Bickley Park arrived at Linden Park to find both the wicket and outfield rather saturated. Some three and a half hours later the skippers tossed up and somewhat surprisingly Linden Park elected to bat. On a spicy deck and at 68 all out they wished that they hadn't! Ridley with 5-12 did the lion's share of the damage and Bickley duly knocked them off for the loss of just one wicket. BP 18 points LP 0 points. Cricket can be a cruel game sometimes.
As Canterbury won comfortably too, Bickley stay top by just the one point. However, for reasons I won't go into right now, Bickley will almost certainly next weekend relinquish the position that they have held since the opening day of the season.
It seems that Joe Parry (671 runs and leading wicket taker with 38 wickets in the KPL last season) returned to Hutton at the end of last month, having seemingly been only used this season as a bit part player by Minster - he did not bat in his final two matches for Minster and bowled just 6 overs in total. His scores for Hutton in those three Saturdays since then - 100, 91* and 109* for an average of exactly 300. Just goes to show that not even Minster can keep all of the players happy all of the time.
I had my first KCL LBW Michelle yesterday...three of the Vine and two from Bexley. All plumb too!
Cracking game which Bexley squeezed home in, thanks to a captains innings from Adam Riley. Chasing a below par 165 to win, they fell to 112-8. Jas Singh scored a patient 14, with Riley, but they still needed twenty when he was caught. 18 off three overs became six off the last, but the first ball was hit up in the air, the wind caught it and it flew long over the square leg boundary. Riley was pumped to say the least! I did feel a bit sorry for the Vine who thought they had the game in the bag and saw it slip away. The only down side was one player who refused to shake either umpire's hand as he didn't agree with the decision to give him out...
Penfold was Downham and Bellingham as was John Bumstead
I played for Sidcup against Penfold and his son against Old Colfeians so he must have played for both although all I can find is his D & B record. However, the game was definitely at OC's and it is possible that he joined D & B after that as Play Cricket only goes back 20 years. I didn't recognise him at first because he had lost all of his long bubble perm type hair. I'd forgotten about Johnny Bumstead which is rather shameful given that I played football with him as a kid for Inter Fico some 50 or so years ago!
Back in the day I played a Sunday fixture at the old LBG ground next to Sutcliffe Park against a team including bob Curtis,Mark penfold and Jimmy Giles.Dont know if you've seen Mark recently but unrecognisable from his curly perm days.
Going back a bit earlier Gordon Riddick was a very good player
So, with the signing of John Bumstead, Harry Beadle has been relegated to the subs bench. We're also switching from a 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 with Basey moving to CB and Holmes-Dennis reverting to his usual LB position. Hopefully the full backs will give us the requisite pace at the back:
Nathan Baxter (Old Colfeians)
Mark Penfold (Old Colfeians/Downham & Bellingham) Luke Jenkins (Bexleyheath) Grant Basey (Bromley) Tareiq Holmes-Dennis (Bromley)
Diego Poyet (Chislehurst & WK) John Bumstead (Downham & Bellingham) Steve Gritt (Downham & Bellingham)
Colin Powell (Downham & Bellingham) Joe Pigott (Addington Village) Alfie May (Wilmington)
Apparently, Jayden Stockley got some practice in with Bexley a couple of years ago....not sure if he ever turned out in a game through?
Matt Taylor was another very good player, but again, I don't know who he played for?
I knew Stockley turned up at the Bexley nets but couldn't see that he played a game for them.
I've actually managed to find one of Matt Taylor's Play Cricket profile but, unfortunately, according to that he never played in the Kent League or during his time with us (unless he has another Play Cricket profile) - his clubs were, up until last season, in the Devon League and then this season he has played one game in the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League, on 10th June, when he scored 86 off 109 balls. He averages 63.02 with 24 fifties and 5 hundreds from just 59 innings. That said, I think that he has been playing below his standard which is understandable given that he can't commit to very many games in the course of a season.
Way back when Les Berry played for Hayes and West Wickham. The first David Campbell also turned out occasionally for Old Roan.
I played cricket against that David Campbell at schoolboy level for Chis & Sid against Roan. He's a multi millionaire now. But is he really happy?
As far as I know he is.
A good mate I used to play cricket with played cricket and football with David at Roan and football with him for Charlton Colts, as they were back then, and has stayed in touch with him.
Back in the day I played a Sunday fixture at the old LBG ground next to Sutcliffe Park against a team including bob Curtis,Mark penfold and Jimmy Giles.Dont know if you've seen Mark recently but unrecognisable from his curly perm days.
Going back a bit earlier Gordon Riddick was a very good player
Jimmy Giles played Worcestershire 2nds (May have been Warwickshire). I played against him when he played for Kenn CC in Devon. Decent player.
Bickley Park still top after everybody gets 9 points. What a perfect Saturday for half the team to attend a wedding!.
That is what I alluded to in last week's report - five players, who have scored over 1,300 runs and taken 73 wickets in the Championship, at the wedding of one of the players at St Paul's, were missing. Both sides gave it as long as possible and were one of the last to up sticks but, in reality, it was never going to happen. At the time of abandonment Dartford were 66-2 off 14 overs. So, a trip to Whitstable next week now awaits.
Looks like Bickley have dodged a bullet there. Didn’t they also win in the first few weeks when the rest of the matches were abandoned. Could be their year. Unless the guy getting married is taking the rest of the team on honeymoon with him
Looks like Bickley have dodged a bullet there. Didn’t they also win in the first few weeks when the rest of the matches were abandoned. Could be their year. Unless the guy getting married is taking the rest of the team on honeymoon with him
Bickley won their first game of the season at Canterbury when all bar one of the other matches were abandoned. Even missing those five players today, it's not totally out of the question that they wouldn't have won anyway as things were at the time of the abandonment. Dartford were themselves missing Kent 2s bowler Barney Ford (injured) and the two batsmen dismissed were Ekansh Singh (another Kent 2s player) and Ben Chaplehow who has already passed the 1,000 run mark for the season in all matches. Bickley also still had playing four of their usual top five including Saf Imitiaz who is the leading run scorer in the division, with three tons to his name including one against Dartford. Bickley should have all bar the groom back next week for their visit to Whitstable.
One man stood between victory and Bickley Park retaining their top spot today. Byron "Buzz" Gould.
Bickley won the toss and elected to bat. 264 sounds a decent score but far too many of their batsmen got in and out and didn't take advantage of the dimensions of Whitstable's postage stamp ground.
From the very first ball of his innings, which was thumped to the sight screen, Gould was dominant. Eventually Bickley got him out for 144. Too late and Whitstable ended up winning by 3 wickets with half a dozen overs to spare.
So Bickley will have to pick themselves up for next week's fixture against OD CUACO whi have already beaten Bickley once this season.
Comments
As Canterbury won comfortably too, Bickley stay top by just the one point. However, for reasons I won't go into right now, Bickley will almost certainly next weekend relinquish the position that they have held since the opening day of the season.
Cracking game which Bexley squeezed home in, thanks to a captains innings from Adam Riley. Chasing a below par 165 to win, they fell to 112-8. Jas Singh scored a patient 14, with Riley, but they still needed twenty when he was caught. 18 off three overs became six off the last, but the first ball was hit up in the air, the wind caught it and it flew long over the square leg boundary. Riley was pumped to say the least! I did feel a bit sorry for the Vine who thought they had the game in the bag and saw it slip away. The only down side was one player who refused to shake either umpire's hand as he didn't agree with the decision to give him out...
Huge scalp for Bickley and Waggoners player Will Holcombe on this card...
Chislehurst & WK in fact
https://chislehurstwestkent.play-cricket.com/player_stats/batting/653982?rule_type_id=179
Nathan Baxter (Old Colfeians)
Mark Penfold (Old Colfeians)
Harry Beadle (Bexley/Sidcup)
Luke Jenkins (Bexleyheath)
Grant Basey (Bromley)
Colin Powell (Downham & Bellingham)
Gus Poyet (Chislehurst & WK)
Steve Gritt (Downham & Bellingham)
Tareiq Holmes-Dennis (Bromley)
Alfie May (Wilmington)
Joe Pigott (Addington Village)
Going back a bit earlier Gordon Riddick was a very good player
Nathan Baxter (Old Colfeians)
Mark Penfold (Old Colfeians/Downham & Bellingham)
Luke Jenkins (Bexleyheath)
Grant Basey (Bromley)
Tareiq Holmes-Dennis (Bromley)
Diego Poyet (Chislehurst & WK)
John Bumstead (Downham & Bellingham)
Steve Gritt (Downham & Bellingham)
Colin Powell (Downham & Bellingham)
Joe Pigott (Addington Village)
Alfie May (Wilmington)
Sub: Harry Beadle (Bexley/Sidcup)
Matt Taylor was another very good player, but again, I don't know who he played for?
I've actually managed to find one of Matt Taylor's Play Cricket profile but, unfortunately, according to that he never played in the Kent League or during his time with us (unless he has another Play Cricket profile) - his clubs were, up until last season, in the Devon League and then this season he has played one game in the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League, on 10th June, when he scored 86 off 109 balls. He averages 63.02 with 24 fifties and 5 hundreds from just 59 innings. That said, I think that he has been playing below his standard which is understandable given that he can't commit to very many games in the course of a season.
https://www.play-cricket.com/player_stats/batting/5735337?rule_type_id=179&sub_tab=batting_summary&tab=batting
A good mate I used to play cricket with played cricket and football with David at Roan and football with him for Charlton Colts, as they were back then, and has stayed in touch with him.
Bickley won the toss and elected to bat. 264 sounds a decent score but far too many of their batsmen got in and out and didn't take advantage of the dimensions of Whitstable's postage stamp ground.
From the very first ball of his innings, which was thumped to the sight screen, Gould was dominant. Eventually Bickley got him out for 144. Too late and Whitstable ended up winning by 3 wickets with half a dozen overs to spare.
So Bickley will have to pick themselves up for next week's fixture against OD CUACO whi have already beaten Bickley once this season.