Catch up with all the latest from the Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League from the weekend.
SHEPHERD NEAME KENT CRICKET LEAGUE
PREMIER LEAGUE
WEEK 10 – 9 July 2016
Bexley 121-10 lost to Hartley 230-7 by 109 runs
Bromley 157-10 lost to Blackheath 260-10 by 103 runs
Dartford 220-7 beat Beckenham 219-9 by 3 wickets
Lordswood 190-6 beat Tunbridge Wells 187-7 by 4 wickets
Tenterden 250-10 44 overs lost to Sevenoaks Vine 328-5 by78 runs
Although early in the season to make such a bold statement, unless the form book is rewritten, it is hard now to see the Premier League becoming more than a two horse race between leaders by 20 points, Hartley, and Blackheath in second. Their two nearest contenders Beckenham and Tenterden both lost on Saturday leaving them both an uphill task to even now catch the leaders. Despite a win on Saturday, Dartford and now Bromley have an even bigger hill to climb to avoid relegation, being 43 and 24 point behind Lordswood in eighth respectively.
Hartley continued their winning streak with an emphatic 109 run victory over Bexley at Manor Way. Electing to bat the ever consistent James Hockley opened up with 65 and this was followed up by a useful 58 by James Thompson and Calvin Savage adding 30 to steer Hartley to a useful 230 from their 50 over allotment. Hartley’s bowing fired and Bexley’s batsmen had little to offer as with Dan Redwood taking 3-25 and Jamie Hemphrey 3-25 Bexley were reduced to 35-6 from which there was to be no recovery. George Hayley scored 25 to take the total to 73-7 which was soon to become 81-9 and the writing was on the wall. A short flurry of an unbeaten 45 by Harry Furze held up the inevitable and the innings closed on 121 in just under 34 overs.
Blackheath meanwhile played highly efficient all round game to continue Bromleys’s woes. The home side invited Blackheath to bat and their innings was structured around an excellent 108 by Tanweer Sikander with a useful knock of 39 from George Wells and particularly a fine 81 by Dipyan Paul. They lost their last seven wickets for just 24 runs in a quest for quick runs at the end, Imran Qayyum collecting 3-26 and Nathan Hill 3-64. In reply the entire Blackheath attack, nine bowlers used in total, dominated throughout bowling accurately and economically in sharing the wickets. Bromley could not escape the shackles and only Shavawn Cunningham 37 offered much resistance as Bromley were bowled out for 157, 103 runs short.
Zak Crawley with an unbeaten 145, John Bowden 66 and Lorne Burns 58 put Tenterden to the sword as Sevenoaks Vine travelled to Morghew Park amassing a total of 328-5 having won the toss and elected to bat. The bowling figures make uncomfortable reading for some with Kent man Adam Ball going wicket less and conceding 83 from nine overs. Such a total would be a tall order and despite 66 from Ben Price and 61 by Tevis Knight (jnr) Tenterden were bowled out in a brave pursuit for 250 in 44 overs.
Tunbridge Wells found themselves in a deep hole at Lordswood, where, having elected to bat, they were reduced to 78-6. Will Stickler and Sean Griffin, both unbeaten with 49 and 42 respectively at least gave Lordswood a total of 187 to chase, closing seven down with the Lordswood bowlers sharing the wickets. Amjad Khan opened the innings scoring 72 and Linden Lockhart made 68 not out and together broke the back of the target, Lordswood getting home by 4 wickets in the 46th over.
The upset of the day was at Hesketh Park where Dartford picked up their first win of the season over a lacklustre Beckenham side whose possible title challenge must now be in doubt. Electing to bat first, only Adam Senn with43 made any meaningful contribution to their average batting performance despite a useful spell of 3-18 by Jamie Williams. In reply Gary Cooke dug in for 72 and latterly Charles Hartley scored a rapid 56 and perhaps Beckenham had a glimmer of hope at 190-6. A number of dropped catches and 19 wides did not help their cause as Dartford crossed the line for a deserved win with seven balls to spare.