9th August v Horsmonden (H)
The Second XI played league leaders Horsmonden at home this week. By the end of the match they remained top and we had dropped to the bottom.
It’s another short report this week.
Horsmonden won the toss (tails) and chose to bat first.
They got off to a flyer, reaching 60-0 from the first five overs and we knew we were in for a long afternoon.
It was somewhat of a relief then to restrict them to 313-4 by the end of 40 overs. Pannell (2), P (1) and George G (1) shared the wickets. George bowled really well on his return from holiday with good flight and control. Well done G.
Our fielding display was not disciplined. Extras scored 56 (2nd top score) behind the 81 made by their number two. Calypso dropped several caught and bowled chances (it wouldn’t have made a material difference but was sloppy), and the outfield was quick and unforgiving with anything hit into space.
Our batting followed the familiar path of recent weeks. Ejas and his mate Justin opened the batting with a mission to bat positively from the off. And they did. Ejas made 34 and Justin 12 to get us off to a good start. We were 50-1 from 5. Iqbal played some eye catching shots but fell for 8. Calypso made 27 at four and hung around whilst wickets fell regularly at the other end.
No-one else made more than 3 runs and we fell away quickly to 93 from 22 overs, with only two extras.
The relative performances in the match encapsulated the key differences between the top and bottom the Division 7. The top sides are consistently stronger in the bowling department and are able to be disciplined for longer.
But we aren’t relegated yet. We close out the season with four matches against Luddesdowne and Hartley Country Club. Both are in the bottom group, so with strong sides I’m hopeful we can do just enough to stay afloat.
On to next week! And fingers crossed for good availability.
MOTM – Ejas for top score
POTM1 – Calypso for second top score and two wickets
POTM2 – George for a wicket and a good bowling performance
Scorecard: https://speldhurst.play-cricket.com/website/results/6698523
16th August v Luddesdowne (A)
What a difference a week makes. This week the 2s played away at the picturesque Luddesdowne ground, nestled between sloping vineyards, at the end of a long twisting single track road.
We lost the toss (tails) but were invited to bat first by their skipper who had to be at a surprise birthday party in Margate by 7pm.
Happy and Junior (Roche) opened our batting solidly, both watchful against a swinging ball for the first few overs and expanding to hit eye-catching boundaries as they settled. Junior’s laconic flick over mid-wicket for six was the best of them and rarely for the twos, it felt comfortable to sit back and watch them make good progress.
Roche fell first, nicking off to their opener coming down the hill for 29 (26 in boundaries). Calypso joined Happy at three and they continued until Happy was also undone by the same swinging ball, nicked again to their keeper (26). By that time we had a good foundation of 60 odd for 2 from 15 overs, and a good base for Ejas to come in and be expansive. There was hard hitting mixed with responsible watchfulness on a wicket that offered unpredictability throughout the match.
Ejas and Calypso added 50 and Ejas progressed to 36 before he was caught at mid-off trying to loft the ball over the infield. A tactical change in the batting order brought Justin Blackwood to the crease with the mission of accelerating our scoring in the last 12 overs. His innings was short, but extremely effective and entirely met the brief as he blasted 20 from a few balls, including 2 huge sixes and a well struck four.
Pannell continued his steady progress but eventually wristed a ball that rose sharply to the keeper from their returning dibbly-dobbler opening bowler for 59. Iqbal was unlucky to get a straight, well targeted ball and was out LBW for a duck. He was later heard to say he was “no longer in love with cricket” , a sentiment I can assure him shared by others at various individual low points this season. Hopefully things will get better Iqbal.
Siraj and Pannell Junior were the next pairing. Siraj hit a couple of boundaries on his way to 16 not out. Joseph made 4 before being “barbecued” (Happy’s description) by an optimistic call for a quick single that was over before it started and left Pannell halfway down the wicket on his own.
George Greenway came in and made 3 not out, rotating the strike intelligently to give Siraj as much strike as possible. We ended on 221-7 from our 40 overs and we felt it was competitive given the strength and depth of our bowling.
Our fielding display was excellent throughout, led by excellent performances by Siraj and Junior. Siraj went at economy of 0.29 for his seven overs, taking 2 wickets for 2 runs and returning five maidens! James was an excellent foil, also taking 2 from 7 overs for 12 runs.
Justin effected a good run out against their eleven year old, who opened the batting with his Dad, also bound for the surprise party in Margate. We facilitated a quick getaway for both of them and I’m sure they arrived in time :-).
At 20 overs they were 21 for 4 and we knew we had the game in the bag. Happy correctly predicted that we would manage to drag the innings out, and sure enough we took their last wicket in the fortieth over. We didn’t seem to mind though as the afternoon cloud gave way to warm evening sunshine and we could make unruffled progress towards a win.
Our opening bowlers were ably assisted by Blackwood who took 1 for 18 from his eight overs. He was more consistent in his second outing for the club, despite playing in trousers borrowed from the oppo.
George was excellent, again, bowling with great control and not afraid to flight the ball above the eyeline. He was rewarded with the final wicket of the innings getting their experienced number 11 out LBW. Pannell Junior, back home for a few days, bowled with decent pace and bounce but was wicketless.
Ejas rounded out an excellent game and provided a cutting edge to get through their lower middle order, taking 2 for 4 from his three.
Happy was excellent behind the sticks taking two catches and stopping anything wayward. Anthony was sharp as ever, preventing runs and applying pressure that stifled any response.
There was almost a champagne moment when Michael fell forward at his specialist silly mid-somewhere position, attempting a catch from a lofted prod. He landed shortly after the ball, seemingly in slow motion to the amusement of his skipper :-). Having fielded there for most of the season Calypso will buy a jug if he manages to pull off a catch in that position in the last three games.
A happier report this week following a really good performance. Well done all.
Unfortunately, the other results went against us, meaning we remain at the bottom, but with three matches to go against the weaker sides. According to Calypso’s insider, Hartley’s victory was in large part to an ex-1s batter (Pearce) getting most of their runs.
We will look out for him away to Hartley on Saturday.
MOTM – Ejas for excellent runs and wickets
POTM1 – Siraj for a fantastically frugal bowling spell that set the tone and quickly put them out of contention
POTM2 – Junior for a calm, productive opening knock and for keeping the squeeze on with Siraj.
Scorecard: https://speldhurst.play-cricket.com/website/results/6698528
23rd August v Hartley Country Club (A)
The twos were away at Hartley Country Club this week at a ground that rivals Marden for a road-like wicket and excellent amenities. This includes a frog box positioned by the pavilion on which you can, if you want, watch ball-by-ball coverage!
To spare you the full eight hours of coverage which includes pitch prep, I will summarise events below.
We won the toss (heads) and put them in. The hope was to get Barry Pearce, their ex-1s player who made 90 the week before, before he could get away and do the same to us.
Siraj and Rakesh opened the bowling, both hitting their line and length early. The first few overs ticked by quietly, but “Baz” (it was written on his shirt), started to get going. He hit the ball extremely hard and it was clear he’d played at a higher standard.
Poor Oak was on the end of an extremely well struck square cut, honestly one of the hardest hit shots I’ve seen. It burst through Joe’s hands and struck him under the eye. It was an extremely brave thing to stand in the way, but was unfortunately Joe’s final.act on the game. Having saved the boundary and recovered himself with a bag of ice, Joe limped, injured from the field.
We were extremely lucky and very grateful to Anthony Greenway who had travelled with whites to watch George. Hartley allowed him to play as a fielding substitute which was generous and very helpful to us. As ever, Anthony fielded very well.
As Baz hit the ball harder and they reached 40 for none, we worried he was about to accelerate, but Rakesh struck, leading him to edge through to Wesson for a rapid 36. With him gone it felt like we had a foothold in the game and we pressed home our advantage with Siraj picking up their other opener for 8 and their number 4, bowled for a duck.
Their skipper batted well and stuck around for most of the rest of their innings, but at the other end we made steady progress. Arthur bowled well as first change and picked up a wicket just before drinks with a beautiful yorker that took out leg stump. Ejas bowled with really good pace, easily the fastest on offer on both sides. He drew an edge from a square cut that was well snaffled by Ed.
George had an excellent day out, picking up 3 wickets from his four overs, including an excellent catch from Joel at deep square.
There was a late flurry from their lower order who struck a few boundaries but were ultimately undone by Greenway and Calypso. Ed took a third and final catch to dismiss their last wicket and we had them all out for 148.
The total felt achievable on a good wicket, if we batted sensibly.
Calypso and Tristan got the response off to a good start, getting to 40 before Tristan was bowled for 14. Wesson, in at three made an excellent 30 and kept Calypso company until we needed less than 20 to win.
There was an odd, incident on the boundary when their scorer, who has done the job for “50 years” had a complete meltdown when we noticed the electronic scoreboard wasn’t tallying with the on-field action. The whole episode lasted ten minutes as various people tried to placate her, but to no avail. We carried on without a scoreboard for a few overs with manual updates being shouted out at the end of each over. Eventually the Speldhurst contingent worked it out and we got back to normal running.
With only 6 runs needed, Ejas quickly followed Ed back to the changing room. And it fell to Arthur to hit the winning runs. We won by 7 wickets with ten overs to spare. A professional job, well done. Well played everyone, another good performance all round.
So, with two games today we are out of the drop zone and we need to keep up the momentum against Luddesdowne at home this week and Hartley away again for the final.week.
MOTM – Calypso for 75 not out and a couple.of wickets.
POTM1 – Ed for 30 and three catches
POTM2 – George for three wickets
Scorecard: https://speldhurst.play-cricket.com/website/results/6698529
Speldhurst Cricket Club 