Speldhurst Cricket Club

11th May v Shoreham and Otford (H)

A new cricket season has begun, but sadly not quite the start we had dreamt of. Losing the toss on a baking hot day, we were promptly put in and looked to be in for a long day with their aggressive opener biffing it to all parts. However with some smart bowling from H Fitz, bowling “GAS” from the village hall end, he was shortly departing with his stumps rearranged after an awful swipe across the line. A very very engaged appeal the ball after was turned down, however it didn’t take long for Fitz to pick up a second wicket with a looped shot to gully, caught comfortably by Ejas. A super piece of fielding, combined with a suicidal run, meant that Andy Eames picked up a third wicket with a direct hit, leaving Shoreham & Otford reeling.

Some sensible batting from their captain, combined with a dead pitch had S&O easing along without further drama, reaching 93-3 at 20 overs. Acceleration after tea despite some miserly bowling from Siraj meant they raced to 163-4 with about 9 overs left to bat. However a crucial breakthrough from Eamo, returning for a superb second spell, removing their skipper for a well-made 60+, and some good death bowling from Dunmall and Fitz restricted them to 209-9: around par.

New opening partnership, youngster Muddy and the overseas Bogan Happy, sporting a ponytail emerging from the helmet, constructed a superb opening partnership, reaching 60-0 after 12 overs with a mix of fluid stroke-making and a few elements of luck. However, Happy fell to a rather handy leggy (supposedly an actual overseas), bringing myself to the crease but then shortly departing due to a horribly miscued sweep.

Unfortunately, this was the beginning of a rather spectacular Speldhurst collapse (truly shocking, I know), in which we collapsed from 82-2 to 108-9, including a hat trick to their leggy, with Fitz being caught reverse sweeping his hat trick ball. Indeed, he could have had 4 in 4 balls, had he not bowled a front foot no ball that was subsequently caught at short midwicket… many batters came and went, with Muddy finally falling for a well-made 46.

Harry Dunmall, in his eternal quest to be pushed up the batting order, made his greatest argument yet, striking some monumental blows: one monstrous hit landed level with the village hall car park, right in the middle of someone’s cabbage patch. This was mixed with some sensible batting and farming of the strike, pushing Speldhurst up to 158 and some much-needed bonus points.

All in all, a tough loss to stomach, as it felt like a game we could’ve won relatively comfortably, and instead found ourselves on the back of a fairly heavy defeat. Still, first game of the season and excited to be back playing cricket for Speldhurst!

18th May v Outwood (A)

ALERT: I WOULD LIKE TO PUBLICLY APOLOGISE FOR A SHAMEFUL OMISSION FROM LAST WEEK’S MATCH REPORT. I failed to report on a huge development in “The Ratio”. Harry Dunmall’s top score (45 n.o. reached last week) has now shot ahead of his number of ducks for the club at 41. Please accept these apologies and it will not happen again.

A short and hopefully not too bitter match report from me this week. We travelled to Outwood, 2x reigning champions, knowing it would be a tough ask to come away with a result. Alas, this proved to be the case, however, a superb bowling and fielding performance was a huge upside.

Having won the toss, I chose to bowl first on what looked like a good wicket, knowing the strength of our team was our bowling. After 11 overs I was rethinking my decision with outwood on 71-0, but Andy Eames and Charlie Barkhan came on and bowled superbly first change, picking up vital wickets and keeping runs down aside from a few wayward deliveries. A couple of smart catches from Wesson standing up, as well as a disciplined bowling performance, meant we continued to restrict Outwood and bring down the run rate. Adam Nash came on towards the death, bowling a superb spell of 5.2 overs, 5 wickets, 8 runs conceded, one of which was a miscued 6. This meant we ended up taking the last 10 wickets for 110 runs over 26 overs, a superb fight back.

Muddy and newbie Morgan, returning to cricket after a 4 year hiatus, opened up, with Muddy setting the tone first ball by slog sweeping their opener over square leg for a one-bounce four. However, this didn’t last terribly long, getting caught 3 balls later attempting a similar result. Skipper comes to the crease, being made to look very stupid by their 16-year-old opener, but somehow managing not to edge one behind. Morgans’s innings was very much hit-and-miss: he missed a fair few (rusty as you would imagine) but when he hit them, wow did they stay hit. A flat-batted straight six that never got higher than 10 feet off the ground was a particular highlight.

Alas Morgan fell a short time later, followed swiftly by Nash, and then Ejas, leaving the two heavyset shaggy brothers in arms, Brandt and Hodor, to rebuild. Progress was steadily picking up, punishing any loose bowling from Outwood, which was sadly in short supply due to a tight bowling performance. Some fluent clean strikes from Hodor had them worried, but unfortunately, he fell halfway to a maiden half-century, bringing Eames to the crease. I departed soon after, mistiming a short wide one having done the hard work of getting in, with Ed the Head swaggering to the crease. A swift and effective partnership from Eames and Wesson had us daring to hope, but unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough, with the last few wickets falling before we managed to reach 140.

Overall, a great bowling performance, but as we had always feared, not enough in the batting tank to get there. Feels closer though and still a decent points haul from the game.

25th May v Bearsted (H)

Unfortunately, it’s a consistent start to the season for the 1s, with Bearsted proving a little too strong for us.

Having won the toss on a gorgeous summer day, I decided to bat first, but Muddy and Morgan fell early, bringing me to the crease to join the Lean Green fighting machine. Pat was timing it well, and I couldn’t get it off the square, but sadly he too fell for a quickly compiled 17 after smashing the ball into his pads and being given out LBW. Nash joined me at the crease, and I think it’s fair to say the run rate slowed with Pat out, neither of us finding our rhythm and struggling to get off the mark versus some tight bowling.

Sadly just as I started to find something close to the middle of the bat, Nash fell, closely followed by Ejas, Dunmall, and Eamo, all in 4 successive overs after tea. With us floundering on 70-7, Bob Mason joined me at the crease, managing to rotate the strike fairly regularly and putting on a useful 34-run partnership before trying to lift one over the top and being caught. Barkhan joined me and proceeded to play a super inning of 21 not out, rotating strike and adding some much-needed boundaries when he could, leading to a 9th wicket partnership of 59 with yours truly. Sadly I fell for 82 in the last over trying to smash everything over cow, and we reached 173. A good effort considering the start, but it felt like 30 short at least.

Alas it proved to be, with Bearsted slowly but steadily chasing down the runs. A few moments of tension and opportunity arose, with a few wickets fell just before the end and their opener retired hurt. Charlie Barkhan bowled particularly well, with Eamo providing tight support from the other end. Alas, one or two catches dropped, combined with the lower total, meant that Bearsted chased it down with 4 overs to spare and 4 wickets down, mostly off an especially angry Harry Dunmall.

We did well to make a game of it after our start, but were never really ahead of the game. Good effort from the lads, and a crucial local clash next week vs a weaker Bidborough side thus far this season.