Some great individual performances this week, with 5fers for Ben Westmacott and Sherry Gul, a hundred for Ollie Jasper and 72 runs for Cam Sanders (2m) in the 1st XI.
Results:
Match Reports:
1st XI v Beckenham
After last weeks win against a strong Folkstone side, the 1st XI took on third place Beckenham to make it two on the bounce.
With a good week of training, focussing on building partnerships and batting in different scenarios, winning the toss and batting seemed like a no brainer. However, their opening bowler made the most of the new ball and overcast conditions taking our opener, Nick. 7/1 was not the start we were hoping for, but with Dan Webster coming in we were still full of confidence. This was very short lived as the very next over saw the other opener take Dan's wicket with a very well bowled in-swinger, cleaning him up. Not long after this Koot edged one behind and we are 14/3. We were in trouble!
As Cameron sprinted round the boundary to go and kit up our heads turned Indo-Bulgarian superstar, Jamie Batten. With what felt like a very long 5 minutes, Chris moved into the teens and Jamie had hit some nice singles getting him off the mark.
Jamie B was given out caught behind despite middling his pad and completely missing the ball. Jamie described it as the angriest he has been after batting in his life! He said “When I got into the changing room I threw my pads on the floor, folded up the straps and put them neatly in my bag”.
In protest to Jamie’s unjust dismissal, Chris pulled his groin when running a quick single so he could check Jamie was okay. So just like that we were 53/6 and an injured Chris down. Andrew ‘The Power’ Anger and Juice were up to the plate and we were in desperate need for some runs. Some excellent running and aggressive strokes enabled these two to develop a 64 run partnership and somewhat shift the momentum of this innings. With a very important 22 runs ‘Power Anger’ was given out LBW in what can only be described as PLUM.
Cam put on a class 72 with the wickets of Sims and Jasper falling around him. A classy innings with a whole range of shots helped get us to 185. Not anywhere near as many runs as we had hoped for but from 53/6, 185 was a very good effort.
After indulging in some Veggie Samosas and some leftover Pizza, the team was ready to try and defend our total. We put our trust in the ‘Bulgarian Express’ to get us the early wickets we needed. No luck in the first over, so it was over to FWebs to get the breakthrough. An absolute peach of a delivery and a world class grab from Sims sent their opener back to the clubhouse. During the next over an unexpected bouncer from JB rushed their number 3 who put it straight up in the air toward Joe East who took it comfortably. This is exactly the start that we were after. 6/2.
In came their overseas with a lot of work to do. Some very nice shots a fairly lose bowling helped them get to 85 before the next wicket. Bowled by Sims and an absolute grab from CWebs meant the other opener was on his way back. Momentum was still definitely with them and we needed to find something special if we were going to get a result from this.
A very underwhelming few overs with some expert fielding from Juice who was diving all over the place, it was just a shame he was nowhere near the ball. The next wicket fell to a quick and straight delivery for JB which was given lbw. A very good wicket but it felt too late to turn the game around. We good only play for bonus points and the next point came at 5 wickets. Sadly, we had no luck and a very strong performance from the overseas helped to carry them home.
A tough loss to take but we can learn from this and give them as run for their money in the reverse fixture.
Match report by James Sims
2nd XI v Chislehurst & West Kent
Chis and West Kent had rolled through every team and Gaz had a plan, utilise our rope and get the extra out. Gaz won the toss and chose to bat with the returning Dan Murrell and 2s best opener Henry Hamilton opening up. Top start from the two before Murrell (20 off 41) kicked one off the stumps. The returning Aaron White couldn’t buy the oppo with his oil money and went for 0. Mike Parr then walked out to bat, wait never mind he’s late it’s actually Sam Parke. Henry (31 off 39), Sam (22 off 28) and Oscar Jasper (7 off 12) all fell in quick succession leaving ODs 99-5 and struggling. Finally, Mike Parr walks in with Will East with the team in trouble. Unfortunately, the comeback was not to be as Will (5 off 33) and Mike (30 off 29) both fell. Chis and West Kent picked up the last 3 wickets of Ash (8 off 22), Liam (8 off 14) and Robin (1 off 2). Skipper, Lawrence (12 off 31), opted to bat himself 9 wanting to save his average against best team in the league. ODs didn’t use all their overs and were bowled out for 159. Very tidy bowling from Chislehurst.
2nd innings began with the East twins Robin (1-0-12-0) and Will opening up for ODs. Chislehurst started aggressively putting up 50 in no time before the opener decided to go walkies off Will (9-0-69-1) allowing Gaz to whip the bails off. Runs continued to flow through out the innings though Liam (7.4-0-35-0) managed to slow the scoreboard. ODs started to fightback through the wizard himself Ash (8-1-44-3), who bowled batsman 1 and 3 beautifully first of whom didn’t think the ball hitting the stumps was out. The comeback may have started just a little too late at 121-3 needing 40 to win with 7 wickets left. Though another wicket fell to the wizard leaving it 124-4 and a possible comeback. It wasn’t to be as the remaining runs were knocked off with 20 overs to spare. Good effort from the boys and we will go again next week.
Match report by Will East
3rd XI v London Knights
After last week’s away trip to Sevenoaks, the 3s were relieved to get a home fixture until they found out it was 20 minutes further down the road at Hartley. While the journey was long you couldn’t fault the setting with a picture perfect ground and a decent, if somewhat green pitch.
Given the overnight and morning rain, the skipper Craig Westmacott faced a tricky decision and wisely suspended the dictatorship and went straight to the polls, perhaps wanting to spread the blame if winning the toss didn’t work out. With half the batsmen still circling the village at the toss in Abishek Patel’s car, the bowling unit won the vote and it was win-toss-bowl.
ODs were facing the team immediately below them in the table with a chance to pull clear. It was all to play for as the sun came out and they took to the field vowing to put right the wrongs from last week’s loss.
With Baylis (7-2-23-0) steaming down the hill in more ways than one after 3 days at the Test, and Howard Thomas (9-0-34-1) coming up the hill with great control, ODs bowled excellent lines and lengths offering few free hits and tying down the opening pair who crawled along at barely 2 and over.
With the run rate under control but in search of wickets, ODs turned to spin with an inspired set of bowling changes as the soft, green pitch proved ideal for spin.
Hugo Jones (7-1-26-3) came on to show off his new finger spin action and took a wicket with his very first ball, a worldy that pitched well outside off and spun through the gate to clip the top of off. He then followed it up in the same over with a less than worldy full toss that proved the adage that ‘bad’ balls take wickets as well.
At the other end Sherry Gul (9-1-32-5) showed off his new mid-week bowling practice with a superb spell of mystery spin that had the opposition in all sorts of trouble. He even smashed his own skipper/keeper in the nose with the bail as he bowled their number 7. When the opposition umpire somehow called a no-ball several seconds after a world-class one-handed caught and bowl, he got their one dangerous bat again (45) in the same over with an LBW shout you could hear from ODs other home ground.
Billy Rouse then came on and tied the opposition down further (5.1-0-27-1) with an accurate spell of in-seamers taking the final wicket to leave ODs chasing a getable 162.
The London Knights were up at least for the fight with a level of noise in the field that was bordering on poor sportsmanship shouting at the league’s leading batsman, Sherry Gul, after every ball to try and put him off, strange for an otherwise friendly team. Things came to a head when the bowler decided to have a throw at the stumps with Gul just stood in his crease in a display of unnecessary aggression that would even make the Aussies blush.
Thankfully Gul was accompanied by the unflappable Abishek Patel who while he can’t find his way to a ground, showed he could certainly find the middle of the bat with a well judged combination of watchful defence and powerful drives to take the shine off the ball after good opening spells from the opposition.
When Gul was out leaving an in-jagger for 22, Pete White came and went to leave Olly Colby and Patel to start building the run rate as the opposition became ever more frantic.
With Patel finally out for an excellent 33 that drew handshakes from the friendly again opposition, in came Ewan Laycock as the two Langley boys showed what they could do.
With a mix of superb running and controlled hitting the run rate shot up. Unfortunately, Laycock was bowled for 20 with a wild swipe that was the only false shot he played when he looked set to knock off the runs himself.
In came Bilal Chowdhry at the perfect time as he destroyed the opposition bowling attack with a beefy 40 not out that led to near silence in the field as the hope drained out of the opposition. The highlight was after a mighty six well over cow corner as the bowler petulantly said that proper batsmen hit straight. Big mistake as Bilal smashed one over the sight screen in one of the best responses to poor chat this writer has ever seen!
Olly Colby barely offered a chance in his classy 29 as he and Bilal saw out the game with 6.2 overs to spare.
Overall, an excellent performance with bat and ball that impressed umpire Colby Senior so much that he even offered to write the match report.
Match report by Chris Colby
4th XI v London Knights
As the clouds rolled in on a gloomy Saturday, OD Cuaco’s 4th team took on London Knights at their home ground in Greenwich. The wicket was too difficult to describe, an unholy concoction that had mixed reactions. Nevertheless, skipper won the toss and bravely chose to bat even through the treacherous conditions. Kev and Majid opened the batting with an unfortunate start, the first of many LBW calls was actually correct as Kev was dismissed (2). Majid tried to play off the deck but it was playing tricks on him and it popped up and was unfortunately bowled (1). Things weren’t looking bright either as Anmol had just been caught (0), Dan strides onto the field and stays on for a little longer but is soon caught too (2). Things began to look promising as chairman Andy (21) and David (27) put together the game winning partnership bringing ODs back to the fight. Through the first innings any ball that hit the pad was an LBW to the oppo as they would go up for everyone, skipper Colsey (17) found this hilarious however he didn't find it so funny when he was bowled and the bowler appealed to the umpire. All forms of rage spilled out as captain was ready for a fight hurling insults at the bowler, skip showed true passion that day and put a nice amount of runs in. The situation continued as Phil (3) and I (1) were feeling the effect of the wicket, soon Steve (2) replaced me later followed by Tom (0*) which concluded our innings with 112, a decent score with help from extras.
The second innings begins with the man Steve Sawko. Then… I took centre stage, bowling a shocker which the batsmen decided to have a go at and failed miserably launch into the air and safely caught by skipper, one down. Tight bowling from Steve continued and another wicket falls into my hands as batsman doesn’t walk after given an lbw, thankfully David Fox sent him packing. Few balls later the new batsman nicks it behind, Colsey sticks out a hand as it ricochets off and into Phil Parke's hands at slip, three down. David Steele begins replacing Steve with some class bowling, batsman chopped down at one of my balls causing it to hit his own stumps, in a desperate attempt he blamed the keepers pads but nobody believed it. A masterclass in bowling followed as David shows us his consistency and a cheeky LBW, at this point the batters weren’t too happy as they appealed for everything whereas we only appeal for the ones that are out, one batsman even refused to leave the pitch alas Foxy sent him packing again. As I came on for my last I had a fifer to get and thankfully Majid took at catch of one of my balls, my first adult fifer.
David cleaned off another batsman as Phil takes his second catch from behind, all nine over bowled very tightly by David. After seeing all these wickets Steve was hungry he wanted a piece of this action, bowling two of their batters who managed to survive most of the onslaught. Finally, Tom fox came up to bowl. As the sensei of spin accurately places his field the game was in his hands, last batter in, he could be the decider. He comes up to bowl and the batsman attempts to roof it but it goes right into the hands of Kev Harding.
With a not out with a 0-1 score off 0.1 overs Tom had an uneventful game but played his game well, all out for 79 off 26 overs. Oppo weren’t too happy but I doesn’t matter as it was a great day for 4th team cricket, special thanks to David Fox for umpiring. Well played lads.
Bowling stats:
Steve Sawko- 29-2 off 8 overs.
Benjamin Westmacott- 17-5 off 6 overs.
David Steele- 14-2 off 9 overs.
Phil Parke- 11-0 off 3 overs.
Tom Fox- 0-1 off 0.1 overs
Match report by Ben Westmacott
Sunday Friendly XI v Southborough CC
We lost, Ollie Jasper scored a ton and Dan Brown took 4 wickets, but the scorecard isn't online yet, so no details of the game!
U17s v Chislehurst & West Kent
U15s v Bickley Park
Coaching Opportunity
Steve Sawko is 3 weeks in to a 6 week agreement with Marian Vian Primary School, running ‘cricket experience’ sessions on Mondays.
They have 3 classes in the morning, 3 in the afternoon and an after school club, covering ~200 children each week. This has resulted in 4 new joiners (from the school), attending Sunday Colts training and we hope to encourage more to attend.
It would be helpful to have additional volunteer support at the Monday sessions. If you would like to help, even if it is for just a half day, please message Steve directly.
The only requirement is DBS but I believe that we can arrange that very quickly.
Training times
The following times are designated for club training sessions. Nets will be available to use for club members outside of these times, and if there is no game on the main square.
Group | Day | Time |
Senior Nets | Wednesday | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm |
Additional 1st XI squad nets | Tuesday | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm |
U15-U17 | Tuesday | 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm |
Under 11 and below | Sunday | 10:00 am - 11:15 am |
Under U11s to Under 13s | Sunday | 11:15 am - 12:30 pm |
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