Once again the weather played a big part as Kent’s sides went head to head in the Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League.
SHEPHERD NEAME KENT CRICKET LEAGUE
PREMIER LEAGUE
WEEK 9 – 5 July 2014
Bickley Park 196-7 beat Bexley 190-10 by 3 wickets
Blackheath 151-9 v Sevenoaks Vine match incomplete
Bromley 217-5 winning draw against Sandwich Town 158-6
Canterbury 229-6 losing draw against Beckenham 301-6
Hartley 146-2 beat Lordswood 142-10 by 8 wickets
Sevenoaks Vine head the Premier Division at the half way stage level on points with Blackheath but having won one more game. Sadly the match between the top two was curtailed by rain but not before the Vine had bagged three more points that their hosts Blackheath in an incomplete match.
Electing to bat, Blackheath found runs hard to come by and could only accumulate 151-9 from their 55 overs, Callum Haggett the main contributor with 47.
Luke Blackaby was the pick of the Vine bowlers taking 3-13. No further play was possible due to the inclement weather, Blackheath thus just taking six points and The Vine nine thanks to four bowling points.
Meanwhile at the other end of the table the bottom two Bexley and Bickley Park met at Bickley with the home side emerging with their first win of the season and thus reduce their gap to the relegation safety zone from 40 to 24 points.
They still have much to do with the win/lose half of the season beginning next Saturday.
Bexley may have rued their decision to bat first and with humid and overcast conditions found themselves in complete turmoil at 9-4, Dan Magin and Xavier Darroch with two apiece. Jack Bell and Wesley Fernado batted sensibly and began to repair the damage but it was not until Adeel Malik joined Bell with the score on 47 that the innings began to build some momentum.
Malik batted with high quality against the Bickley spin attack mixing solid defence with some fine aggression. With some dogged support from the lower order, Malik reached 96 and provided Bexley with a total which may have been defendable against a Bickley side struggling for runs this season.
Dan Magin ended with good figures of 5-41. Jos Siddall anchored the Bickley reply to end on an unbeaten 89 and with Phil Browning adding a valuable 24 not out at the end, saw Bickley home by three wickets.
Lordswood had a dismal day at Hartley where the hosts romped to an eight wicket victory. Lordswood elected to bat but their innings never got of the ground and with only Terry Rollock with 43 reaching over 20, Lordswood were bowled out for just 142 in the 47th over,
Jack Laraman taking 3-36 with the other wickets shared around. In reply James Hockley scored 39 and Dan Sticklels rediscovered his form to carry his bat for 67 and Hartley passed their target just two down in the 27th over.
The two remaining games both ended in draws. Thanks to 90 by Alex Blake, 63 not out from Raza Ali Dar and 58 by will MacVicar Beckenham posted a formidable total of 301-6 at Canterbury for the home side to chase, Imran Qayyum taking 4-91.
Canterbury never looked to threaten this total and with James Lilley scoring 78 and Max Campbell an unbeaten 57 they rather meandered their way to 229-6 ensuing four batting points.
As with Beckenham, Bromley will have wished their game played next week in the win/lose half of the season as their visitors Sandwich also batted out for a losing draw at Plaistow Lane.
In a match reduced to 45 over a side, Freddie Wilson was the mainstay of the Bromley innings making 61 of his teams total of 217-5. In reply Sandwich could only manage 158-6, Stuart Smith unbeaten on 44 at the close.