Noticed that Upchurch conceded their 2s fixture. that doesn't bode well
Down here in the wilds of Sussex lolwray opened his bowling season with a respectable 2-17 although game abandoned at 5.30 due to heaviest rain I have seen since February...its definitely the cricket season
Bexley have pulled their 4th XI from the KCL too - still running five sides though
Noticed that Upchurch conceded their 2s fixture. that doesn't bode well
Down here in the wilds of Sussex lolwray opened his bowling season with a respectable 2-17 although game abandoned at 5.30 due to heaviest rain I have seen since February...its definitely the cricket season
Bexley have pulled their 4th XI from the KCL too - still running five sides though
Interesting. Old Colfeians 4s beat Bexley’s 6th XI very easily. Bexley claimed to have “mislaid” over 40 players during the winter, which seems very odd given their success in the top teams. What’s going on?
Elsewhere, our 2s started their 2nd XI Premier campaign disastrously, being bowled out for 64 at Lordswood. Our 1s, relegated to Div 4, restricted Frindsbury to 162 and were making slow but steady progress after 20 overs of their reply, before imploding inexplicably to 74 all out. Missing a number of key players didn’t help - my impression is that people who might have played cricket the last two summers now have a lot more leisure options, holidays, deferred weddings/stag-dos etc. to distract them. It could be a tough year getting teams on the field, as the number of conceded fixtures across the leagues shows.
Having taken on the club chairmanship earlier this year, I’ve passed on the 3s captaincy after 3 seasons (phew!). This should at least mean I get more of a bat and bowl myself! I reverted back to my traditional opening slot on Saturday, scoring an unusually fluent 29 out of 162-7. Expecting a close match, we then bowled Old Wilsonians 3s out for 46 in 18.3 overs. This included the most outrageous grab at bat-pad I’ve ever seen in club cricket (by Will Walker, one of our rugby boys and brother of Blackheath’s Matthew). A very nice start for us.
South Loughton firsts got 274/5 in their 45 overs and my 16 year old son was called a c**t when he was umpiring when he gave not out to a run out appeal from square leg … charming Rainham all out for 169 in reply my son took 2 wickets and 3 catches but said he didn’t bowl well (he’s only in firsts cos their usual spinner took some time out to study for some accounting exams)
hopefully both back together in the seconds next week , our game at Canvey was called off due to some paperwork issues or something.
Too much chocolate again @oohaahmortimer? or not ‘that’ sort of paper.
Noticed that Upchurch conceded their 2s fixture. that doesn't bode well
Down here in the wilds of Sussex lolwray opened his bowling season with a respectable 2-17 although game abandoned at 5.30 due to heaviest rain I have seen since February...its definitely the cricket season
Bexley have pulled their 4th XI from the KCL too - still running five sides though
Interesting. Old Colfeians 4s beat Bexley’s 6th XI very easily. Bexley claimed to have “mislaid” over 40 players during the winter, which seems very odd given their success in the top teams. What’s going on?
Elsewhere, our 2s started their 2nd XI Premier campaign disastrously, being bowled out for 64 at Lordswood. Our 1s, relegated to Div 4, restricted Frindsbury to 162 and were making slow but steady progress after 20 overs of their reply, before imploding inexplicably to 74 all out. Missing a number of key players didn’t help - my impression is that people who might have played cricket the last two summers now have a lot more leisure options, holidays, deferred weddings/stag-dos etc. to distract them. It could be a tough year getting teams on the field, as the number of conceded fixtures across the leagues shows.
Having taken on the club chairmanship earlier this year, I’ve passed on the 3s captaincy after 3 seasons (phew!). This should at least mean I get more of a bat and bowl myself! I reverted back to my traditional opening slot on Saturday, scoring an unusually fluent 29 out of 162-7. Expecting a close match, we then bowled Old Wilsonians 3s out for 46 in 18.3 overs. This included the most outrageous grab at bat-pad I’ve ever seen in club cricket (by Will Walker, one of our rugby boys and brother of Blackheath’s Matthew). A very nice start for us.
I'd not heard about the bat-pad grab! Unless it was missed while I was several beers deep on a stag.
I'm missing about five league games this year but happily, the 4th XI pool remains of its usual relative strength. Hoping we can win most of our games this year, to be quite honest, though some weeks do look shaky in terms of availability.
I'm also curious as to why it's Bexley 4s that have pulled out? Is it due to relative strength in competition vs strength of players available? Cos normally you'd fold the highest-numbered side - though of course, there have been exceptions.
I can confirm the bat-pad was not of this earth. Search 'Barsby catch' on Youtube, it was a bit like that, except with a 55mph swing bowler (who bowled superbly tbf). He almost caught one off a pull shot the previous over too.
I bowled the absolute worst over of my life (exaggeration) under the most appalling pressure: they were 38-9. It was now or never. It was never. You will notice they were bowled out for 46. I'll leave the rest to your imagination
I'll add that Will Walker adds something else valuable: he does not shut up in the field. To an extent I've never known before. We might win every game this season
40 players is a lot to lose ! Perhaps lack of opportunities higher up the sides ?
I would be surprised if it's anything
like as many as 40 but that figure might well include some players who,
habitually, play a couple of times a season to help out when numbers are
lacking. I'm also not sure that it's particularly about a lack of opportunity
to play higher as I don't believe that more than the odd one or two have actually left to
play for other clubs.
I think that it's to do with a combination of many factors. It's a club that
has a strong history of bringing through players from the colts and a fair
percentage of those have now reached the age where work and having children are
placing greater demands on their time and priorities so they have opted to take
a break. There is also another tranche of players who have gone to university
in the last few years and who have not returned to play. And there will be
some, as suggested above, who found other things during the pandemic that
interest them more and that have less of a commitment on their time.
Things can and will change no doubt and as and when the two or three missing from the 1st XI plus any that are currently undertaking exams or who do intend to return from Uni will mean that each of the other teams will, naturally, become that much stronger. But clearly there aren't enough of them to justify six teams and sometimes this doesn't become apparent until all players put their availability up - by which time the club has already committed to fielding six teams.
Noticed that Upchurch conceded their 2s fixture. that doesn't bode well
Down here in the wilds of Sussex lolwray opened his bowling season with a respectable 2-17 although game abandoned at 5.30 due to heaviest rain I have seen since February...its definitely the cricket season
Bexley have pulled their 4th XI from the KCL too - still running five sides though
Interesting. Old Colfeians 4s beat Bexley’s 6th XI very easily. Bexley claimed to have “mislaid” over 40 players during the winter, which seems very odd given their success in the top teams. What’s going on?
Elsewhere, our 2s started their 2nd XI Premier campaign disastrously, being bowled out for 64 at Lordswood. Our 1s, relegated to Div 4, restricted Frindsbury to 162 and were making slow but steady progress after 20 overs of their reply, before imploding inexplicably to 74 all out. Missing a number of key players didn’t help - my impression is that people who might have played cricket the last two summers now have a lot more leisure options, holidays, deferred weddings/stag-dos etc. to distract them. It could be a tough year getting teams on the field, as the number of conceded fixtures across the leagues shows.
Having taken on the club chairmanship earlier this year, I’ve passed on the 3s captaincy after 3 seasons (phew!). This should at least mean I get more of a bat and bowl myself! I reverted back to my traditional opening slot on Saturday, scoring an unusually fluent 29 out of 162-7. Expecting a close match, we then bowled Old Wilsonians 3s out for 46 in 18.3 overs. This included the most outrageous grab at bat-pad I’ve ever seen in club cricket (by Will Walker, one of our rugby boys and brother of Blackheath’s Matthew). A very nice start for us.
I'd not heard about the bat-pad grab! Unless it was missed while I was several beers deep on a stag.
I'm missing about five league games this year but happily, the 4th XI pool remains of its usual relative strength. Hoping we can win most of our games this year, to be quite honest, though some weeks do look shaky in terms of availability.
I'm also curious as to why it's Bexley 4s that have pulled out? Is it due to relative strength in competition vs strength of players available? Cos normally you'd fold the highest-numbered side - though of course, there have been exceptions.
I am not aware of the official reason
as to why it was specifically the 4ths that were pulled but I do think that it
is down to the strength of the players that were left - Bexley 3s are in the
KCL 1st XI Div V and it is clear that they are missing half a dozen players who
would ordinarily have been fixtures in that side. Their 4s were in Division III of the KCL
2nd XI League and having now lost many of their team to the 3s plus other non-returners to their own side, simply would not have been competitive at 2nd XI level. The 5s and 6s are in the KRCL.
The 5s should hold their own but, unless there is an influx of returnees, I
suspect that the 6s are going to have a bit of a battle on their hands. I couldn't help noticing that
the number 11 in their game against Colfes this weekend top scored with 33* out
of 91-9 (77 from the bat) in 40 overs - he is a real stalwart of the Club, having played for them for over 40 years but that magnificent effort in the position he found himself in is his highest recorded
score on Play Cricket. To put the team's ability to bat in even greater perspective, the
number 3s top ever score is 28* (it appears that he must have batted for
virtually the whole of the team's 40 overs for 12 not out) and the opener who
was out for a single is a bowler with a lifetime batting average of 3.23. For
that set of players to be playing at 5th team level would have had an adverse
affect not just on them but, more importantly, on their up and coming
youngsters.
Noticed that Upchurch conceded their 2s fixture. that doesn't bode well
Down here in the wilds of Sussex lolwray opened his bowling season with a respectable 2-17 although game abandoned at 5.30 due to heaviest rain I have seen since February...its definitely the cricket season
Bexley have pulled their 4th XI from the KCL too - still running five sides though
Interesting. Old Colfeians 4s beat Bexley’s 6th XI very easily. Bexley claimed to have “mislaid” over 40 players during the winter, which seems very odd given their success in the top teams. What’s going on?
Elsewhere, our 2s started their 2nd XI Premier campaign disastrously, being bowled out for 64 at Lordswood. Our 1s, relegated to Div 4, restricted Frindsbury to 162 and were making slow but steady progress after 20 overs of their reply, before imploding inexplicably to 74 all out. Missing a number of key players didn’t help - my impression is that people who might have played cricket the last two summers now have a lot more leisure options, holidays, deferred weddings/stag-dos etc. to distract them. It could be a tough year getting teams on the field, as the number of conceded fixtures across the leagues shows.
Having taken on the club chairmanship earlier this year, I’ve passed on the 3s captaincy after 3 seasons (phew!). This should at least mean I get more of a bat and bowl myself! I reverted back to my traditional opening slot on Saturday, scoring an unusually fluent 29 out of 162-7. Expecting a close match, we then bowled Old Wilsonians 3s out for 46 in 18.3 overs. This included the most outrageous grab at bat-pad I’ve ever seen in club cricket (by Will Walker, one of our rugby boys and brother of Blackheath’s Matthew). A very nice start for us.
I'd not heard about the bat-pad grab! Unless it was missed while I was several beers deep on a stag.
I'm missing about five league games this year but happily, the 4th XI pool remains of its usual relative strength. Hoping we can win most of our games this year, to be quite honest, though some weeks do look shaky in terms of availability.
I'm also curious as to why it's Bexley 4s that have pulled out? Is it due to relative strength in competition vs strength of players available? Cos normally you'd fold the highest-numbered side - though of course, there have been exceptions.
I am not aware of the official reason
as to why it was specifically the 4ths that were pulled but I do think that it
is down to the strength of the players that were left - Bexley 3s are in the
KCL 1st XI Div V and it is clear that they are missing half a dozen players who
would ordinarily have been fixtures in that side. Their 4s were in Division III of the KCL
2nd XI League and having now lost many of their team to the 3s plus other non-returners to their own side, simply would not have been competitive at 2nd XI level. The 5s and 6s are in the KRCL.
The 5s should hold their own but, unless there is an influx of returnees, I
suspect that the 6s are going to have a bit of a battle on their hands. I couldn't help noticing that
the number 11 in their game against Colfes this weekend top scored with 33* out
of 91-9 (77 from the bat) in 40 overs - he is a real stalwart of the Club, having played for them for over 40 years but that magnificent effort in the position he found himself in is his highest recorded
score on Play Cricket. To put the team's ability to bat in even greater perspective, the
number 3s top ever score is 28* (it appears that he must have batted for
virtually the whole of the team's 40 overs for 12 not out) and the opener who
was out for a single is a bowler with a lifetime batting average of 3.23. For
that set of players to be playing at 5th team level would have had an adverse
affect not just on them but, more importantly, on their up and coming
youngsters.
You make a pretty impenetrable case there AA, and I completely understand it. I hope there are returnees for your 6th XI - though our return fixture is next week, owing to a quirk in scheduling - and that there's a bit more joy through the season. I suspect there will be - it's still exams at the minute (our 16-year-old who took the five-fer is accordingly unavailable, but I return as a far less devious SLA bowler).
Looking at that 6s side, I think the skipper was maybe uncaring about his batting performance knowing his average (he's a very useful bowler so I imagine there were just several options and an unbalanced side); and I know the number 11 is a bit of a legend. I suspect there was something for him to swing at though, looking at some of our change bowling! The 4 and 5 fell to a useful bowler, to be fair, and they looked like two of the potentially better bats if P-C has me right.
Noticed that Upchurch conceded their 2s fixture. that doesn't bode well
Down here in the wilds of Sussex lolwray opened his bowling season with a respectable 2-17 although game abandoned at 5.30 due to heaviest rain I have seen since February...its definitely the cricket season
Bexley have pulled their 4th XI from the KCL too - still running five sides though
Interesting. Old Colfeians 4s beat Bexley’s 6th XI very easily. Bexley claimed to have “mislaid” over 40 players during the winter, which seems very odd given their success in the top teams. What’s going on?
Elsewhere, our 2s started their 2nd XI Premier campaign disastrously, being bowled out for 64 at Lordswood. Our 1s, relegated to Div 4, restricted Frindsbury to 162 and were making slow but steady progress after 20 overs of their reply, before imploding inexplicably to 74 all out. Missing a number of key players didn’t help - my impression is that people who might have played cricket the last two summers now have a lot more leisure options, holidays, deferred weddings/stag-dos etc. to distract them. It could be a tough year getting teams on the field, as the number of conceded fixtures across the leagues shows.
Having taken on the club chairmanship earlier this year, I’ve passed on the 3s captaincy after 3 seasons (phew!). This should at least mean I get more of a bat and bowl myself! I reverted back to my traditional opening slot on Saturday, scoring an unusually fluent 29 out of 162-7. Expecting a close match, we then bowled Old Wilsonians 3s out for 46 in 18.3 overs. This included the most outrageous grab at bat-pad I’ve ever seen in club cricket (by Will Walker, one of our rugby boys and brother of Blackheath’s Matthew). A very nice start for us.
I'd not heard about the bat-pad grab! Unless it was missed while I was several beers deep on a stag.
I'm missing about five league games this year but happily, the 4th XI pool remains of its usual relative strength. Hoping we can win most of our games this year, to be quite honest, though some weeks do look shaky in terms of availability.
I'm also curious as to why it's Bexley 4s that have pulled out? Is it due to relative strength in competition vs strength of players available? Cos normally you'd fold the highest-numbered side - though of course, there have been exceptions.
I am not aware of the official reason
as to why it was specifically the 4ths that were pulled but I do think that it
is down to the strength of the players that were left - Bexley 3s are in the
KCL 1st XI Div V and it is clear that they are missing half a dozen players who
would ordinarily have been fixtures in that side. Their 4s were in Division III of the KCL
2nd XI League and having now lost many of their team to the 3s plus other non-returners to their own side, simply would not have been competitive at 2nd XI level. The 5s and 6s are in the KRCL.
The 5s should hold their own but, unless there is an influx of returnees, I
suspect that the 6s are going to have a bit of a battle on their hands. I couldn't help noticing that
the number 11 in their game against Colfes this weekend top scored with 33* out
of 91-9 (77 from the bat) in 40 overs - he is a real stalwart of the Club, having played for them for over 40 years but that magnificent effort in the position he found himself in is his highest recorded
score on Play Cricket. To put the team's ability to bat in even greater perspective, the
number 3s top ever score is 28* (it appears that he must have batted for
virtually the whole of the team's 40 overs for 12 not out) and the opener who
was out for a single is a bowler with a lifetime batting average of 3.23. For
that set of players to be playing at 5th team level would have had an adverse
affect not just on them but, more importantly, on their up and coming
youngsters.
You make a pretty impenetrable case there AA, and I completely understand it. I hope there are returnees for your 6th XI - though our return fixture is next week, owing to a quirk in scheduling - and that there's a bit more joy through the season. I suspect there will be - it's still exams at the minute (our 16-year-old who took the five-fer is accordingly unavailable, but I return as a far less devious SLA bowler).
Looking at that 6s side, I think the skipper was maybe uncaring about his batting performance knowing his average (he's a very useful bowler so I imagine there were just several options and an unbalanced side); and I know the number 11 is a bit of a legend. I suspect there was something for him to swing at though, looking at some of our change bowling! The 4 and 5 fell to a useful bowler, to be fair, and they looked like two of the potentially better bats if P-C has me right.
The 6s might well be stronger for that return fixture but I suspect not dramatically (the keeper is a lovely character and if he's on a good day he could get a big score) although I haven't really got a clue - I am a social member at Bexley and was there for Seb's six years as scorer/umpire/colts secretary which is why I know the majority of the players but moved with the lad to Sidcup for the last two seasons (where I played for over 30 years and am a social member there too) and am now watching the boy playing for Bickley Park. If the wife has her way we'll be following him Down Under at some point too as it looks like he's returning to Adelaide for another six months in October and she wants to meet some relatives of hers there for the first time ever. Have son will travel!!!
Bickley "entertained" Minster yesterday. Always a pleasure to do that especially to such a lovely bunch of lads - imagine my shock when one of the Umpires was heard telling them when they were fielding that "this is the last time I am going to warn you about your language".
Anyway, back to the game. Minster won the toss and elected to bat. Ed Moore, their opener, is a very good bat as one would expect of someone who has a First Class average of over and who recently played for South Africa A and duly helped himself to his 29th 50 plus score in 56 innings in club cricket here. However, with him gone and wickets regularly falling, with the score on 139-6 off 44, Bickley were probably hoping to restrict Minster to a score around about the 170 mark. Unfortunately, some 53 runs were struck off that final half a dozen overs and that enabled Minster to reach 192.
As per usual, Bickley had an horrendous start to their innings at 9-3 (Seb was one of those, having been adjudged LBW for a single) and 31-4 with their Essex pro Aron Nijaar (52 matches for the 1s) taking two of those wickets and eventually returning figures of 10-4-13-3. Elliot Hooper tried to repeat his magnificent effort of the previous week but when he went for 59 the momentum went and Bickley eventually lost by 14 runs.
Bickley were on top for long periods of the game but those dozen overs bridging the end of the Minster innings and the start of the Bickley innings proved crucial.
I had a cracking div 1 game at Old Wilsonians, against The Mote. OW started well and got to 115-2 at halfway drinks. They ended on 207-9.
The Mote lost two early wickets but then also got to 115-2 at drinks, but then collapsed to 132-8 thanks to some suicidal slogging. The number 11 is a known bunny, so one wicket would have won the game, but the batters slowly built the innings back up and wanted 9 from the last three overs. That became three off the final over and two from two balls, when the winning hit came. A very close game, which, bearing the emotional swing on who looked like winning, both teams gained plaudits for their spirit.
Their were a number of close games in the top division, with Bexley losing by two runs, and Hayes winning by one wicket after Blake (126) was ninth out with 9 still required.
I see Byron Gould hit 190 for Whitstable, while my own club Chislehurst & West Kent maintained their 100% winning start with a huge 236 run win over Offham in div 5.
I had a cracking div 1 game at Old Wilsonians, against The Mote. OW started well and got to 115-2 at halfway drinks. They ended on 207-9.
The Mote lost two early wickets but then also got to 115-2 at drinks, but then collapsed to 132-8 thanks to some suicidal slogging. The number 11 is a known bunny, so one wicket would have won the game, but the batters slowly built the innings back up and wanted 9 from the last three overs. That became three off the final over and two from two balls, when the winning hit came. A very close game, which, bearing the emotional swing on who looked like winning, both teams gained plaudits for their spirit.
Their were a number of close games in the top division, with Bexley losing by two runs, and Hayes winning by one wicket after Blake (126) was ninth out with 9 still required.
I see Byron Gould hit 190 for Whitstable, while my own club Chislehurst & West Kent maintained their 100% winning start with a huge 236 run win over Offham in div 5.
From the Lordswood Youtube footage there appears to have been more than an element of spice at the end of the game against Bexley - there were other incidents too and I would love to read the Umpires' report to see their view of what went on. Cricket really isn't what it used to be.
I had a cracking div 1 game at Old Wilsonians, against The Mote. OW started well and got to 115-2 at halfway drinks. They ended on 207-9.
The Mote lost two early wickets but then also got to 115-2 at drinks, but then collapsed to 132-8 thanks to some suicidal slogging. The number 11 is a known bunny, so one wicket would have won the game, but the batters slowly built the innings back up and wanted 9 from the last three overs. That became three off the final over and two from two balls, when the winning hit came. A very close game, which, bearing the emotional swing on who looked like winning, both teams gained plaudits for their spirit.
Their were a number of close games in the top division, with Bexley losing by two runs, and Hayes winning by one wicket after Blake (126) was ninth out with 9 still required.
I see Byron Gould hit 190 for Whitstable, while my own club Chislehurst & West Kent maintained their 100% winning start with a huge 236 run win over Offham in div 5.
From the Lordswood Youtube footage there appears to have been more than an element of spice at the end of the game against Bexley - there were other incidents too and I would love to read the Umpires' report to see their view of what went on. Cricket really isn't what it used to be.
Send offs after a game like that really are poor....did Freddie give Brett Lee a send off when he failed at Edgbaston? No....Nothing wrong with celebrating (as most of the team did (and The Mote did in my game)), but have some magnominity. Stidds played a very good game and almost won it for Bexley - I think he deserved better.
I know that no tea was provided by Lordswood (to anyone) and they even tried to charge the umpires for a hot drink at the break! Poor...
I had a cracking div 1 game at Old Wilsonians, against The Mote. OW started well and got to 115-2 at halfway drinks. They ended on 207-9.
The Mote lost two early wickets but then also got to 115-2 at drinks, but then collapsed to 132-8 thanks to some suicidal slogging. The number 11 is a known bunny, so one wicket would have won the game, but the batters slowly built the innings back up and wanted 9 from the last three overs. That became three off the final over and two from two balls, when the winning hit came. A very close game, which, bearing the emotional swing on who looked like winning, both teams gained plaudits for their spirit.
Their were a number of close games in the top division, with Bexley losing by two runs, and Hayes winning by one wicket after Blake (126) was ninth out with 9 still required.
I see Byron Gould hit 190 for Whitstable, while my own club Chislehurst & West Kent maintained their 100% winning start with a huge 236 run win over Offham in div 5.
From the Lordswood Youtube footage there appears to have been more than an element of spice at the end of the game against Bexley - there were other incidents too and I would love to read the Umpires' report to see their view of what went on. Cricket really isn't what it used to be.
Send offs after a game like that really are poor....did Freddie give Brett Lee a send off when he failed at Edgbaston? No....Nothing wrong with celebrating (as most of the team did (and The Mote did in my game)), but have some magnominity. Stidds played a very good game and almost won it for Bexley - I think he deserved better.
I know that no tea was provided by Lordswood (to anyone) and they even tried to charge the umpires for a hot drink at the break! Poor...
Some clubs might be able to buy players but they can't buy class.
Fortunately the Kent League rules provide for slightly more integrity and those would have prevented him from playing anyway. Not sure if Amir is allowed to play in the National Cup but if he is then Seb might be unavailable due to a hamstring injury sustained the day before any meeting of their respective clubs.
Well done paddyp17 My 16 year old son took his first ever 5fer today as well , for our firsts in second division mid essex , unfortunately/fortunately I’m injured so got to see it oppo were pony all out for 96 and we knocked it off for two .
we’ve got some Pakistani musician who has 100k+ instagram or something followers who comes over here and plays cricket in the summer , fuck knows how he ended up at our shithouse park team but he’s not been over cos of covid but he’s a beast of a player … faced two balls today 4 & 6 to finish the game off
Interesting to see the KPL scores today which are a reflection of the nature of the wickets and how the rain has impacted in some cases -
Sandwich 176 AO (49.0) v Bexley 177-6 (47.1) Bickley 153 AO (49.1) v Beckenham 86 AO (40.5) Blackheath 181 (49.1) AO v Sevenoaks Vine 45 AO (22.1) Minster 111 AO (42.1) v Hayes 116-5 (27.5) Lordswood 87 AO (40.2) v Tunbridge Wells 88-6 (24.4)
Bickley won the toss and elected to bat and for a change at drinks we weren't 30 something for 3 - we were actually 39-0 off 17 overs, solid if unspectacular and a good platform. Take back what I said about not being 30 something for 3 because four balls after the break we were 39-3. Thanks to an excellent 52 from the number 7, Alex Moen, Bickley succeeded in getting to 153 all out in the final over. In reply Beckenham somehow managed to go from 10-0 to 37-7 and eventually managed to crawl to 86 all out in the 41st over.
Only Hayes have won all three games and Alex Blake (196 runs at an average of 98) is the man chiefly responsible for getting them there. Whether he will be able to play much for Beckenham during the Blast period remains to be seen but, for the same reason, the Vine might see more of Compton due to his probably non inclusion in the Kent side. And the Vine could really do with him too given that they, along with Beckenham, have had three defeats from three.
The rain hadn't affected the Vine pitch and it was true and hard and dry. They had Blackheath in trouble but they made it to 181 ao in the final over. Excellent quick bowling and good catching behind the wicket saw the Vine in early trouble and they never recovered, subsiding to 45 ao.
Comments
Elsewhere, our 2s started their 2nd XI Premier campaign disastrously, being bowled out for 64 at Lordswood. Our 1s, relegated to Div 4, restricted Frindsbury to 162 and were making slow but steady progress after 20 overs of their reply, before imploding inexplicably to 74 all out. Missing a number of key players didn’t help - my impression is that people who might have played cricket the last two summers now have a lot more leisure options, holidays, deferred weddings/stag-dos etc. to distract them. It could be a tough year getting teams on the field, as the number of conceded fixtures across the leagues shows.
Having taken on the club chairmanship earlier this year, I’ve passed on the 3s captaincy after 3 seasons (phew!). This should at least mean I get more of a bat and bowl myself! I reverted back to my traditional opening slot on Saturday, scoring an unusually fluent 29 out of 162-7. Expecting a close match, we then bowled Old Wilsonians 3s out for 46 in 18.3 overs. This included the most outrageous grab at bat-pad I’ve ever seen in club cricket (by Will Walker, one of our rugby boys and brother of Blackheath’s Matthew). A very nice start for us.
or not ‘that’ sort of paper.
I'm missing about five league games this year but happily, the 4th XI pool remains of its usual relative strength. Hoping we can win most of our games this year, to be quite honest, though some weeks do look shaky in terms of availability.
I'm also curious as to why it's Bexley 4s that have pulled out? Is it due to relative strength in competition vs strength of players available? Cos normally you'd fold the highest-numbered side - though of course, there have been exceptions.
I bowled the absolute worst over of my life (exaggeration) under the most appalling pressure: they were 38-9. It was now or never. It was never. You will notice they were bowled out for 46. I'll leave the rest to your imagination
I would be surprised if it's anything like as many as 40 but that figure might well include some players who, habitually, play a couple of times a season to help out when numbers are lacking. I'm also not sure that it's particularly about a lack of opportunity to play higher as I don't believe that more than the odd one or two have actually left to play for other clubs.
I think that it's to do with a combination of many factors. It's a club that has a strong history of bringing through players from the colts and a fair percentage of those have now reached the age where work and having children are placing greater demands on their time and priorities so they have opted to take a break. There is also another tranche of players who have gone to university in the last few years and who have not returned to play. And there will be some, as suggested above, who found other things during the pandemic that interest them more and that have less of a commitment on their time.
Things can and will change no doubt and as and when the two or three missing from the 1st XI plus any that are currently undertaking exams or who do intend to return from Uni will mean that each of the other teams will, naturally, become that much stronger. But clearly there aren't enough of them to justify six teams and sometimes this doesn't become apparent until all players put their availability up - by which time the club has already committed to fielding six teams.
I am not aware of the official reason as to why it was specifically the 4ths that were pulled but I do think that it is down to the strength of the players that were left - Bexley 3s are in the KCL 1st XI Div V and it is clear that they are missing half a dozen players who would ordinarily have been fixtures in that side. Their 4s were in Division III of the KCL 2nd XI League and having now lost many of their team to the 3s plus other non-returners to their own side, simply would not have been competitive at 2nd XI level. The 5s and 6s are in the KRCL.
The 5s should hold their own but, unless there is an influx of returnees, I suspect that the 6s are going to have a bit of a battle on their hands. I couldn't help noticing that the number 11 in their game against Colfes this weekend top scored with 33* out of 91-9 (77 from the bat) in 40 overs - he is a real stalwart of the Club, having played for them for over 40 years but that magnificent effort in the position he found himself in is his highest recorded score on Play Cricket. To put the team's ability to bat in even greater perspective, the number 3s top ever score is 28* (it appears that he must have batted for virtually the whole of the team's 40 overs for 12 not out) and the opener who was out for a single is a bowler with a lifetime batting average of 3.23. For that set of players to be playing at 5th team level would have had an adverse affect not just on them but, more importantly, on their up and coming youngsters.
Looking at that 6s side, I think the skipper was maybe uncaring about his batting performance knowing his average (he's a very useful bowler so I imagine there were just several options and an unbalanced side); and I know the number 11 is a bit of a legend. I suspect there was something for him to swing at though, looking at some of our change bowling! The 4 and 5 fell to a useful bowler, to be fair, and they looked like two of the potentially better bats if P-C has me right.
Anyway, back to the game. Minster won the toss and elected to bat. Ed Moore, their opener, is a very good bat as one would expect of someone who has a First Class average of over and who recently played for South Africa A and duly helped himself to his 29th 50 plus score in 56 innings in club cricket here. However, with him gone and wickets regularly falling, with the score on 139-6 off 44, Bickley were probably hoping to restrict Minster to a score around about the 170 mark. Unfortunately, some 53 runs were struck off that final half a dozen overs and that enabled Minster to reach 192.
As per usual, Bickley had an horrendous start to their innings at 9-3 (Seb was one of those, having been adjudged LBW for a single) and 31-4 with their Essex pro Aron Nijaar (52 matches for the 1s) taking two of those wickets and eventually returning figures of 10-4-13-3. Elliot Hooper tried to repeat his magnificent effort of the previous week but when he went for 59 the momentum went and Bickley eventually lost by 14 runs.
Bickley were on top for long periods of the game but those dozen overs bridging the end of the Minster innings and the start of the Bickley innings proved crucial.
The Mote lost two early wickets but then also got to 115-2 at drinks, but then collapsed to 132-8 thanks to some suicidal slogging. The number 11 is a known bunny, so one wicket would have won the game, but the batters slowly built the innings back up and wanted 9 from the last three overs. That became three off the final over and two from two balls, when the winning hit came. A very close game, which, bearing the emotional swing on who looked like winning, both teams gained plaudits for their spirit.
Their were a number of close games in the top division, with Bexley losing by two runs, and Hayes winning by one wicket after Blake (126) was ninth out with 9 still required.
I see Byron Gould hit 190 for Whitstable, while my own club Chislehurst & West Kent maintained their 100% winning start with a huge 236 run win over Offham in div 5.
I know that no tea was provided by Lordswood (to anyone) and they even tried to charge the umpires for a hot drink at the break! Poor...
Willingdon 52 all out lolwray 4 -7 (took 3 in one over)
Wicket a bit spicy after rain Thursday and Friday
My 16 year old son took his first ever 5fer today as well , for our firsts in second division mid essex , unfortunately/fortunately I’m injured so got to see it
oppo were pony all out for 96 and we knocked it off for two .
we’ve got some Pakistani musician who has 100k+ instagram or something followers who comes over here and plays cricket in the summer , fuck knows how he ended up at our shithouse park team but he’s not been over cos of covid but he’s a beast of a player …
faced two balls today 4 & 6 to finish the game off
Sandwich 176 AO (49.0) v Bexley 177-6 (47.1)
Bickley 153 AO (49.1) v Beckenham 86 AO (40.5)
Blackheath 181 (49.1) AO v Sevenoaks Vine 45 AO (22.1)
Minster 111 AO (42.1) v Hayes 116-5 (27.5)
Lordswood 87 AO (40.2) v Tunbridge Wells 88-6 (24.4)
Bickley won the toss and elected to bat and for a change at drinks we weren't 30 something for 3 - we were actually 39-0 off 17 overs, solid if unspectacular and a good platform. Take back what I said about not being 30 something for 3 because four balls after the break we were 39-3. Thanks to an excellent 52 from the number 7, Alex Moen, Bickley succeeded in getting to 153 all out in the final over. In reply Beckenham somehow managed to go from 10-0 to 37-7 and eventually managed to crawl to 86 all out in the 41st over.
Only Hayes have won all three games and Alex Blake (196 runs at an average of 98) is the man chiefly responsible for getting them there. Whether he will be able to play much for Beckenham during the Blast period remains to be seen but, for the same reason, the Vine might see more of Compton due to his probably non inclusion in the Kent side. And the Vine could really do with him too given that they, along with Beckenham, have had three defeats from three.