Catch up with all the latest from the Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League from the weekend.
SHEPHERD NEAME KENT CRICKET LEAGUE
PREMIER LEAGUE
WEEK 15 – 13 August 2016
Beckenham 196-10 beat Hartley 168-10 by 28 runs
Blackheath 234-10 beat Sevenoaks Vine 183-10 by 41 runs
Dartford 153-10 lost to Bexley 284-6 by 131 runs
Lordswood 271-9 beat Bromley 234-9 by 63 runs
Tunbridge Wells 127-10 lost to Tenterden 253-10 by 126 runs
Hartley suffered only their second loss of the season as they slipped up against Beckenham and will have to keep the champagne on ice for at least another week. Blackheath who beat Sevenoaks Vine reduce the lead at the top to 34 points and keep their faint hope of the title alive. At the other end of the table, sadly for Dartford their time in the Premier Division is over as they return to Division 1 in 2017 after only a one season stay. Bromley, in ninth place are still only eleven points from safety despite their defeat by Lordswood. There is little breathing space for Tunbridge Wells, Bexley, Lordswood and Sevenoaks Vine, none being safe from taking the second relegation spot dependent on their results in the final three weeks. There is much to play for in the bottom half and their seasons are still very much alive with some clashes between them also still to come.
On a wicket which turned out to be slightly ‘indifferent’ at Foxgrove Road, Beckenham, the home side had no hesitation electing to bat at the toss. Chris Isles battled hard to anchor the innings and his 87 proved invaluable. The Hartley attack all bowled well and made scoring runs a difficult task for Beckenham, particularly James Hockley towards the end of the innings with 4-29 and their total of 196 looked under par at the interval. At 106-3, Hartley looked in command with James Hockley looking in excellent touch together with James Thompson. At this stage Thompson departed for 27and shortly thereafter Hockley was unluckily run out for 55 following a straight drive from his partner was deflected onto the stumps by the bowler with Hockley out of his ground, backing up. The momentum of the match swung Beckenham’s way and despite 35 by Jake Hutson, Johan Malcolm 3-30 and Junaid Nadir 3-31 took charge and Hartley were bowled out for168.
A fine 107 by George Wells, his second century in succession, supported by 51 by Mehdi Abbas and 31 by Dipyan Paul took Blackheath to a total of 234 after choosing to bat first at the Rectory Field against Sevenoaks Vine, John Bowden taking 4-40. Bowden also led the way with the bat scoring 80 in reply but Lorne Burns apart with 43 got little support from the Vine line up as they were bowled out for 183 with still nine overs remaining. Tom Mees 4-30 and Dipyan Paul 3-44 did much of the damage.
Chris Laas scored a fine 134 and supported by 69 by Jason Benn allowed Bexley to post a total of 284 after being asked to bat first by their hosts Dartford. Only 46 from Gavin Pointer gave Dartford any real hope but their batting was disappointing and with Jason Benn taking 3-32 and Jasdev Bassan 3-32 they were dismissed for 153, 131 runs short.
Tunbridge Wells suffered a heavy 126 run defeat at the Nevill at the hands of Tenterden. The Tunbridge Wells innings somewhat disintegrated against the attack of Sam Weller 4-24 and Tom Richards 3-25. They never recovered from their disastrous start of 48-6, Robert Sehmi’s 45 saving a little face, but their total of 127 all out left them heavy losers. Tenterden had had a bright bating performance in the first half, Christopher Vernon scoring 81 and Ben Price 74 the main contributors in their total of 253.
Bromley failed to take the chance of lifting themselves above Lordswood and out of the relegation zone as they travelled for a key game at Martin Grove. Electing to bat, Lordswood built a steady batting performance, Amjad Khan scoring 84, Jack Laraman 63 not out and Sean Dickson 53 as they posted 271-9 for Bromley to chase. The top six Bromley batsmen led by Yasir Arafat 35 and Sam Smith 34 all made decent starts but sadly for them none could build on them. The Lordswood bowlers shared the wickets around with a decent bowling performance and ended the Bromley innings at 234-9, 63 runs short. Bromley live to fight again next week but could have made their quest to remain in the Premier Division a little easier had they taken the points today and elevated themselves above Lordswood by 2 points and also just one behind Tunbridge Wells.