20th July v Fordcombe
Last weekend saw the 2nd XI take on Fordcombe 1st XI at Fordcombe Cricket Club in front of their impressive pavilion, complete with a balcony that gave a great view of the match as it played out.
Following another challenging week in selection, we welcomed a number of new players to the side this week. Charlie Ludlum (U13) made his adult league cricket debut alongside Leo Bartlett, another excellent under-13s cricketer. Leo was joined by his father Ed and we had Joel Turner, Dixie’s mate, who hasn’t played cricket for 15 years in the side as well.
Fordcombe won the toss (again!) and elected to field first predicting, I believe, that they would dismiss us for a small total and wrap the game up quickly. We had more determination than that.
Oakenfold and Fowler opened our batting and built a stand of 55 runs, by far the most solid opening performance we’ve seen this season. Both batsmen played calmly and with good tempo, taking well-run singles and the odd boundary to keep things moving. Oakenfold was the more dominant of the pair hitting five fours on his way to 27 before being caught from the opening bowler late in his spell of nine overs. We were 57-1 from the first 14 overs and it felt like we had a good foundation for middle-order expansion later in the innings. I think we will use this opening combination again for future matches subject to availability.
Fowler continued his good form for another four overs and showed exemplary sportsmanship when he walked, having nicked off ever so quietly to the keeper for 18 (64-2). Dixon batted at four but didn’t trouble the scorers. He was tempted by the loopy offspinner to hit one in the air and was caught after a short innings.
Calypso went in at five and batted with Wesson. Both resolved to take the innings as deep as possible. The plan looked to be a good one until Wesson was excellently caught one-handed by the Fordcombe skipper at square leg from a well struck sweep shot. This brought Joel Turner to the crease and he batted very well for somebody who hasn’t played in such a long time. Joel took his time to get settled and it is clear that he could play a big part in future games as he started to build his confidence.
Calypso and Turner put on 20 or so runs and the skipper felt like he was in good form, only to strike a well-timed on-drive in the air to mid-on for 18. Ed Bartlett, batted at 7 and showed he had real batting pedigree. He and Turner kept things under control for a number of overs and it looked like we might get well past 150. Bartlett struck an excellent six over mid-wicket, the only one of our innings, as he pulled the ball high into the net protecting the playground next to the pitch.
When Turner was caught out, it brought Charlie Ludlum to the crease. He was unfazed by the challenge but was caught for one trying to keep the score moving. Leo Bartlett came in next to join his father which is always nice to see. He made a couple of runs before being bowled, and when Ed was also out it left Amir and Shaz to close the innings out. We remained hopeful of getting past 150 but fell seven runs short when Amir called Shaz through for an optimistic single and Shaz fell, run out, leaving Amir our not out batsman on 3.
From a promising opening stand things fell away somewhat, but we had at least set a more challenging target for Fordcombe than in our previous encounter. After a quick cup of tea, Calypso led some fielding practice underneath the very impressive Fordcombe pavilion, and we went out to the field optimistic that we could be competitive if we made an early breakthrough.
That hope was soon shattered as the Fordcombe opening pair tucked into our bowling with some relish. Amir opened the bowling from the pavilion end, joined by Calypso bowling off spin from the other. There was an appeal for a caught behind early on in the innings which could have made things interesting, if it had gone our way. After that it was a one-way street. Their opening batter, Zeeshan took a particular liking to Amir’s line and length, and he got off to a rapid start, hitting 37 in not very many balls. This barrage included a towering six hit clean over the pavilion into the road and down the hill, threatening to run all the way to Penshurst before it was stopped by a car and picked up by a waiting Fordcombe batter.
At 54-0 from the first six overs, it was clear that the match was only going in one direction. Calypso picked up the only wicket of the innings dismissing Zeeshan LBW for 37.
With the intention of giving everybody a game, Calypso switched the bowling around bringing on Fowler initially and then Charlie Ludlum to get a taste of bowling in adult Cricket. Charlie bowled very well. He bowled his allocation of four overs with courage and some skill as he beat their number 3 batsman, an ex-Skinner’s schoolboy known to our wicket keeper as a ‘class bat’.
Oakenfold bowled a single over and received similar treatment to everybody else. We managed to delay the end until after drinks. Leo Bartlett closed out the match, bravely bowling 1.2 overs with a sore knee and narrowly missing out on a wicket had the skipper had the field in the right place!
So, it was done and dusted in the blink of an eye. Fordcombe made 146-1 in 21 overs. Another week, another loss, but as we had agreed at the committee meeting on Friday evening, we aim to enjoy 2nd XI cricket for the rest of the season, regardless of the results. We want to find opportunities to give new players a chance to play in fun games of cricket with the hope that they’ll come back for more :-).
Highlights this week were the debuts of our two under-13s players. Well done Charlie and Leo for holding your own in your first adult league cricket matches. Well done as well to Joel and Ed B who both have cricketing talent, and who we hope to welcome back soon to bolster our numbers.
That’s all for now folks. The 2nd XI does not have a game this week. We’ll be back in action on 2 August. We wish the 1st XI all the best for their next game this week.
Speldhurst Cricket Club 