Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League – week 9 review

Last week's leaders Hartley had a rare failure yesterday at home to Lordswood and despite narrowly being unable to bowl out Blackheath, a valuable fourteen points for Beckenham takes them to the top of the table by four points as we reach the half way stage.

Beckenham had first use of the track at the Rectory Field and runs were soon flowing freely. A decent century opening century stand paved the way for a sizeable total, writes Errol Valentine.

Chris Isles made a useful 72 and his partner Alex Senn was beginning to rediscover his form. Alex Blake chipped in with 47 and Senn went on to a fine 110 as Beckenham piled on the runs to close at 300-5.

Tanweer Sikander apart with 83 the Blackheath reply was a little disappointing as wickets fell at a steady rate to leave Blackheath hanging on the edge at 183-9 with ten overs remaining.

Chris Willets joined James Hands and despite everything Beckenham could throw at them the pair battled through to the end to deny the visitors maximum points. As it turned out the fourteen they took away was enough to take them to the top.

Hartley meanwhile had an uncharacteristic failure as they entertained an in-form Lordswood side at Culvey Close.

Their visitors elected to bat and found themselves in some trouble at 77-6, Greg Smith, 38, the mainstay and then Chris Piesley dug deep and scored a hard earned 41, Amjad Khan added 31 and Daljeet Singh 28 as Lordswood recovered to 203-9 at the end of their 55 overs.

Mitch Claydon was perhaps the pick of the attack with 3-56. Harley's batting somewhat imploded. Dan Stickels made 42 and Claydon 46 but five ducks in their innings did little to help the Hartley cause.

Daljeet Singh took 4-18 and Fabian Cowdrey 3-39 as Hartley were bowled out in the 36th over for 149.

Sevenoaks Vine crept into third place after a 71 victory over Bromley. The home side invited Sevenoaks Vine to bat first and runs were soon flowing. Karl Pearson scored 64 and Michael Barber 61 which followed by a rapid unbeaten 70 by Miles Richardson saw the Vine race to 280-6 from their allotment.

Callum Basey scored a useful a useful 65 and at 103-2 Bromley looked to be going well.

However the introduction of Lorne Burns transformed the game as he spun through the Bromley middle order taking 7-42 as Bromley, despite 47 by Miguel Barbosa, were all dismissed with their total on 209.

Despite being bowled out for an apparently modest 189 at the Nevill, the home side's batting failed and Bexley emerged victors by 75 runs over Tunbridge Wells.

Bexley elected to bat and George Wells led the way with 76 and Aiden Griggs 48 but there were no other major contributors as Bexley rather laboured to their quite meagre total with six overs still remaining.

James Meddings took 4-38 and Patrick Sadler 4-39 both impressed and made batting tricky for Bexley.

Tunbridge Wells found batting harder still as Jasdev Bassan took 4-30 and Michael Stevenson 4-35 and caused them many problems. Alex Williams made 39 but the rest of his team floundered, only one other player reaching 20, as they slumped to just 114 all out.

From the scorecard alone it is hard to interpret the result in the final match of the day which can only be described as bizarre. Folkestone entertained Sandwich at Cheriton Road.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat and with useful contributions of 78 By Robert Goatham and 51 by Richard Coughtrie and 44 from Alex Smith, Sandwich batted solidly to post a total of 269-8 for Folkestone to chase.

Leon Morgan scored 102 and Himanshu Waingankar 67 but the innings showed little urgency. To end the chase 28 runs short with seven wickets in hand is hard to explain, but that was the outcome as Folkestone ended on 241-3.

The seven points they receive leaves them at the base of the table. A win would have taken them to within five points of Bromley in 8th instead of 18 points adrift. An unusual chase. Sandwich will have wished the win/lose format came one week earlier.

WEEK 9 RESULTS – 4 JULY 2015

Blackheath 193-9 losing draw against Beckenham 300-5

Bromley 209-10 lost to Sevenoaks Vine 280-6 by 71 runs

Folkestone 241-3 losing draw against Sandwich Town 269-8

Hartley 149-10 lost to Lordswood 203-9 by 54 runs

Tunbridge Wells 114-10 lost to Bexley 189-10 by 75 runs