongoing tie, most 9s etc.
Came up with this in a club groupchat. What do we think? This is my preferred Olympic cricket format btw...
Competitive Nets Rules
Each squad has 6 players. 4 must bat and 4 must bowl in each match.
In a match, each batter faces 24 balls in total, 6 from each nominated bowler, to be delivered in 6 sequential cycles. The bowlers will NOT be judged. Only the batters are judged, on their response to each ball. An average of all 24 is taken for each batter, and an average is taken of the 4 batters for the team.
After a toss to determine who bats first, the two teams must 'alternate' in terms of which side bats, so one of the 2 players who is not bowling must be padding up while their teammates bowl, and whoever has just batted cannot bowl immediately afterwards.
If a bowler delivers a ball that a batter cannot reach, they automatically score 10 for that ball.
Each bowler nominates to the batter and the judges their chosen field before bowling. They are permitted one change during the course of their 6 balls.
Whether the bowling is testing or 'pies', the judgement is still based around execution of an appropriate stroke, with greater weight given to an obvious runscoring shot. 'Manufactured' shots like scoops and reverse hits may score highly if played with control and away from, or clearly well over, nominated field positions.
Higher average wins. In the event of a tie, the most 10s wins. In the event of an ongoing tie, most 9s etc.
No, no, no! As an umpire, it's bad enough having to deal with time games, T10, T20, Hundred, 40 overs, 50 overs and everything in between! What is "a ball a batter cannot reach"? Who are the judges?
Please, can we stick to the laws of the game and keep it simple!
Came up with this in a club groupchat. What do we think? This is my preferred Olympic cricket format btw...
Competitive Nets Rules
Each squad has 6 players. 4 must bat and 4 must bowl in each match.
In a match, each batter faces 24 balls in total, 6 from each nominated bowler, to be delivered in 6 sequential cycles. The bowlers will NOT be judged. Only the batters are judged, on their response to each ball. An average of all 24 is taken for each batter, and an average is taken of the 4 batters for the team.
After a toss to determine who bats first, the two teams must 'alternate' in terms of which side bats, so one of the 2 players who is not bowling must be padding up while their teammates bowl, and whoever has just batted cannot bowl immediately afterwards.
If a bowler delivers a ball that a batter cannot reach, they automatically score 10 for that ball.
Each bowler nominates to the batter and the judges their chosen field before bowling. They are permitted one change during the course of their 6 balls.
Whether the bowling is testing or 'pies', the judgement is still based around execution of an appropriate stroke, with greater weight given to an obvious runscoring shot. 'Manufactured' shots like scoops and reverse hits may score highly if played with control and away from, or clearly well over, nominated field positions.
Higher average wins. In the event of a tie, the most 10s wins. In the event of an ongoing tie, most 9s etc.
No, no, no! As an umpire, it's bad enough having to deal with time games, T10, T20, Hundred, 40 overs, 50 overs and everything in between! What is "a ball a batter cannot reach"? Who are the judges?
Please, can we stick to the laws of the game and keep it simple!
Did you see the bit about it being 'competitive nets' haha
Five judges sat at 5 different positions, 2 on either side of the net and one standing where an umpire would
Came up with this in a club groupchat. What do we think? This is my preferred Olympic cricket format btw...
Competitive Nets Rules
Each squad has 6 players. 4 must bat and 4 must bowl in each match.
In a match, each batter faces 24 balls in total, 6 from each nominated bowler, to be delivered in 6 sequential cycles. The bowlers will NOT be judged. Only the batters are judged, on their response to each ball. An average of all 24 is taken for each batter, and an average is taken of the 4 batters for the team.
After a toss to determine who bats first, the two teams must 'alternate' in terms of which side bats, so one of the 2 players who is not bowling must be padding up while their teammates bowl, and whoever has just batted cannot bowl immediately afterwards.
If a bowler delivers a ball that a batter cannot reach, they automatically score 10 for that ball.
Each bowler nominates to the batter and the judges their chosen field before bowling. They are permitted one change during the course of their 6 balls.
Whether the bowling is testing or 'pies', the judgement is still based around execution of an appropriate stroke, with greater weight given to an obvious runscoring shot. 'Manufactured' shots like scoops and reverse hits may score highly if played with control and away from, or clearly well over, nominated field positions.
Higher average wins. In the event of a tie, the most 10s wins. In the event of an ongoing tie, most 9s etc.
No, no, no! As an umpire, it's bad enough having to deal with time games, T10, T20, Hundred, 40 overs, 50 overs and everything in between! What is "a ball a batter cannot reach"? Who are the judges?
Please, can we stick to the laws of the game and keep it simple!
Did you see the bit about it being 'competitive nets' haha
Five judges sat at 5 different positions, 2 on either side of the net and one standing where an umpire would
5 judges - That'll work then. We can't even get two umpires out for most matches these days!
In a bid to secure the KPL, Minster have the cousin of Jason Roy and Essex and Netherlands international, Shane Snater, joining his former teammate, Aron Nijjar, in the side tomorrow. They could have done with him last week.
First 3rd XI call up in five years tomorrow. Whether it's because it's well-earned (19 wickets at 11 apiece for the 4s) or because I drive (we're down at the Skinners ground in T Wells) remains to be seen...
Comments
Edit: "Not enough said" as I should have given myself some time for reflection. Which I now have.
This isn't about sour grapes that Bickley lost because one would like to think that they should have been able to find 8 runs from somewhere. It is about club wickets, generally speaking, not being fit for purpose. I should stress that I'm not just talking about Lordswood here. There is a reason why a lot of pros struggle to score meaningful runs when dropping down to play club cricket and that young batters struggle to put a score together more often than not. I also firmly believe that this is the reason that Kent tend to ignore the scores, for the purpose of assessment, of the Academy youngsters in the Kent League.
Let me say that, in order to achieve such low scores, you have to have bowlers who are going to put the ball in the right area and not bowl 12 wides and 3 no balls (with the associated "free hits") as Bickley did. Equally, a full bunger is a full bunger whatever the track. But when you have bowlers that are pros, have been pros, will be pros or might have been pros who do have the ball "on a string" and a pitch that gives them a massive advantage, then it really isn't a level playing field between bat and ball.
The scores, in chronological order, for the teams batting first in the KPL at Lordswood this season have been 199, 165, 153, 141 and now 120. The 2nd XI had a match last month that was 83 v 47. Hindsight is also a bit of a wonderful thing in the sense that whilst one of Bickley's seamer's took 5-38 and they consequently carried on with seam for too long for that reason when the pitch was, actually, even more conducive to the spinner that could land it on a spot - the combined returns for all the twirlers from both sides was 29.4-6-73-11 with the best two spinners, on the day, from each side returning 22.4-6-43-10. It's like having to face Derek Underwood on an uncovered pitch after it has rained for a couple of hours.
As I say, Bickley have no one else but themselves to blame for losing. But, overall, as a playing and watching experience and more to the point, from the developmental perspective, it really isn't great to have decks such as that. As I've said and I will say once again, Lordswood aren't unique in being in this position and the weather we've had this season has definitely played some part and Bickley should still have won.
we struggled to an abysmal 93 all out in 39.2 overs and it was easily chased down for the loss of 4 wickets in 26.4 overs
Twos who have won every game they’ve played and sit top opted to bat and struggled to 26/3 before our young 13 year old Essex protégée Manveer Kathuria steadied the ship scoring 90 (115) his best taking us to a respectable 210/6 in our 40 overs .
Theydon Bois didn’t even go for it and were bowled out for 114 with the penultimate delivery , the youngster nicking 3/16 off 6.5
he followed it up for Essex u13s yesterday with a 36 and 5/19 as they smashed Hertfordshire .
his brother has moved to Upminster and has played some twos games for Essex and is in their u18 development stuff
lovely family whose dads enthusiasm, he’s been in charge of the kids side of stuff at South Loughton since we joined the club 10/11 years ago …. All the nicer looking clubs ignored my emails and phone calls so we ended up at the shitty park club but it’s our shitty park club that I hobbled out of at midnight on Saturday , still feel like shit , luckily boffin didn’t drink so drove me home after his abysmal 2
https://x.com/dealtwithcric/status/1817931743036596395
i make him right mankading in this instance
our 1s having set 191 looked like losing with oppo cruising at 149-4 with 11.3 overs left then it got messy
wickets started tumbling run out not given (playing umpire at square leg) when their player was 1 yard out at least and then my son threatened a mankad , I'd have killed him if he did it and then couple of overs later he mankad'd a different batter but took a bail and there was no appeal (the neutral umpire said he'd have given him out ) and there were a few words exchanged and he got a wicket next ball , good mind games but not keen on this mankad stuff but too many batters start leaving the crease early . Oppo ended up all out for 160 .
Having won the toss, they were at one point 56-1 but mainly thanks to good bowling and the usual poor decision making, whether it resulted in a run out or being caught, they crawled to 135 all out off 47.5. In reply, Bexley reached their target in exactly 40 overs for the loss of 2 wickets. Bickley now have to win an absolute minimum of 3 of their final 5 games which, on current form and with a number of players missing from their very small squad in the next few weeks, seems somewhat unlikely. With top of the table Minster to face next week, the fat lady is clearing her throat.
https://bexley.play-cricket.com/website/results/6244455
Bickley won the toss and in the hope that they might pick up some bonus points from the game, elected to bowl. If Minster couldn't believe their start then Bickley definitely couldn't: 26-4. Thanks, in the main, to 82* (103) from the KPL's top scorer, Kai Appelby, Minster finished on 218-9. A great effort from Bickley's depleted attack but that, surely, would be too many for them to chase down.
A superb 74 (102) from their opening bat, Cam Hawkins, took them to 149-2 but his wicket was swiftly followed by three others to the extent that they became 161-6 with another 58 to win and next to nothing to come. Or so we thought. Bickley edged painfully closer and closer, losing another wicket in the process, until with just 7 balls to spare, they scraped home by 3 wickets to take them off the bottom.
What a win. It says it all about Bickley that two of their four wins this season have been against the top two sides. They are still staring down the barrel of relegation but, if they can demonstrate the same fighting spirit in the final four games of the season, who knows what might happen?
Great stuff for Bickley though. Am following with interest!
Baddow set 207/6 in their 45 overs with 73 off 59 from their opener
then we set off in chase where the neutral umpire (who’d given 4 lbw’s against us earlier on in the season ) managed to make it all about him with another 4 lbw’s as we slumped to 97/7
then started pulling it back before losing 2 wickets on 177 and sill needing 31 to win with the last two new bats in and 17 deliveries left
they managed to get 10 off 5 balls
13 off the next over
so needed 8
the last over went
1 1 1 . 1 needing 4 off the last ball they ran 3 for a tie !!
edit: my son got a duck batting at 4 we had so many missing, he topped the averages batting at 8-10 last year for the ones he’s not good enough to bat up the order . His bowling hasn’t been great despite some ok figures recently and he didn’t even get a bowl today , he needs to drop in to the twos to get his mojo back
the twos having won 12 out of 12 and 2 not played got slaughtered by third placed Basildon & pitseas 3rd team
having set 164 all out in 38.3 overs B& P only needed 25.5 overs to knock them off for the loss of 5 wickets with 88(52) from their opener the stand out
weve finished 3rd /4th in the last few seasons we could blow up again , I’m asking the physio if I can come back for the last couple of games having torn my calf muscle a few weeks back cos if we’re gonna fuck this up I want to be part of it !!
Please, can we stick to the laws of the game and keep it simple!
Five judges sat at 5 different positions, 2 on either side of the net and one standing where an umpire would