It was a great weekend in the Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League with Beckenham, Hartley, Blackheath, Lordswood and Sevenoaks Vine all victorious.

 

SHEPHERD NEAME KENT CRICKET LEAGUE

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

 

WEEK 7 – 21 June 2014

 

Bexley 179-10 lost to Beckenham 199-10 by 20 runs

Bickley Park 256-7 lost to Hartley 261-7 by 3 wickets

Blackheath 275-9 beat  Sandwich 187-10 by 88 runs

Bromley 137-10 lost to Lordswood 274-7 by 17 runs

Canterbury 210-10 lost to Sevenoaks Vine 305-5 by 95 runs

 

The status quo remains at the top of the Premier League with Blackheath holding on to a three point lead, as both they and Sevenoaks Vine once more pocketed twenty points each on Saturday.

Blackheath entertained Sandwich at the Rectory Field and had little hesitation in electing to bat on a glorious summer afternoon. Skipper Chris Willets 34 and Tanweer Sikander 39 laid a steady foundation which was followed by an excellent partnership of 153 between Callum Haggett 75 and Charlie-Sid Speller 74.

Blackheath closed on 275-9. With dangerous Marnus Labuschagne at the crease the chase looked a possibility but when he departed for 73 the remaining Sandwich batting disappointed. Zack Fagg fought hard for his 41 but wickets feel steadily around him, Taweer Sikander leading the way with 4-45 and Dipayan Paul supporting well with 3-38, as Sandwich were bowled out for 187 in the 51st over.

It is highly noteworthy that the prolific young Queenslander, Marnus Labuschagne, celebrating his 20th birthday today, 22nd June, has now scored 547 runs in just six innings at a highly impressive average of 136.75. He is clearly enjoining his cricket in Kent. Many happy returns of the day to him.

Sevenoaks Vine meanwhile travelled to Canterbury and also chose to bat first. Ollie Howick stormed his way to an unbeaten 109 and with 54 from John Bowden, 47 not out by Oscar King and 37 from Anthony Shales the Vine posted a formidable target of 306 for Canterbury to chase.

Max Campbell 37, Just MacVicar 38, Simon smith 40 all made good starts and Graeme Francis scored a useful 51, but none could push on. Lorne Burns took 4-24 and Tom Coldman 4-30 as Canterbury were bowled out in the 45th over for 210.

There was a highly memorable game at Bickley Park which ebbed and flowed all afternoon at the end of which visitors Hartley emerged victors by three wickets. Bickley’s batting has been lack lustre this season and at 48-3 they seemed to be heading towards another disappointing total.

However when Dan Magin the joined skipper Alex Darroch both applied themselves well. Hartley missed a few chances but the pair put on 130 before Darroch departed for a well-made 75. Magin continued to accelerate and reached a well-deserved ton, ending unbeaten on 108 and Bickley at a useful total of 256.

After the early dismissal of Dan Stickels, perhaps a little unfortunate to be adjudged caught behind, James Hockley found top gear right away as Hartley raced to 100 in 12 overs. Had he then not departed for 79 Hartley looked set for a comfortable victory. Hartley though were no longer finding runs so easy to come by as Dan Magin and Nayan Doshi bowled with good pace and guile respectively.

Shannot Fattore reached a patient 50 and Scott McKechnie 34 but the tide had perhaps turned Bickley’s way with the score on 200-6. Jake Huson was to prove otherwise as he made a breezy unbeaten 44 to steer his side home with three wickets in hand and 15 balls to spare.

Two teams struggling for runs this season met at Manor Way Bexley, with visitors Beckenham taking the honours thanks largely to century by Alex Blake.

Blake scored exactly 100 from his teams total of 199 with only Chis Isles 31 and David Draper 26 offering much support in an overall a poor batting display. Adeel Malik was the pick of the Bexley Bowlers with 4-57.

Bexley’s top order also disappointed with the bat with only George Wells with 33 made much of a contribution and at 129-8 Bexley looked in trouble. However Adeel Malik blasted a quick-fire 76 but was bowled by Junaid Nadir (4-39) leaving the score on 172-9.

The final pair were only able to add seven more before Raza Ali Dar (3-48) took the final wicket resulting in a much needed 20 run victory for Beckenham.

The final game of week 7 was at Bromley where Mohamad Rushan Jaleel spun his team Lordswood to victory taking 6-54 as Bromley collapsed to 137 all out chasing 274. For Lordswood Chris Peisley scored 78 and Matt Greenwood 64.

A memorable feat took place in Division 4, 1st XI, where Ashford Town’s Mohsin Raza took all ten wickets for 39 runs for his team against Betteshanger Colliery Welfare.

A rare and exceptional achievement and one that has only occurred twice in the history of Kent Cricket League at 1st XI since 1971.