3rd August v Pembury
The 2nd XI were away to Pembury this week and travelled with high hopes of a good game and the promise of (novel) tea.
We arrived in good time which meant we had an age to take a look at the wicket. It was fairly difficult to make out the playing strip out from the rest of the square, but we retired inside to change in the hope the coin would fall out way and we might get a chance to bat first before things detiorated too much.
We didn’t. Skipper called the wrong way again, and we were asked to field on a sticky afternoon in which the rain, like the A21, never felt far away.
We were good for the first half. The fielding was spritely and Amir and Omar bowled well in the opening 14 overs. Amir picked up two wickets with a good catch from Nick Fowler in the covers and an excellent one from Sam Poynter who clung on to.a rasping, waist high fizzer that travelled quickly to him at backward point. We showed good sportsmanship when their older number 3 fell over, well out of the crease and we had ample time to make a stumping, but chose not to. It didn’t cost much as he gloved one from Calypso up in the air, ooping to Price to leave them 75-3 after 20 overs.
After drinks the Pembury batsmen got into their stride. Calypso continued to wheel away from one end with the three U13s in our side rotating amongst themselves at the other. Sam, Charlie and Ted bowled well, sending down 11 of our 40 overs. Poynter bowled most economically of the three, with Charlie backing him up and Ted taking a wicket with a really solid high catch from Thorpe at mid-off. It was never in doubt that Mark would make the catch, we watched as the batter whacked it up in the air and Thorpe, pedalling backwards could be heard loudly exclaiming “Oh No!!!”. He held on well and Ted had his first league wicket.
Calypso picked up a couple more wickets but the Pembury lower order kept the pressure on, ending 229-6 from their 40.
Tea was very good, if a somewhat leisurely affair, and as the Speldhurst batsmen took the field, the evening was creeping on. Fowler and Price opened with Price dominating the early scoring making all 8 of our runs off the bat, before he fell. Hadi partnered with Fowler for a few overs until Nick was bowled by one that kept very low. Hadi looked elegant throughout his stay and was ably assisted by Joel Turner playing his second game and looking comfortable for his 22. Joel’s cover drive, all along the ground was classical and took the shot of the day, for both sides. Pannell came and went cheaply, struggling to recapture early season form (14) which brought Ted Bell to the crease at 6. He and Ludlum batted nicely until the latter was run out by a few centimetres, attempting a quick single. Thorpe was unlucky to be caught at the 5th attempt by their South African opening bowler at cover having sweetly timed a drive.
What followed was great to watch and reassuring for our future as a club. Ted Bell and Sam Poynter batted together against a Pembury side who were unrelenting and keen to finish the game. They were resolute, disciplined and stylish for a period of five overs, both striking the ball well and showing good technique in defence. As the sun was going down and the golden light was spreading through the trees there was a sense of calmness. The game was done but we all enjoyed watching the young guns showing what they’re capable of. Well done to you both, an excellent showing. When they eventually fell it left Omar and Amir to finish off. They entertained at the end biffing boundaries to push our score to 134 all out in the 35th over
Another week, another loss, but we’ve resolved that none of that matters for the 2a this season. What matters is playing the game in good spirits, having fun and giving opportunities to our youngsters to gain good experience. It’s gratifying to see that paying off with good performance from all of them. Well done Ted, Sam and Charlie, we hope to have you back soon.
Next week, Stonehouse at home. We will be attempting to repeat our victory over them earlier in the season.
10th August v Stonehouse
The 2s were at home to Stonehouse this week with high hopes of repeating their only victory of the season so far. Thanks to Nick Fowler, Charlie Ludlum, Matt and Ted Bell who had completed most of the pitch duties before the skipper arrived at 12:13! It made for a controlled build up to the game. There was some initial back and forth when Stonehouse announced that half of their side were still en route to the ground from Dagenham(!) and we deliberated what to do. We’d just decided to shorten the game to 35 overs and to start at 1:30pm when miraculously they appeared and we were able to start roughly on time.
Calypso won his second toss of the season (heads) and chose to bat first, the plan to bat long and to tire out the Stonehouse side under a hot sun. We would then swoop, take plenty of wickets quickly and win the game with time to spare.
Well done to Ted who, having shown a good deal of technique and temperament against Pembury in the week before, was promoted up the order to open with Fowler with an opportunity to build an innings rather than swish in vain hope at the end. Whilst his innings was fairly short, Ted showed more promise, completely unphased by the experience of opening, or their medium pace opening bowlers. He called clearly, ran well and struck a particularly handsome off-drive along the ground to get off the mark. He fell a few balls later trying to score off the trickier of the two bowlers but hopefully got some value from the experience. Matt and Calypso were talking about the difficulty in making the step up at a young age where junior matches are played over a shorter format and a shorter pitch. There is a desire to score quickly that is less pressing on the 40 over game.
Hasan and Joel have cemented their places at 3 and 4 respectively, but were slightly less adhesive than in previous weeks. Both struck nice boundaries, Hasan’s a particularly pleasing clip off the leg stump from his first ball that strayed onto leg stump. He was a little unlucky to be given out LBW (with absolutely no hesitation) as he played back to a ball that might have done a bit of the pitch (5). Joel, who again looked good followed shortly after, bowled for 6.
This brought Pierre and Calypso to the crease at 47-4 and there was some shoring up needed to keep up the plan of sweating the Stonehouse side in the sun. It was a genuine pleasure to bat with P who played with good control and more time than the rest of us. As their umpire (Brian – important detail for later) said of Pierre, “class is permanent”. He and Calypso went steadily until drinks and then more expansively thereafter. Calypso fell for 42 trying to force off the back foot to one that nipped back into his stumps. Pierre fell one short of his 50 (49), jinxed by the onlooking Speldhurst fan club who had just enquired after his score. Still, with a 103 run partnership, things were looking a lot rosier (150-6).
Ejas went in at 7 and blasted a rapid 29 (3×6 and 2×4), much to the delight of the home side. Matt Johnston managed to film his biggest hit in slow motion and noise off the bat was beautiful to hear. Ejas was partnered by Sam (2) and Charlie, unlucky to be run out for 0, for the second week in a row. At the end Omar struck a nice boundary and rotated the strike intelligently to give Ejas the majority of the reamining deliveries. We ended up 192-9 from our 40 on what felt like a properly constructed innings that had used up our full allocation. Matt Bell did not bat.
Tea with cakes then followed, and an excellent selection there was, with thanks to Sarah P, Min, Alison and Calypso’s Mum.
We took the field replenished and optimistic of making it a good contest with a decent score on the board. Ejas bowled with fire from the Pavilion end, bursting through Hasan’s gloves on a couple of occasions and catching the edge only to see the ball fly past his ancient slip corden (Skipper and P). Ejas claimed the first wicket, bowling their number two with a fast straight one and we had them 14-1. Door open, plan working. Omar who bowled well despite a sore side picked up the.second, a beauty that clipped the top of off stump and had Stonehouse in early trouble at 19-2.
The next wicket fell in embarrassing circumstances, as the result of truly village fielding and even more village running on their part. The ball seemed to ping about for an age as an attempted run out missed the stumps, Hasan and anyone backing up. The Stonehouse batters kept running though, unwisely as it turned out as Matt Bell managed to grab the ball and send in a decent throw to Hasan who whipped the bails off. It is fair to say Calypso, hot and bothered, and disappointed by the lack of fielding discipline “had a word” with the Speldhurst side in an episode, later described by Hasan as “very Julian Clary”. Harsh but fair! (75-3).
That was it in the wickets department. Their number four and five batted well, albeit with a narrow selection of shots and they put us to the sword. Pierre, canny as ever with the ball was the pick of our attack. Everyone else suffered the ignomy of being belted to all parts. The hardest thing was asking for our ball back for the third time as their number 5 whacked it high into the garden of the same house in successive balls. One broken slate tile, and a near miss for the chap going peacefully about his business in his own garden.
They made it easily, with 14 overs to spare. We struggled to bowl consistently well (P-excepted), and we dropped a number of catches (including the skipper). By the end you had to see the funny side. They were better than us for longer with the ball and they batted effectively.
Highlights this week were Hasan keeping. He did very well against some wayward stuff from Ejaz and looks quite the part in his keeping gear. A neat gloveman. Pierre showed his enduring class with bat and ball. Ted, well done for having the courage of your convictions and opening for us. Sam, Charlie, I’ll get you more of a game next time.
The skipper didn’t have his best day out, capped off at the end of the game when he thanked their umpire for officiating the whole match, with Calypso calling him Barry the whole afternoon, only to be reminded by said umpire that his name was in fact Brian. That summed it up really!
Next week we have Plaxtol away. Onwards!
17th August v Plaxtol
We were away at Plaxtol this weekend, their ground nestled in the Fairlawne Estate, in beautiful sunshine. Having won the toss (why change the habit of a season?), Plaxtol chose to bat first on a surprisingly spongy pitch.
We started with 10-men in the field, with no sign of Pierre at 1pm. Ollie left him a message to check if he was stuck in the horrible Tonbridge traffic that others had encountered on the way over, but there was no response, and we got underway.
Omar opened the bowling, showing off a remodelled, shorter run-up, that gave him good control. Ejas opened from the other end, again with decent control but no penetration. The Plaxtol openers took a while to get going but inevitably the ball began to find the middle of the bat and runs began to accumulate rapidly.
It began to look like another long hot afternoon was in store as Pierre hove into view from beyond the gate and along the boundary. What a welcome sight. It turned out P had got confused with Spond and made himself available for the wrong game. After Ollie’s message and a domestic negotiation, he jumped in the car to play for us. Thank you Pierre, and an even bigger thank you to Nat, you both made a big difference to the afternoon :-).
Plaxtol’s progress continued serenely until Ejas dismissed their number two, caught by Fowler, the first and by far the easiest of the three catches he would take that afternoon. Crees and Calypso rotated on to bowl just before drinks at 15 overs, Crees the more effective of the two. He eventually dismissed their number one bat for 78, caught well by Ejas.
This brought the Brittain twins together and they batted well despite Calypso beating the bat on a few occasions and having the ball loop harmlessly off the bat in the close field. Their calling between the wickets was memorably ostentatious, employing all sorts of odd tones and phrasing, almost as if they were trying to wind us up :-). Runs came quickly from both their bats with one or two boundaries per over. It felt like we had lost control and could be looking at a total of more than 300.
Calypso managed to remove the lesser twin with the last ball of his allocation and this opened up one end. Pierre was able to bowl a disciplined line and length and we began to get back into the battle.
In fact, their innings was a tale of two halves. The top four made 208 runs between them. The last 6 batsmen made 40 runs. Pierre ended up with a well-deserved 3 wickets, assisted by excellent catching from Nick and Anthony. Nick’s one-handed pick up, millimetres above the grass between index and middle finger at cover is possibly the best catch the 2s have seen this season. Ejas completed three excellent catches as well, at mid-off from almost identical shots by their lower order.
By the end of their innings we felt we’d limited the damage on a hot afternoon. They made 256 runs and we secured maximum bowling points by taking 10 wickets, with one ball to spare.
Ollie and Nick opened our batting. Ollie was quickly into his work, smashing a rapid 24 that kept us up with the rate and included 22 runs in boundaries. Nick got a good ball and was dismissed LBW for a duck. Joel, promoted from 4 to 3 this week was unlucky to play-on, trying to squeeze an off-spin delivery through point. When Crees chose to sweep and failed to make contact with a ball from the same off-spinner we were 30-3.
Pierre and Calypso began to rebuild. It was again, a joy to bat with the serene Pierre who calmly defended and picked off the odd boundary, blunting their progress and beginning, slowly, to turn the tide. Calypso took 20 or so from the first over of their leg spinner, depositing a shoulder high no-ball for six over square leg and into the wood in the next field, We continued through drinks, seeing off each of their bowlers and keeping the required run rate at no more than 7 runs per over. With a fast outfield and a short boundary on one side, it felt achievable.
After a second century stand in two weeks Pierre was bowled for 43, trying to find the necessary boundary from the over. Calypso followed shortly after (they couldn’t bear to be parted!), again trying to force the run rate against their slow bowling skipper. Ejas did Ejas things, whacking a big six and a couple of fours in his 16.
Hassan batted neatly and stylishly again, making 27 not out. Omar came and went for 0 and George Greenway (12 years old) played some good defensive shots and was very unlucky to be caught remarkably well by a diving Brittain at mid-off for a duck. The watching onlookers felt the whooping and high fives were a little out of place against a junior cricketer, George bravely faced up to it and recovered himself well. Johnston, batting 10 managed his highest score of the season 17 not out, and we closed out our 40 overs 214 / 8 from 40.
So, another familiar result, but it felt like a competitive
performance. We did well to stick it out in the field and the catching was excellent. In the final analysis the difference was 42 runs, 11 boundaries that we could probably have saved with more consistent bowling. We definitely had them worried during our innings. The jovial banter we could hear at 30-3 had disappeared at 150-4, but we couldn’t quite sustain it.
Highlights this week were the catching of Nick, Ejas and Anthony, the partnership between Pierre and Calypso, seeing Ollie back bowling again, George bravely walking to the crease to face a team in the ascendancy and Pierre coining a new term “Haz-ball” to describe Hassan’s effortless cover drives, the preserve of the classiest left-handed batsmen.
Next week, it is definitely double Marden. Fingers crossed for dry weather. Go well :-).
31st August v West Farleigh
A short report this week on the match away to West Farleigh. I’ll focus on the highlights.
We won the toss and batted first due to being only 9 strong at 1pm. The ground is a delight, with sightscreens for both ends, a thatched pavillion, a manual pully operated scoreboard that kept our scorers amused, and a decent pitch set in leafy green Kent countryside.
We welcomed Seb Stevenson, borrowed from Chiddingstone (all above board with the league) and he opened the batting with Calyspo. He batted very well, classy drives and a memborable sweep to the legside boundary on his way to 43.
Iqbal fell, dragging the slowest of slow bowlers on to the stumps in the same way as Calypso.
Joel looked pretty again, with an excellent cover drive for four and a nicely made 16.
Matt Bell batted well, looking spritely and confidently running between the wickets to build precious lower order runs (13), before being given out LBW by his own skipper.
If Seb was classy and refined, Will Plunkett was brutally effective, making 50 in short order with the hugest of sixes belted into the Oak tree at long on. He, Matt, Ted, Amir and Siraj managed to push the score to a reasonably competitive 174 from our 40 overs, for the loss of 7. Everyone chipped in to put up a gutsy lower order performance.
Ted Bell was not out 3 at the end and he did a great job rotating the strike with Will to maximise our scoring opportunities,.
We enjoyed an excellent tea as West Fareligh’s guests which was much appreciated.
Our bowling performance could not have started more positively. Siraj, consistently excellent in an unbroken spell of 9 overs dismiseed their number 1 batsmen for 0 first ball (a Royal Duck?).
When Calyspo caught their other opener from Amir at the other end it was all looking rosy, They were 1 for 2 from the first ten balls.
From this bright start we failed to push on. Calypso dropped their number 3 at backward point, trying to avoid running into Thomas Plunkett for fear of flattening him. We dropped the same player a further 3 times before he was finally caught by Matt Bell from the bowling of Thomas Plunkett for 69. Tom Bellow, their skipper carried his bat for 38 and their number 5 made a breezy 39 to knock the total off for 3 wickets in 32 overs.
Thomas Plunkett, Siraj and Amir were the pick of the bowlers.
Thomas was particularly impressive given his age and stature and returned the best figures of all bowlers 5-1-1-12 and an economy of 2.4. A truly excellent performance, well done Thomas, it is a pleasure to play with you.
Ted Bell bowled well for his part, not taking a wicket but more economical than most, 2.1-1-0-12.
Seb is an accomplished gloveman. He looked very neat and tidy and made good takes of balls that would ordinarily scoot through for byes or wides.
Thanks to Thomas and Ted for doing a great job of scoring and operating the mechanical scoreboard :-).
Another week, anoher loss, but some really good performances from our younger cricketers this week which is excellent to see and will keep me coming back for more.
Next week, our final league game of the season takes place at Speldhurst against Penshurst. Can we make it two wins in the season?
6th September v Penshurst
The 2s took on Penhurst at home last week, in our last league fixture of the season on a damp but playable wicket. Thanks to Ed for the pitch inspection and advice to play.
Both Speldhurst sides struggled to field a full eleven players, but the 2s were able to put out 10 to take on Penhurst for the first and only time this season, having conceded the earlier fixture due to a lack of players. We agreed before the match to reduce the overs to 30 per side, anticipating further rain. Bowlers allocations were reduced to a maximum of 7 overs per bowler.
Skipper won the toss and put Penshurst in, to see what they would make of the batting conditions.
Oliie and Omar opened the bowling with Ollie returning the most economical run rate of all the bowlers but remaining wicketless. His time would come with the bat. Omar, coming in from the pavilion end struggled to find his line for the first couple of overs but eventually settled in and took 2 wickets for 34 from his allocation.
On the back of his excellent performance at West Farleigh in the week before, Thomas Plunkett was first change. He made a breakthrough in his first stint of 5 overs, bowling their established opener for 37 with a peach that gripped in the drying wicket and plinked pleasingly on to the top of off stump. He came back for a second spell to close the innings out and took a second wicket with Calypso hanging on to a high catch at mid-on.
Calypso was wicketless and expensive in his two overs before drinks, trying to bowl too quickly. Things settled down after drinks when he bowled more slowly and got into a decent rhythm of line and length.
Sam Dixon, playing his second adult league game of the season, bowled three overs and picked up the wicket of their prolific number 3 from a superb running catch from the ever athletic Ollie in the deep. At 30 overs they had made 178, which, based on past performances, felt like a challenge for the Speldhurst side to reach in the normal 40 overs.
Hasan was tidy behind the stumps, on a difficult day for keeping wicket.
Tea and cakes were excellent, thanks to Alison and Lizzie. Alison’s apple cake, in particular, was sublime.
Hasan and Iqbal opened our batting and got off to a very brisk start, making good use of the short, wide bowling and cutting and pulling effectively down the hill. Iqbal fell first for a breezy 20, with four boundaries with the score on 37. Ollie, having quite the game, batted at three and quickly got into his work, striking the ball hard to all parts of the ground. There was a moment of controversy when he shaped to cut and the Penshurst side were convinced he’d nicked it. Neither Ollie, nor the standing umpire, Calypso agreed and Ollie went on. Penshurst were convinced he was out, but were generous in the end as Ollie began to accumulate at a steady rate.
Hasan appeared to Calyspo to have nicked off a couple of overs later, and went for a brisk 27 with 5 boundaries.
Bell senior came and went for 1 batting at four, and Dixon managed a boundary but fell shortly after for 5.
Calypso joined Ollie at 6 with 50 odd needed in 7 overs, and between them, they saw the side home to our second victory of the season.
Ollie batted very well and ended up 85* (12 x 4 and 1 x 6). Calypso chipped in, with one “big” over seeming to deflate Penshurst. He ended up 34*. They ran well and took four consecutive twos in the penultimate over to drive the advantage home. When Calyspo pushed the ball for a quick single at the start of the 28th over, their fielder picked up well and threw hard, past the stumps and down the hill for 4 overthrows. With that, it was done.
It was a lovely feeling to leave the field victorious for only the second time this season and to see Ollie batting so well.
Well done again to Thomas Plunkett who drew admiration for his bowling and his attitude from all of the Penshurst side. There was a lovely moment when he was bowling to Shivi de Silva who plays district cricket with Sam Poynter, also under 13, and who has an immaculate technique. Arguably that passage of play was the closest to “proper cricket” we saw all afternoon. Well done to both young players.
Well done to all those who have represented the club in the second XI this year. It has been a pleasure to skipper the side, despite the losses. This season was about keeping the 2s going through the season and we achieved that.
Thank you for the spirit you’ve played with and the effort you have put in. Well done to all of the youngsters who have represented us as well, you have each shown courage and good skills all round.
I look forward to seeing you at the President’s game next week.
Cheers!
Calypso.
Speldhurst Cricket Club 