The push for the Shepherd Neame Premier League title has hotted up with Blackheath and Lordswood recording wins at the weekend.

SHEPHERD NEAME KENT CRICKET LEAGUE

PREMIER LEAGUE

WEEK 15 – 16 August 2014

Beckenham 102-7 beat  Hartley 99-10 by 3 wickets

Bexley  106-5 beat  Bromley 102-10 by 5 wickets

Canterbury  136-10 lost to  Blackheath 140-3 by 7 wickets

Sandwich Town  84-4 beat Bickley Park 79-10 by 6 wickets

Sevenoaks Vine  198-10 lost to  Lordswood 200-6 by 4 wickets

With victories for both Blackheath and Lordswood and losses for Sevenoaks Vine and Hartley this weekend, the race for the Premier title has ben opened wide up with only 15 points separating them.

Blackheath hit the top with a five point lead over Sevenoaks Vine. Hartley are just four further points back and Lordswood just six behind them. The final three weeks are set to be enthralling.

Blackheath made fairly light work of defeating Canterbury as they travelled to Polo Farm.  The Canterbury innings never got going against a steady Blackheath attack. Only Stuart Drakeley 33 and Graeme Francis 32 made starts and with James Hands and Chris Willets both taking 3-23, the final Canterbury total of 136 seemed well short.

Thus was to prove the case as Tanweer Sikander 74 and Dipayan Paul 38 ensured a solid start for Blackheath who cruised past their target in the 30th over with six wickets in hand.

Lordswood enhanced their position in the table as they dented the title hopes of Premier leaders, Sevenoaks Vine, with a four wicket victory. The visitors invited the home side to bat and Oliver Durell led the way with 61 was backed up well by Luke Blackaby with 44.

The reminder of the Vine batting was below par and they missed Fabian Cowdrey. Amjad Khan returned fine figures of 5-41 and Dan Masters 3-31 as the Vine were bowled out for 198. Lordwood began well reaching 49 without loss but the instruction of Ollie Howick and Luke Blackaby, who too three apiece cased a dramatic collapse to leave Lordswood floundering on 72-6 and a win looking likely for the Sevenoaks side.

However, Chris Piesley and Amjad Khan had other idea. Both batted sensibly and steered their team home without further loss, Piesley ending unbeaten on 62 and Khan on 60.

Hartley missed the chance to go top of the table as they suffered a low scoring narrow defeat by Beckenham at Foxgrove Road. Hartley elected to bat on a wicket offering the bowlers some assistance.

Wickets fell at regular intervals and only Shannon Fattore 27 and Scott McKechnie 23 scored over twenty in the lowly Hartley total of 99 all out. Johnny Darke produced the best figure for Beckenham taking 4-19 with the other wickets shared around.

The first two Hartley overs were somewhat wayward conceding nineteen runs. After this Hartley introduced the spin pair of James Hockley and Jack Laraman, who began to change the game, as Beckenham wickets began to fall at regular intervals as their batting failed once more.

At 69-5 the game was tensely poised. Raza Ali Dar ground out an invaluable 18, to become top scorer, and Jamie McCulloch 13 to nudge Beckenham toward their target which the finally reached with seven down. In such a low scoring game Hartley will rue the fact that a quarter of Beckenham runs came from extras which “top scored” with 26 including 20 wides.

Sadly we will lose Bickley Park from the Premier Division in 2015 as their heavy defat at Sandwich sends them down to Division 1 for next season. Mathew Hunn with 5-35 and Daniel Evans 4-34 complete routed the Bickley line up as they travelled down to Sandwich to be bowled out for a highly disappointing 79, giving them little hope of salvaging anything from the game.

Only two batsmen reached double figures, Jos Sidddall top scoring with 30. A half century from Marnus Labuschagne pretty much put pay to the match as Sandwich crossed the line with six wickets in hand.

This win moves Sandwich out of the relegation zone but with three to play, they are only six points ahead of Canterbury currently in ninth place.

Bexley move 14 points away from the danger zone as the beat Bromley by five wickets at Manor Way to leave Bromley in eighth place, now only four points ahead of Canterbury.

In a game reduced to 45 over a side Adam Ball tore through the Bromley line up producing the days best figures of 6-16. Only Richard Selvey-Clinton offered much resistance with 49 as Bromley were bowled out for just 102. An unbeaten 34 from Matt Stiddard saw Bexley safely home by five wickets, with James Butterfill the pick of the Bromley Bowing with 3-15.

With only 15 points separating the top four and 14 points the four Clubs in the relegation battle much remains to be played for in the next three weeks and an absorbing finish is to be expected, especially with Sevenoaks Vine to play Blackheath and Lordswood to play Hartley on the final Saturday.