Hayes win the prem with one game to spare with a win over bottom of the table Beckeham. Bexley beat Minster to end their chances of lifting the trophy at their first attempt.
At the bottom of the table the trapdoor starts to creak open for Bickley Park after a last over win by Blackheath and a Sandwich win over Lordswood.
Surprise of the round is Tun Wells winning the toss , electing to bat , then being rolled for 86 by the Vine who chase it one down in 18 overs.
Going into the last week Bickley Park trail Sandwich by 14 points so need Hayes to comprehensively thump Sandwich and for Bickley to beat the Vine to stay up.
Div 1 is a three way battle for the two promotion places with Homesdale , St Lawrence and Highland Court ( inc Stevo ) and Linden Park all within 9 points of each other.
I had a day off so went to watch the div 5 table toppers battle, which Chislehurst and West Kent won comprehensively against Sibton Park. The visitors were rolled for 76 with KCL leading run scorer Ben.Allon getting a five ball duck. The pitch had been affected by Thursdays rain so chasing wasn't as easy as it could have been, but Chisles got home four wickets down. Jack Sansom, Chisles 1000 run man scored the winning six hit. It'll be drunk up there tonight....
Our firsts going for the title needed two wins to secure title went to 5th place team and bowled them out for 98 … routine win you’d say … oh no 56/3 turned in to 94/7 which became 94/9 and then two big lbw appeals turned down before the skipper hit a 6 to win it oh no it got changed to a 4 … scores tied then the skipper hit a 6 and relax ….
In the seconds I played my second league game of season nearly 4 months apart after injury and we were 4 points behind the team in 3rd (who we were playing , top two go up and can’t be caught ) they were 57/2 after 20 of 40 overs but they ended up on 233 !!! i bowled the 30th over and got their gun bat out bowled middle stump but didn’t really stem the flow 4 overs 1-23 we were never gonna sniff it ending on 158/8 with me getting 14 off 13 balls including a cheeky reverse sweep for 2 batting at 9 but I was being delivered pies before they brought back on a decent bowler who I managed to drag on to the stumps from a foot and a half out side off stump . Good to be back playing but I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been playing cricket and 14 stone of slow fat bastard not good and I’m gonna ache tomorrow .
Our firsts have won back to back championships and now go in to the First Division Mid Essex cricket league , second placed team lost their first game of the season against another side that wasn’t us !
So it came to pass that Bickley Park need a minor miracle to stay up - to beat the Vine and Sandwich to pick up more than 3 points in their final game against Hayes who are already champions. Effectively, Hayes would have to combine preventing Sandwich from scoring 150/175/200/225 runs with themselves not losing more than 8/6/4/2 wickets respectively (and as I say Bickley would have to win their match).
As for yesterday, it was a case of close but not close enough. 240 scored thanks to two main contributions from Saf Imtiaz (60 off 78) and Dan Magin (60 off 41). Blackheath looked to be in control until they started to lose late wickets but, in the end, they got home with three balls to spare.
There was one controversial incident which occurred off the very last ball of the Bickley innings that might have had some bearing on the result - the keeper, standing up, had to dive to take a ball down the leg side with the batsman out of his crease. He then threw the ball at the stumps but missed and a single was taken. The Umpire signalled a bye instead of a wide but then admitted it was a mistake without changing his signal (the precedent for doing so had already been set when he earlier changed a no signal for runs to a signal for leg byes) so Bickley would have one extra run and the potential for more runs off the extra ball.
Spilt milk and all that but such are the margins of success and failure. And there have been plenty of occasions when the players have made errors that would been the difference relegation and survival.
Our club, OD Cuaco CC, wrapped up the Div 2 title with a gutsy win at home to their main rival Broadstairs. Messy celebrations long in to the night....
Typically the type of weekend when one sided results crop up ..nearing the end of the season..people can't be asked on a bank holiday weekend and clubs that put out 4 plus teams struggle for numbers..both those results above seem to indicate that ..can't see what pleasure anybody would get from winning or losing those games
Just in case anyone was remotely interested lolwray has impressed on a few outings for Sussex over 60s but came down with a combination of a rotator cuff injury and tennis elbow..bowling for 50 years takes its toll
Just in case anyone was remotely interested lolwray has impressed on a few outings for Sussex over 60s but came down with a combination of a rotator cuff injury and tennis elbow..bowling for 50 years takes its toll
Plenty of pre-season rehab required and then hopefully you'll be back for next season raring to go!
So it came to pass that Bickley Park need a minor miracle to stay up - to beat the Vine and Sandwich to pick up more than 3 points in their final game against Hayes who are already champions. Effectively, Hayes would have to combine preventing Sandwich from scoring 150/175/200/225 runs with themselves not losing more than 8/6/4/2 wickets respectively (and as I say Bickley would have to win their match).
As for yesterday, it was a case of close but not close enough. 240 scored thanks to two main contributions from Saf Imtiaz (60 off 78) and Dan Magin (60 off 41). Blackheath looked to be in control until they started to lose late wickets but, in the end, they got home with three balls to spare.
There was one controversial incident which occurred off the very last ball of the Bickley innings that might have had some bearing on the result - the keeper, standing up, had to dive to take a ball down the leg side with the batsman out of his crease. He then threw the ball at the stumps but missed and a single was taken. The Umpire signalled a bye instead of a wide but then admitted it was a mistake without changing his signal (the precedent for doing so had already been set when he earlier changed a no signal for runs to a signal for leg byes) so Bickley would have one extra run and the potential for more runs off the extra ball.
Spilt milk and all that but such are the margins of success and failure. And there have been plenty of occasions when the players have made errors that would been the difference relegation and survival.
Fair play to the Umpire in question. He has sent messages to the Club via several of the players apologising profusely for the error. As I said previously, that decision isn't the reason that Bickley will, almost certainly, go down but the timing and closeness of the game made it unfortunate that he did. He cares that he made such an error but I'm sure no one at the Club will hold it against him.
So it came to pass that Bickley Park need a minor miracle to stay up - to beat the Vine and Sandwich to pick up more than 3 points in their final game against Hayes who are already champions. Effectively, Hayes would have to combine preventing Sandwich from scoring 150/175/200/225 runs with themselves not losing more than 8/6/4/2 wickets respectively (and as I say Bickley would have to win their match).
As for yesterday, it was a case of close but not close enough. 240 scored thanks to two main contributions from Saf Imtiaz (60 off 78) and Dan Magin (60 off 41). Blackheath looked to be in control until they started to lose late wickets but, in the end, they got home with three balls to spare.
There was one controversial incident which occurred off the very last ball of the Bickley innings that might have had some bearing on the result - the keeper, standing up, had to dive to take a ball down the leg side with the batsman out of his crease. He then threw the ball at the stumps but missed and a single was taken. The Umpire signalled a bye instead of a wide but then admitted it was a mistake without changing his signal (the precedent for doing so had already been set when he earlier changed a no signal for runs to a signal for leg byes) so Bickley would have one extra run and the potential for more runs off the extra ball.
Spilt milk and all that but such are the margins of success and failure. And there have been plenty of occasions when the players have made errors that would been the difference relegation and survival.
Fair play to the Umpire in question. He has sent messages to the Club via several of the players apologising profusely for the error. As I said previously, that decision isn't the reason that Bickley will, almost certainly, go down but the timing and closeness of the game made it unfortunate that he did. He cares that he made such an error but I'm sure no one at the Club will hold it against him.
Tough job being an umpire,
My mantra is if you are a player and want umpires to be perfect work hard and get to a level where they have DRS. Until then players make mistakes and so do umpires. Just get on with it. It sounds like the BP players agree with me.
So there we have it. Season over. A hollow victory for Bickley against The Vine as Sandwich, despite losing by 111 runs to Hayes, managed to secure enough bonus points to stay up. Bickley go down with by 2 points with a total of 167, winning almost 40% of their matches and finishing 55 points above the bottom club which does serve to demonstrate that they were competitive. Just not competitive enough. Time to re-group and hopefully the players will stay together and come back stronger next season because, if they do, they should be close to coming back up at the first time of asking.
1 point less tha Sandwich who achieved 168. The run of defeats up until today is the cause of the demise and it will be disappointing if any of the team decide to leave. Taking a team to relegation doesn't look good on your CV!.
1 point less tha Sandwich who achieved 168. The run of defeats up until today is the cause of the demise and it will be disappointing if any of the team decide to leave. Taking a team to relegation doesn't look good on your CV!.
Any of the bickley players home grown or have they been assembled ?
A great season for Div 5 champions Chislehurst and West Kent CC who ended up with the highest win percentage in the KCL (17/1) and also the leading run scorer, Jack Sansom (1104).
1 point less tha Sandwich who achieved 168. The run of defeats up until today is the cause of the demise and it will be disappointing if any of the team decide to leave. Taking a team to relegation doesn't look good on your CV!.
Any of the bickley players home grown or have they been assembled ?
I would say half of the squad are either homegrown or have played for the Club for a considerable number of years. For example, the skipper isn't homegrown but has been there since he came here from Australia almost a decade ago.
Bickley, equally, do not have any players that are going to consistently win games for them on their own and that makes them a bit different to Hayes, for example, where almost of their squad is homegrown apart from the three biggest influencers on their success this season (some 2,000 runs and 60 wickets in the League between them) are recruits so the loss of one or two of those would make a considerable difference. Equally, Bickley aren't a Minster where you would struggle to find any homegrown players and the motivation for moving there has been possibly driven by financial reward.
Bickley did finish one point below Sandwich but needed two to stay up as they lost both games to them over the course of the season so it is difficult to argue that they didn't deserve to go down - that said, 167 points and beating Beckenham (twice), Bexley, Lordswood, Sevenoaks Vine, Blackheath and Tunbridge Wells is evidence enough that they won't be the worst team to ever go down. They also have four players that are 19 or younger and the experience of playing in the PL will stand them in good stead for next year.
Fair play to Bexley , I watched patches of the game on YouTube while my son was playing a crap friendly at the beautiful Billericay ground where they laid on chicken curry , rice , naan bread , chips and cakes at tea time in between innings .
Sounded a great atmosphere at Lord’s apparently 200 Nantwich and 500+ Bexley there , the game swung back and forth and Adam Ball had bowled 6 overs for 15 and his 7th and the 37th of match went for 17 and it looked game over Nantwich needed 18 off 18 balls 38th Went for 5 39th (Bally) went for 5 and a wicket
last over they needed 8 off 6 to win but apparently if scores tied Nantwich would win on count back or some shit , YouTube commentators didn’t have a clue the over went dot 2 4 and the fella who was on 59 off 62 balls had strike 3 balls to get 1 run but he probably thought 2 runs it went dot dot run out , Evans the opening bat for Bexley , who got 56 bowling the miracle balls . if it had been the IPL I would be shouting match fixing . Brilliant scenes as Bexley won utter carnage . if that batsmen ever sleeps again after 3 dots then I don’t believe it .
Moody oppo skipper 3 wides on the spin and getting the hump with jeering Bexley fans was funny and he opened the batting at 2 and got a golden 😂
I was at Lords was a cracking days entertainment and the game swung multiple times, between the two teams who both contributed to a great game. As oohah describes above it was a corker.
The moody Nantwich skipper Doyle in Bexley last over batting bowled 4 wides to the joy of the Bexley section. An Mr Doyle shall we say was slightly rotund, An shouts of that’s wider than you, did not make him a happy man. An then early exit with the bat, compounded his bad day.
However, cracking days entertainment for only £10. Only downer they put us in the stand that was in the shade most of the day. Go out the back for wee or a beer it was 75 degrees. In the stand it was about 30…..
First game of the season yesterday here in Brisbane.
My sole contribution was to be clean bowled by the first ball of the fucking match.
To make matters worse the ball that got me was a jaffer, perfect outswinger, pitched middle hit the top of off.
"There's no way that bloke is a third team bowler," I pathetically whinged to my team mates.
Said bowler then proceeded to bowl a selection of half-trackers and full bungers that our top order dispatched to all parts of the ground in putting on 100 runs for the second wicket.
According to Gravesend CC's Instagram Sam Billings has joined them. Not sure exactly what his role will be at the club but given that it is a challenge for him to find the time to play for Kent I would be surprised to see him in their colours.
According to Gravesend CC's Instagram Sam Billings has joined them. Not sure exactly what his role will be at the club but given that it is a challenge for him to find the time to play for Kent I would be surprised to see him in their colours.
Strange move.. Have Gravesend got some new money men? Maybe the guys that was at Hartley on them years ago?
Not sure Sam is short of cash, and he has no connection with the club..
Pretty certain he wouldn't be allowed to play in the KCL as he has been playing international representative cricket..the exception would be that he would be allowed to play for his home club ( I don't know what the latter is but I think he last played for Hartley)
According to Gravesend CC's Instagram Sam Billings has joined them. Not sure exactly what his role will be at the club but given that it is a challenge for him to find the time to play for Kent I would be surprised to see him in their colours.
I think his Dad owns the ground.
He has been registered for Sevenoaks Vine for the past couple of years and not played a match for them.......
The current rumour is that Billings isn't going to be playing for them but wants to get his coaching levels and Gravesend will allow him to do that there - presumably from the use of the facilities to coaching their seniors and colts. Whether or not the Vine would have been as accommodating I'm not sure given that their head coach and player, Michael Barber, is also one of the Directors of Invicta Cricket Coaching who offer 121s, coaching courses, an academy, run the local colts leagues and they look after two of the Kent cricket districts. Barber is also a specialist keeping and batting coach so there is an element of conflict there too. I don't think anyone would doubt Billings' credentials but, equally, I would expect any arrangement to be fluid given how busy he will be playing for the County.
According to Gravesend CC's Instagram Sam Billings has joined them. Not sure exactly what his role will be at the club but given that it is a challenge for him to find the time to play for Kent I would be surprised to see him in their colours.
I think his Dad owns the ground.
He has been registered for Sevenoaks Vine for the past couple of years and not played a match for them.......
I think he played one game for the Vine a couple of years ago, when he was coming back from injury. England (I think) wanted him to get game time, but Hartley (his previous club side) were in KCL div 5 (and due to play Chislehurst and West Kent that weekend!); that was obviously unacceptable so he was switched over to SV, and played that weekend for them in the Premier division.
Aussie Mickey Edwards, who was playing for St Lawrence & HC in Division 1 of the Kent League last season (and was the leading wicket taker in the KL with 48 wickets) has signed an 18 month all comp contract with Yorkshire. He holds a British Passport so isn't considered an overseas player and did turn out for Kent 2s last year. His younger brother, Jack, also played in the same division for Bromley last season.
And according to this article in The Cricketer he wants to play for England. He was a sub fielder for Australia, born and brought up in Sydney and plays for NSW. I'm sure that the Australian selectors are watching with interest!
Comments
56/3 turned in to 94/7 which became 94/9 and then two big lbw appeals turned down before the skipper hit a 6 to win it
oh no it got changed to a 4 … scores tied then the skipper hit a 6 and relax ….
In the seconds I played my second league game of season nearly 4 months apart after injury and we were 4 points behind the team in 3rd (who we were playing , top two go up and can’t be caught ) they were 57/2 after 20 of 40 overs but they ended up on 233 !!!
i bowled the 30th over and got their gun bat out bowled middle stump but didn’t really stem the flow 4 overs 1-23
we were never gonna sniff it ending on 158/8 with me getting 14 off 13 balls including a cheeky reverse sweep for 2 batting at 9 but I was being delivered pies before they brought back on a decent bowler who I managed to drag on to the stumps from a foot and a half out side off stump .
Good to be back playing but I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been playing cricket and 14 stone of slow fat bastard not good and I’m gonna ache tomorrow .
As for yesterday, it was a case of close but not close enough. 240 scored thanks to two main contributions from Saf Imtiaz (60 off 78) and Dan Magin (60 off 41). Blackheath looked to be in control until they started to lose late wickets but, in the end, they got home with three balls to spare.
There was one controversial incident which occurred off the very last ball of the Bickley innings that might have had some bearing on the result - the keeper, standing up, had to dive to take a ball down the leg side with the batsman out of his crease. He then threw the ball at the stumps but missed and a single was taken. The Umpire signalled a bye instead of a wide but then admitted it was a mistake without changing his signal (the precedent for doing so had already been set when he earlier changed a no signal for runs to a signal for leg byes) so Bickley would have one extra run and the potential for more runs off the extra ball.
Spilt milk and all that but such are the margins of success and failure. And there have been plenty of occasions when the players have made errors that would been the difference relegation and survival.
Messy celebrations long in to the night....
Bickley, equally, do not have any players that are going to consistently win games for them on their own and that makes them a bit different to Hayes, for example, where almost of their squad is homegrown apart from the three biggest influencers on their success this season (some 2,000 runs and 60 wickets in the League between them) are recruits so the loss of one or two of those would make a considerable difference. Equally, Bickley aren't a Minster where you would struggle to find any homegrown players and the motivation for moving there has been possibly driven by financial reward.
Bickley did finish one point below Sandwich but needed two to stay up as they lost both games to them over the course of the season so it is difficult to argue that they didn't deserve to go down - that said, 167 points and beating Beckenham (twice), Bexley, Lordswood, Sevenoaks Vine, Blackheath and Tunbridge Wells is evidence enough that they won't be the worst team to ever go down. They also have four players that are 19 or younger and the experience of playing in the PL will stand them in good stead for next year.
Sounded a great atmosphere at Lord’s apparently 200 Nantwich and 500+ Bexley there , the game swung back and forth and Adam Ball had bowled 6 overs for 15 and his 7th and the 37th of match went for 17 and it looked game over Nantwich needed 18 off 18 balls
38th Went for 5
39th (Bally) went for 5 and a wicket
last over they needed 8 off 6 to win but apparently if scores tied Nantwich would win on count back or some shit , YouTube commentators didn’t have a clue the over went dot 2 4 and the fella who was on 59 off 62 balls had strike 3 balls to get 1 run but he probably thought 2 runs it went dot dot run out , Evans the opening bat for Bexley , who got 56 bowling the miracle balls .
if it had been the IPL I would be shouting match fixing .
Brilliant scenes as Bexley won utter carnage .
if that batsmen ever sleeps again after 3 dots then I don’t believe it .
Moody oppo skipper 3 wides on the spin and getting the hump with jeering Bexley fans was funny and he opened the batting at 2 and got a golden 😂
However, cracking days entertainment for only £10. Only downer they put us in the stand that was in the shade most of the day. Go out the back for wee or a beer it was 75 degrees. In the stand it was about 30…..
My sole contribution was to be clean bowled by the first ball of the fucking match.
To make matters worse the ball that got me was a jaffer, perfect outswinger, pitched middle hit the top of off.
"There's no way that bloke is a third team bowler," I pathetically whinged to my team mates.
Said bowler then proceeded to bowl a selection of half-trackers and full bungers that our top order dispatched to all parts of the ground in putting on 100 runs for the second wicket.
It can only get better, can't it?
Not sure Sam is short of cash, and he has no connection with the club..
He has been registered for Sevenoaks Vine for the past couple of years and not played a match for them.......
https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/yorkshire/yorkshire_australian_seamer_mickey_edwards_18_month_deal.html