1st XI Match Report - Beckenham v. Bromley (League)

I sat me down to write a simple story, which maybe in the end became a song.  The immortal words of Keith Reid were running through the Beckenham’s scorer’s mind as he mulled over his forthcoming report on yesterday’s excellent match at Foxgrove.

Yet again the sun did not shine on brightly as this scorer joined the small group of players and umpires peering at the large wet patch on the day’s pitch, the result of the recent strong winds and rain.  With no apparent action for a while, the Beckenham scorer awaited the arrival of Bromley colleague Ros, delayed on her journey by a nasty crash on the motorway.  Welcoming her sometime later, the Armistice was agreed, exchange of news made and the wait for the umpires with the information that play would commence at 1 p.m. with a reduction in overs to 45.

Beckenham skipper Alex Senn, restored to lead the team after his shoulder operation, gleefully won the toss and asked Bromley to bat first with the home side a man down as Cameron Pitt had turned his ankle over!  Opening with the seam of Jahid Ahmed and the off-spin of Johan Malcolm, first blood came in Malcolm’s first over with an arrow-straight throw from the boundary by Jahid Ahmed giving ‘Barney’ Balmforth the easy task of removing the bails to run out the dangerous visiting skipper Steve Smith.  A second success came on 22 when the left-handed Richard Selvey-Clinton got one that kept a little low and made a mess of his timberwork.  The cock-a-hoop home side were then brought firmly back to earth with the Bromley fightback instigated by the burly Lewis Hickford who played himself in and then launched a muscular attack on the home bowlers.  Freddie Wilson lent admirable support as the score raced along at a fine rate.  For a while, the outlook was looking grim for Beckenham being a bowler light but then Malcolm ended the excellent stand of 66 by having Wilson smartly taken by the returning skipper Alex Senn.  Hickford, meanwhile, continued to attack the bowling and reached an excellent fifty in 59 balls in the company of McQueen.  Then suddenly, Beckenham were back in the match as McQueen top-edged Ahmed for a return catch and the wheels began to fall off as Senn brought himself into the attack in an attempt to paper over the loss of Pitt.  Fortunately, the plan worked as he managed to slow the run rate down and received his reward as the experienced Nick Bluett offered a smart catch to James Fear’s dad who had kindly offered his services as substitute fielder.  Further success came with the delivery of the proverbial ‘jaffa’ that spun through George Jackson’s defences to disturb the woodwork.

Then came the moment to savour as the dangerous Hickford finally lashed Rob Clements to the mid-wicket boundary where Finn Bryan took a brilliant tumbling catch.  “Callooh!  Callay!” chortled the excited Jabberwock from his seat on the boundary.  “What a catch!” intoned Richie from the celestial commentary box.  Thus ended Hickford’s splendid innings of 81.  Thereafter it was Malcolm to strike twice more and Shojib Ali ending Tom Hemingway’s brief resistance to close the Bromley innings on 165.

The Beckenham reply began under leaden skies and had made a healthy start aided by a plethora of wide deliveries until a shower sent the players scurrying off.  The rain break directed the umpires to instigate a 2-over reduction with DLS favouring Beckenham by reducing the target to 151.  Back to business with Finn Bryan looking very solid against the visiting attack of Martel Evans and the bustling George Jackson who particularly impressed this scorer with his Peter Siddle styled run-up and impressive pace.  With the score on 32, Jackson made the opening breach by having Nick Rigg safely held by keeper Sam Smith.  Enter ‘The Leader’ for his first competitive innings of the season and, with Bromley skipper Sam Smith marshalling his troops well, runs were going to have to be earned.  Senn was showing no signs of his recent shoulder surgery and was looking solid as a fifty stand ensued with Bryan launching an attack on the bowlers with a flurry of boundaries until he holed out to Freddie Wilson from the spin of Anish Patel for an admirable 40.  James Fear departed soon afterwards at 108 to bring in Johan Malcom with both batsmen now content to push the single and just keep the scoreboard ticking over as Bromley fought like tigers in the field.  With the score on 150, Senn was trapped in front by the occasional medium-paced bowling of Selvey-Clinton for an excellent 43 and it was just left to Rob Clements to hit the winning run in the 38th over.

This had been a splendid game of cricket played out by two sides with no ‘stars’ but good club players who would give everything and the Beckenham scorer mused wistfully, “Could this be the future of the Premier League?”  Then he remembered some clubs in the lower divisions seemingly intent on obtaining success by the reprehensible business of ‘buying’ a team for short-term ‘success’, completely ignorant of the fact that this process is totally unsustainable as we have seen before!

Scorecard: https://kcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/4146903 (external site)