Sevenoaks Vine are the Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League Premier Champions for 2014 after defeating Blackheath on Saturday.
SHEPHERD NEAME KENT CRICKET LEAGUE
PREMIER LEAGUE
WEEK 18 – 6 September 2014
Beckenham 119-10 lost to Canterbury 181-10 by 62 runs
Bexley 291-5 beat Bickley Park 183-10 by 108 runs
Lordswood 197-10 beat Hartley 152-10 by 45 runs
Sandwich Town 182-10 lost to Bromley 219-8 by 37 runs
Sevenoaks Vine 249-9 beat Blackheath 208-9 by 41 runs
Sevenoaks Vine are Premier Champions for 2014 after defeating Blackheath on Saturday. A win meant they could no longer be caught by either Hartley or Lordswood. Many congratulations to them.
The exciting finale lived up to expectations at both the top and bottom of the table with numerous text, Tweets and phone calls flying round the County all afternoon.
The final relegation spot was in the balance until the very end. Canterbury did all they could by thoroughly outplaying Beckenham, but sadly for them the news came in that Bromley had also clinched victory at Sandwich so Canterbury will join Bickley Park in Division 1 next season.
Their places will be filled by Division 1 Champions Tunbridge Wells and runners up, Folkestone.
Sevenoaks Vine elected to bat on home territory and with useful contributions of 51 by Fabian Cowdrey, 44 from Oliver Durell and 39 by Lorne Burns steadily accumulated a reasonable total of 249-9 from their allotment with Warren Lee taking 5-42 and James Hands 4-38.
To win the title they had to defend this. Blackheath began well with Daniel Bell-Drummond 49 and Dipayan Paul 39 reaching an 89 run opening partnership.
At 162-3 the visitors were well placed but the dismissal of Warren Lee for 44 turned the balance and the Blackheath lower order lost their way and ended on 208-9. John Bowden and Nick Sale took three wickets apiece.
Hartley and Lordswood both had the chance to steal the title at the start of play should Sevenoaks Vine slip up as the winner of their game would have become Champions.
It was not to be but Lordswood ended strongly by defeating visitors Hartley at Martin Grove. Hartley invited their hosts to bat first and they were soon in serious trouble at 25-5 and Dan Redwood ripped through the top order taking 3-14 from his ten overs. Chris Piesley and David Masters began a recue act and batted sensibly.
Piesley went for 41 but David Maters held much of the rest of the innings together with an invaluable 62, Lordswood closing on 197.
Hartley too found themselves in trouble at 83-5 but unlike their opponents were unable to recover and despite a determined 46 by Scott McKechnie they could only reach 152 when their final wicket fell. Dan Masters was the pick of the Lordswood bowlers with 3-25 well supported by Palash Joshi taking 3-35.
The battle for safety was no less intriguing. Canterbury must win at Beckenham to have hope of survival but also had to depend on Sandwich defeating Bromley down in the East.
Canterbury did all they could and outplayed Beckenham at Foxgrove Road. Beckenham invited Canterbury to bat and wickets fell at steady intervals with no real partnerships blossoming. Stuart Drakeley,46 and Sam Burt 34 were the major contributors and the home side dismissed Canterbury for 181, Junaid Nadir taking 3-35.
A target Beckenham would hope to chase successfully at Foxgrove. Canterbury perhaps gained encouragement at tea time when news came through that Sandwich needed 220 to win, quite possible with the in-form Marnus Labuschagne and Geraint Jones in their line-up.
Canterbury certainly bowled and field like a side with great belief and did not look like a side that should be in the relegation zone. Led by skipper Stuart Drakeley, 3-34, Canterbury ripped through the disappointing Beckenham batting line up with only Johan Malcolm 30 and David Draper 27 looking in any sort of form.
Beckenham collapsed to a highly disappointing 119 all out, a win therefore for Canterbury by 62. They must now wait to hear news from Sandwich.
They did not hear the news they wanted soon thereafter. Sandwich fell 37 runs short in their chase against Bromley and saving Bromley from their first ever relegation from the Premier Division.
Bromley had much to thank openers Miguel Barbosa and James Butterfill for in their opening stand of 111, former contributing 74 and his partner 42. Robbie Joseph apart at number 3, with 32, the remaining Bromley batsmen rather lost their way but a useful 21 by Callum Basey helped them to their final total of 219-8.
Robbie Joseph picked up danger man Marnus Labuschagne early on for 16 and Geraint Jones too fell cheaply for 10. Robert Goatham battled hard for 40 and Zack Fagg for 34 but by now Sandwich had slumped to 146-7 and left too much for the lower order to do. Robbie Joseph ended with 4-44, Bromley a win by 37 runs and safety.
George Wells hit a fine 133, Aiden Griggs 55 and Adeel Malik 54 as Bexley amassed the highest total of the day scoring 291-5 at Manor way against visitors Bickley Park. With Mehdi Abbas taking 4-24, Harry Furze 3-23 and Adeel Malik 3-26, Bickley fell well short bowled out for 183, Dan Magin their top scorer with 49. A sad end to a disappointing season for Bickley Park.